Quarterbacking in December is now just the way things are for Cooper Drews at Bethel. Photo by Caleb Williams, d3photography.com

By Greg Thomas
D3football.com

On paper, it looks like Cooper Drews took a step back.

The raw numbers point in that direction. Last season he threw for 3,822 yards on 504 attempts, piling up 43 touchdowns in 14 games. This year, through Bethel’s 12 contests, he’s sitting at 3,050 yards on 376 attempts with 41 touchdowns. The volume is down across the board — fewer attempts, fewer completions, fewer yards.

But the quarterbacking? That part made a decisive jump.

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Drews’ efficiency climbed from 160.7 to 169.55. His interceptions dropped from 12 to five. And the eye test tells an even sharper story. Bethel’s offense no longer needs him to win through sheer output. It wins because he runs the show with clarity and control.

“The biggest thing is in the first year you have to teach everybody what to do and everything’s new,” Bethel offensive coordinator Colin Duling said. “Our assistant coaches had to learn the offense. Every player had to learn the offense. Going into year two, it’s just a refresher on everything.”

If 2024 was about onboarding for Drews, for Duling, and for an offense undergoing a full rebuild,  then 2025 has been about fluency. That fluency is what pushed Bethel right back into December football.

When Drews transferred in from St. John’s in the summer of 2024, Bethel wasn’t just handing him the keys to a new car — they were still deciding on the make and model. Duling had just arrived from Berry College. From the assistants to the veterans and freshmen to even the quarterback himself, everyone was learning a new system at the same time.

“The biggest thing that stuck out to me right away was just his work ethic,” Duling said. “How much time he was willing to spend in becoming a master of what we’re asking him to do. The guy is a football junkie, and he just wants more and more of it.”

The 2024 offense reflected that grind. Bethel leaned heavily on two elite receivers — Joey Kidder and Micah Niewald, who graduated as the top two in program history in career receptions —  and pushed volume as their structural advantage. If you can’t out-execute every read in a new system, you can sometimes out-throw it.

That’s how you rack up 504 attempts. But it’s also how you throw 12 interceptions while you’re still translating a playbook into instinct.

“Everyone on the team had to learn a new offense,” Drews said. “We were able to be very successful with it, but now that it’s our second year doing it, there have been new things we can add. Some of those things that were really difficult last year are just second nature now.”

Year 1 was about translation. Year 2 has been about fluency.

The most revealing number in Drews’ stat line is the simplest one: five interceptions.

He didn’t just cut his turnovers down by more than half; he did it while maintaining almost identical touchdown production. That’s not a lucky bounces story. That’s a processing-speed story.

“The thing that’s slowed down the most is just recognizing different defenses,” Drews said. “Last year it felt like there were 14 defenders on the field at all times. Now it feels like it just slowed down a lot more.”

You can see it in his decision-making. Balls come out earlier. Progressions flow more naturally. He throws because the play is ready, not because it’s time to throw.

The efficiency spike underscores the point. At the D-III level, that kind of jump is meaningful. It means Bethel has traded volatility for intentionality. It means Drews is choosing the throws that move the chains and trusting the offense to deliver the explosives when they present themselves.

This is what a quarterback looks like when he stops hunting big plays and starts inheriting them.

Just as important? Bethel’s attempts per game dropped from 36.0 to 31.3. That reduction isn’t a passive outcome of game script. It’s structural. The Royals stay on schedule more consistently. They convert third downs at a rate nine points better than last season. They don’t chase drives; they build them.

“I think that’s the struggle for quarterbacks,” Drews said. “Knowing when to sometimes just take your medicine and maybe take a checkdown. Sometimes you can create great plays by taking chances, but the biggest thing is always trying to get a positive gain on plays.”

That’s not the voice of a quarterback managing a narrowed-down offense. That’s the voice of a quarterback managing an expanded one.

Let’s be clear: Drews isn’t a dual-threat quarterback. That’s not Bethel’s plan, and it’s not his identity.

But the Royals have added a strategic wrinkle this year —  and they save it for when it matters.

Drews posted his highest carry totals of the season in Bethel’s two playoff wins. He had scored a rushing touchdown in seven straight games before the UW-Platteville round of 16 contest. Bethel doesn’t call those runs because they’re flashy. They call them because they trust their quarterback to execute them.

“I’ve never really been a running quarterback,” Drews said. “But quarterback runs bring numbers back into the box for the offense. It’s been really cool for me as a challenge to improve as the year has gone on.”

Duling put it more bluntly. “He probably doesn’t get as much credit as he should for running the football,” he said. “We’ve intentionally tried to keep him healthy through the regular season, then turn him loose here at the end of the year.”

Losing two 1,000-yard receivers would normally drag down a quarterback’s Year 2 leap. Instead, Drews used it as the foundation for one.

Bethel rebuilt its skill positions almost entirely. The receiving corps features one of the most unusual breakout stories in Division III in former backup quarterback Albert Rundell, now a Gagliardi Trophy semifinalist. Freshman running back Taye Manns became an instant factor. Junior back David Geebli rediscovered the form that made him a postseason star as a freshman in 2022.

They’re a different cast, but the timing and cohesion mirror a veteran group because Drews set the pace. “A lot of those guys were here in the summer,” Drews said. “We spent a lot of time up at the field getting reps. Spring ball was the first time it was like, ‘Alright, this is the new group,’ and that’s when we started building our chemistry.”

Duling expected to lean even more heavily on Drews in 2025. Then the offense evolved.

“We replaced really every skill player on offense who played a significant amount last year outside of Cooper,” he said. “We probably thought we were going to throw the ball more than we’ve had to, just because he was the returner. But our offensive line stepped up, we’ve got a couple really good running backs, and the receiving corps has been pieced together through the course of the year. I think we’re starting to hit our stride now.”

The receivers changed. The offense evolved. The quarterback elevated.

The best quarterbacks aren’t the ones with the prettiest box scores; they’re the ones whose play scales up when the weather tightens and the opponents get mean. Drews has been that quarterback this December.

His increased usage in the run game reflects the coach’s trust. His turnovers haven’t returned despite tougher defenses. The Royals’ playoff wins have come with a quarterback who understands tempo, field position, leverage, and how to keep his team’s fingerprints on the ball while squeezing the oxygen out of opponents.

“The guy is as mentally tough as anybody,” Duling said. “When December football rolls around, this guy never flinches.”

The numbers fell, but the quarterbacking rose. In 2024, Drews’ volume announced him to Division III. In 2025, his mastery turned Bethel back into a national contender. The Royals have returned to the quarterfinals because their quarterback became the offense’s engine, not just its distributor.

His value isn’t measured by attempts anymore. It’s measured by control, by efficiency, by the rhythm he creates and the mistakes he prevents.

His numbers went down. His value skyrocketed.