Two games into the 2025 season, the Paul Bunyan comparison made by Head Coach Patrick Daberkow holds up. The power and strength of Carson Fehlhafer is so widely respected inside the Concordia University, Nebraska Football program that Daberkow joked, “Everyone expects him to take the center and guard and knock their heads together and go sack the quarterback every play.”
Jokes and hyperbole aside, the legend of Carson Fehlhafer certainly grew in week two of the season when the Bulldog nose guard had eyes popping across the NAIA football landscape. The stat line seemed impossible for an interior defensive lineman: 13 tackles, seven tackles for loss, four sacks and two blocked kicks.
“Who blocks two field goals at nose guard? Nobody,” marveled Daberkow. “That never happens. He’s such a monster in the middle. Teams have to commit multiple players to him in order to block him. That really gives us an advantage numbers-wise. If you have a guy who’s going to consistently take two blockers, it’s going to be hard to move the football.”
Daberkow and his staff recruited Fehlhafer out of their own backyard. For nearby Centennial High School, Fehlhafer hinted at the type of collegiate athlete he would become while starring in not only football but also in track & field and wrestling. Now in year four as a Bulldog, the 2021 Nebraska Class C state heavyweight wrestling champion is more physically and mentally mature – and more dominant – than ever. The Utica native currently leads all NAIA players in sacks (5.5) and tackles for loss (9.5) as he gets a head start on putting his name in the All-America conversation.
Make no mistake, Fehlhafer has played at a high level his entire Concordia career. Listed at 270 pounds as a freshman in the fall of 2022, Fehlhafer says he currently weighs in at 325 after having increased his strength and muscle mass. When Fehlhafer arrived, he expected to compete for immediate playing time on the defensive line. However, a rash of injuries resulted in Fehlhafer selflessly moving to offensive guard.
Ultimately, Fehlhafer preferred to play on the defensive side of the ball. The willingness of the Concordia staff to allow Fehlhafer to play where he felt comfortable mattered a lot in the recruiting process. Says Fehlhafer, “I didn’t have much recruiting in a sense. It was all the local colleges in the area (that recruited me). Concordia was the only school that told me they didn’t necessarily care if I played offense or defense. They just wanted me as a player and obviously throwing came along with that. I came to a couple throwing camps here. I liked that they were going to allow me to choose what I wanted to play. Every other school recruited me as a center. Concordia was the only place that said I could play d-line.”
As Daberkow said of recruiting Fehlhafer, “Their family is very no-nonsense. They’re very straightforward and very values driven. They don’t want flashy graphics and stuff like that. Recruiting him was really easy. It was fun to get to know their family. It’s always good to get local guys.”
As a junior in 2024, Fehlhafer produced 39 tackles and six sacks and was named a First Team All-GPAC honoree. But the statistics don’t always show the type of impact Fehlhafer makes in the 3-3-5 defense coordinated by Corby Osten. In the trenches, Fehlhafer often eats up two or three opposing offensive linemen, freeing up teammates to make tackles. Fehlhafer quickly shakes his head when asked about how often he goes one-on-one with an opposing blocker. It’s rarer than a bigfoot sighting.
“My job is pretty simple,” Fehlhafer said. “If I eat up blocks, other guys are getting their accolades and stuff … Morningside last year triple-teamed me like the entire game. It’s pretty much double teams and triple teams. If it is a single block, the ball is usually going to the sideline or they’re not expecting the guy in front of me to block for very long.”
Perennially powerful programs in the league such as Morningside, Dordt and Northwestern undoubtedly have immense respect for No. 93 in the middle of the Concordia defense. As Fehlhafer recalls, the Defenders rarely even tried to run between the tackles in the second half of last season’s meeting. The next week, Fehlhafer terrorized Northwestern’s offensive line in the Bulldogs’ memorable 29-17 road win over the second-ranked Red Raiders. Fehlhafer posted three sacks and was named NAIA National Defensive Player of the Week.
