From hoops to gridiron: AU's Jake McLoughlin making huge impact for Eagles football

ASHLAND — Jake McLoughlin started his Ashland University athletics career as a basketball player.

On Saturday, his crucial play in punt coverage late in the NCAA Division II Super Region I playoff game against Notre Dame College helped clinch a first-round victory for the AU football team.

As a result of the 20-13 win over the Falcons, the Eagles earned a trip this Saturday to play No. 1 seed Indiana (Pa.) University in the second round.

“It was a great feeling,” McLoughlin said. “In order to go make a play like that meant a lot for me and the guys beside me and it was able to seal the game for us.”

Holding a one-touchdown lead, the Eagles couldn’t get a first down to run out the clock and had to punt from their own 27-yard line with 65 seconds left.

Covering the kick, McLoughlin, a junior wide receiver and contributor on all the special teams, made the hit on Notre Dame returner Antoine Holloway, forcing a fumble.

Sophomore tight end Nabil Abdus-Salaam fell on the loose ball before it could bounce out of bounds, and suddenly all the Eagles needed was a kneel down by the offense to win a first-round playoff game for the third time in school history.

“We went protection first because we thought (Notre Dame) would come after it and try to block it,” AU coach Lee Owens said. “We only had two guys releasing (McLoughlin and Logan Bolin). We challenged them, hey, you guys have to get down there and make this play, and they did.”

The Eagles practice maximum punt protection, but the kick by punter Trevor Bycznski against the Falcons was the first time this season AU went to it in a game.

“We just wanted to get the punt off … and let our defense win it for us,” McLoughlin said. “We lined up and I ended up getting a free release to the outside. Me and Logan both cornered the (returner) right there and I was able to wrap him up.

“I didn’t know at the time that I punched the ball out when I wrapped him up. I just wanted to drive him out of bounds but then I turned around and saw (Abdus-Salaam) jump on the ball and it was a really cool experience.”

McLoughlin came to AU in 2018-19 after a standout basketball career playing for his dad at Tri-Valley High School near Zanesville. He talked to Eagles basketball coach John Ellenwood about trying to play both football and basketball in college, but quickly dismissed that idea.

As a freshman at AU, he played in 19 games, scoring 21 points with 32 rebounds and six assists. But a trip to the state championship game in football as a high school senior had triggered a desire to keep playing the game in college.

“I wanted to respect my decision to come here to play basketball but if I could choose football after that, that’s what I wanted to do,” McLoughlin said. “I finished up the season and then I ended up talking to coach Ellenwood and said, ‘hey, I had a change of heart. I really want to go back to the gridiron and play football one more time.’

“After that, I quickly called coach Owens because I knew some of the guys on the football team. And I said if there is any chance for me to be on this team, I’d love to. I knew the tradition was great here and to be surrounded by those guys would be awesome.”

Owens said his first thought was about not causing a rift between the basketball and football programs.

“You worry about creating any issues on campus because he was a good basketball player and John does such a great job with that group … and he was one of their guys,” he said. “My first concern was that we make sure coach (Ellenwood) was on board and understood what was happening.

“Jake had created such a strong relationship with our football players. I think that was what it really was all about. He got to be really close with them and I think he missed the game.

“I didn’t know for sure how long it would take for him to transition or if it was the right thing for him to do. But I know this, he was 100 percent committed to join our football team and boy, am I glad he did.”

In his first season of football in 2019, McLoughlin started six games, recording 11 receptions for 189 yards and a touchdown.

There was no season in 2020, but he came back to average 19.4 yards per catch on 18 receptions with two TDs in 2021.

During this 10-1 season for the Eagles so far, McLoughlin has 14 receptions for 139 yards and one score. He also has nine tackles and two forced fumbles as a special teams player.

“If you think about the basketball skill set that he brings to football, basketball players understand spacing, they understand how to move in space and make plays,” Owens said. “That’s what special teams is all about.

“You have to be the kind of athlete that can control your body, play in space, be under control but play with some explosion when you need to and he does all that.

“Plus you have to be a smart football player and you have to be an unselfish football player. You don’t get a lot of credit for doing this normally.”

And who knows? It might just take another great special teams play for the Eagles to get past IUP and move on to the Super Region I championship game.

“It’s huge,” McLoughlin said. “Coach Owens preaches every week, if you win the turnover battle and the special teams battle you’ll win the game most times.

“Any play in this game is going to be a big play. You never know when your number’s going to be called. When you have your opportunity to go make a big play like that, you have to go do it.”

This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: From hoops to gridiron: AU's Jake McLoughlin making huge impact for Eagles football