Trojans defensive end Caden Koedyker correctly identified the position he needed to learn to earn playing time, worked all offseason to make it happen and is enjoying a solid, busy senior season

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

At the end of his junior season, reading the roster and knowing what he needed to do as a senior was as easy for Caden Koedyker as calculating 5-5=0.
Koedyker was a linebacker then, listed at 6-foot-2, 190 pounds. The Trojans had three talented, driven, productive linebackers returning. Roberto Stabolito, Lucas Anderson and Zane Westerlund would block Koedyker’s path to snaps there. And the five defensive linemen who rotated at defensive line all were graduating.
Time to switch positions. Time to add some weight. Koedyker is listed at 6-2, 220 on this season’s roster, 30 pounds heavier than his 2024 roster weight. It didn’t happen by accident. Strength and conditioning coach Matt Wagner told him what to do in the way of nutrition and conditioning and Koedyker did it.
“I made sure I ate a lot of food,” Koedyker said. “I would make some protein shakes and I’d put olive oil and raw eggs in them. I would put a little bit of ice cream in there and they tasted OK. I would pack two extra peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and eat those during the day.”
Chesterton head football coach Mark Peterson said it’s common even for seniors not looking to add weight to “blow up the most. It’s simple genetics. The slowing down of the metabolism.”
In addition to his duties as long snapper on punts, Koedyker has been a regular at defensive end. Fellow senior Colin Kellogg, injured of late, juniors Tyler Dhamers, Gabe Viola and Matthew Batusic and sophomore Christian Melton have given the Trojans more depth on the D-line that most would have guessed a year ago at this time.
“Caden has grown his way into the position,” Peterson said. “In addition to strength gains that he’s had, he’s been able to retain weight. He's been a great leader in the weight room, brings a lunch pal mentality, going to work to get it done while he’s there.”
Beefing up and learning technique at his new position weren’t Koedyker’s only football objectives during the offseason. He also went to camps, including one at Western Michigan, to refine his long-snapping, a job he earned from the third varsity game of 2024.
“We needed someone on the JV team to do it, so I just started practicing more and more and I really liked doing it, so I practiced hard every day, and I ended up starting last season (on the varsity),” Koedyker said.
He said the camps helped, although he confessed to “having a little bit of a rough start at Hobart with one or two bad snaps. Michigan City we had a punt blocked, but that wasn’t because of the snap.”
Koedyker, who also plays volleyball, said what he likes about snapping is that “it’s such a simple thing, but it decides outcomes of games so often. You’re expected to be perfect every time.”
Koedyker threw a ballcarrier for a 5-yard loss at Hobart and made a huge tackle on the punt returner as soon as he caught it late in the Valparaiso win that broke a 14-game losing streak to the Vikings.
“Caden Koedyker has done a great job for us. He has played a variety of positions for us during his career: safety, linebacker, defensive end,” said Peterson, who could have added backup quarterback on the freshman team. “It’s been exciting to see his growth.”