No matter what Doane or Dakota Wesleyan have tried this fall, it hasn’t worked. Both Tiger foes surrendered eight sacks (16 total on the season) to Fehlhafer and his teammates. Doane managed a grand total of nine yards rushing after factoring in sack yardage. In week one, Terry Sebek collected three sacks (in part because of the attention faced by Fehlhafer) and was named GPAC Defensive Player of the Week. Against DWU, Fehlhafer put together a freakish performance that gave him a second national player of the week award in less than 12 months.
The success likely comes as no surprise to those who watched Fehlhafer compete at Centennial. In addition to winning a state championship in wrestling, Fehlhafer was named Class C first team all-state in football and emerged as district champion in the shot put and discus. Everyone in Utica, population 829, knows Carson Fehlhafer. To be honest, a lot of the town is Fehlhafers. As Carson jokes, “If you drive down my street, pretty much every house is a relative. There are a lot of Fehlhafers in Utica.”
It wasn’t just size and talent that caught the attention of the community. His high school football coach, Evan Klanecky, told the York News-Times in the summer of 2022, “This kid has just transformed himself over the past four years. If you knew where he was at as an incoming freshman to where he is now, he is probably in the top five percent of kids that are just so motivated. I think Concordia is getting a player who could have an immediate impact already in year one.”
Those words proved true. In addition to starting on the offensive line as a freshman, Fehlhafer took to the ring while working with throws coach Ed McLaughlin. Fehlhafer has qualified for the NAIA National Championships three times and was the 2025 GPAC indoor shot put conference champion. Once football season ends each year, Fehlhafer intensifies his throwing regimen. “It helps that Coach Ed did both when he was here,” Fehlhafer said. “He understands that it’s a lot and just kind of helps me with that.”
The work ethic helps explain the increasing list of accomplishments for Fehlhafer. The transformation from a physical standpoint began at Centennial and has continued with the strength and conditioning program at Concordia. The Paul Bunyan physique didn’t come by accident.
“I put on quite a few pounds, but it’s good pounds,” Fehlhafer said. “I’m still able to move on the field. Some guys can put on that much weight and they’re not able to move. I’ve definitely gotten physically stronger and mentally stronger. In the summers, we work really hard so that it makes our fall camp feel easier. In fall camp, you work really hard because it makes your season easier. We practice hard because we want to play like we practice. I’ve definitely grown in my strength and mental toughness.”
Adds Daberkow, “He’s gotten better every year. I think it’s a testament to the work that he’s put in and the strength and conditioning development. He loves the weight room. He loves to lift. He’s super strong. He’s got a sneaky sense of humor. He’s more of a trickster than people understand. He’s a pretty quiet personality when you first meet him, but when you get to know him it’s a whole different thing. As he gets more comfortable, you see more of his personality.”
For eight more Saturdays this fall (and perhaps postseason games), Fehlhafer will remain focused on owning the line of scrimmage. Eventually, the Business Administration major will take what he’s learned at Concordia into a new chapter in his life. The business world is nothing new in the Fehlhafer family tree. Check out Carson’s profile page on the Concordia Athletics website and one will notice his hometown sponsors of Fehlhafer’s, Inc. and Herpolsheimers, two Fehlhafer-run businesses.
Fehlhafer is keeping his options open as he also studies in the academic concentrations of finance and accounting. Perhaps he’ll one day go into business with his brothers. But those plans can wait. Fehlhafer still has time to soak up his senior year and the things he’s come to enjoy most about life at Concordia.
Said Fehlhafer, “You get to pretty much know everybody. There’s a lot of familiar faces, which is nice. You get to make friendships that you might not make on a bigger campus. That’s really nice.”
Nice off the field and nasty on the field are characteristics of Carson Fehlhafer, Concordia’s 6-foot-4, 325-pound nose guard. Said Daberkow prior to the season, “He’s going to be a problem. He’s kind of got Paul Bunyan status with our freshmen, I think. He kind of looks like him too. The legends kind of grow.”