Photo By Christian Vetrone, Photography Editor
By Matt Guear
Josh Ehrlich transferred to Susquehanna University from NCAA Division I Marist College in January of 2023. Just nine months later, he’s the starting quarterback for the 6-0 River Hawks, ranked as the #11 team in the nation by D3football.com
“One of our coaches at the time that he was coming out of high school went down to the Big 33 game,” said head coach Tom Perkovich. “He made a comment to him, essentially saying if anything changes, let us know. That was it until he entered the portal. We saw it and that coach got on him right away.”
However, it took a lot for Ehrlich to even be at the Big 33 game to begin with. He has an extensive support system that includes his parents, as well as coaches.
“My mom is my rock. She always has my side,” said Ehrlich. “She’s always the one, probably, I wouldn’t say stressed, but worried about me out there.”
Ehrlich’s success can also be partially attributed to him coming from a football family. His dad played linebacker at Princeton University and his brother, Drew, currently plays safety for Washington Jefferson University.
“My dad says I have one football player and one quarterback in the family. So, he doesn’t really count me as a football player,” Ehrlich joked. “But my dad helped me find my love for the game.”
While some might find the move from Marist to Susquehanna to be daunting, Ehrlich didn’t. In fact, he was able to find his footing easily, thanks to the welcoming environment the team already had in place.
“Oh yeah, I fell in love with the place when I visited,” Ehrlich said. “Of course, I got here last spring, so I got to be acclimated with my teammates that spring and go through workouts with them and get comfortable. They made me feel welcome as soon as I got here.”
The welcoming culture of the team allowed Ehrlich to get comfortable. After that happened, it was time to get to work. Ehrlich prefers to lead by example, and although he is only a sophomore, that’s paying off already.
“I want to work hard, put my head down, and lead by example at first. And, you know, they’ll follow with me,” Ehrlich said. “I think I earned respect starting in the spring and then I earned respect in fall camp and then after that first game I really had the team and now, they have my back, I have theirs. I go to work for my guys on the team.”
It’s no coincidence that Ehrlich’s character has fit so nicely with the rest of his teammates. The coaching staff makes sure that every recruit they bring into the program is a quality fit.
“Part of it for us is figuring out, are they a fit?” Perkovich said. “Can they be a fit here? That’s number one for me. I’m highly protective of our culture and what we’ve built here, and I don’t want to bring someone in who could rock the boat. We felt like he checked those boxes.”
The positive attitude that Ehrlich carries himself with not only shines through behind closed doors at practice, but during games as well. Ehrlich’s play under Perkovich’s system has gotten significantly better week-to-week.
“We did some things that I think were in his wheelhouse, moving him around a little bit more out of the pocket,” said Perkovich regarding this past week’s game against Catholic. “I’m happy with the progress he made from, you know, definitely from Western New England to Catholic. I mean, he was dialed in. You know, he had some easy throws, but he’s still missing things and he knows it and I’m confident he’ll get better because the one thing that did jump out even in the recruiting process and has jumped out working with him is he cares a lot about it. He takes notes he wants to try to continue to work at being the very best he can be and that’s all I can ask.”
Ehrlich has passed for 864 yards and 7 touchdowns this season. He’s also tallied 428 yards and 2 touchdowns on the ground.
Ehrlich possesses a competitive spirit that drives him to always want to be better. That’s evident on the football field, but also when he’s doing other things with friends like playing video games or Spikeball. In fact, Ehrlich is, in his words, “way too into Spikeball”.
“I’d like to say I’m one of the best here,” said Ehrlich.
He enjoys playing with his friends from home and was even looking into entering a tournament in Florida, but that plan was nixed due to football.
Now at Susquehanna, Ehrlich enjoys spending time with friends while watching sports. He’s from Maryland, so naturally, he roots for the Orioles, Capitals, and Ravens. Quarterback Lamar Jackson is “his guy”. Ironically though, his favorite player ever is former Cleveland Brown Johnny Manziel.
“My favorite player of all time is Johnny Manziel in college,” said Ehrlich. “I like to say I play a little bit like him.”
If he’s not watching sports, Ehrlich likes to have some kind of TV show on.
“I’m a TV show guy. Whenever I’m just chilling in the room, I’m watching something,” said Ehrlich. “I just finished The Wire. That’s one of my favorite shows, I finished The Sopranos before that. So, I’m watching shows all the time.”
Ehrlich, along with the rest of the team, look to remain undefeated this season and continue to build on what the coaching staff has built. It seems the sky is the limit for the River Hawks.
