By The Keystone Newspaper Standout player has been involved with football for as long as he can remember
By Kara Armstrong
KU quarterback Judd Novak spent the 2023 season making a name for himself. Although it was the redshirt freshman’s first year playing college football, Novak started in all but one game. Under his leadership, KU football earned a lofty 12-2 record, a PSAC championship, and the program’s first NCAA Division II Super Region 1 championship.
Photo Credit: Christopher Hemerly
Novak recently earned the title of PSAC Freshman of the Year and a spot on the PSAC Eastern Division All-Conference Second Team.
This season’s success was especially meaningful for Novak, who was eager to play after spending a year redshirted.
“It was definitely humbling,” he said about being redshirted. “But it was good experience learning the plays, learning how our offense works and learning the defenses run by other teams.”
Coming into this season, Novak knew he wanted to play. He expected to be second-string, but hoped there would be an opportunity to see what he could do.
He got just that.
In KU’s first game of the season, starting quarterback Donny Blaine was injured. “I saw Donny go down,” Novak recounted. “I saw him holding his shoulder. I sprinted to get my helmet, got on the field and thought ‘alright, let’s just try to make something good out of this.’”
KU was down by too many points for Novak to pull out a win against Assumption, but he gained valuable experience.
By the time the next game rolled around, Blaine was still injured. On the morning of gameday, Novak got the news that he would be starting. “I was excited,” he said. “I didn’t want to go back to sitting on the bench. I tried everything I could to keep the starting job, and I have.”
He has been the starting quarterback in every game since.
Although his season is full of highlights, Novak says two of his fondest memories from the regular season are KU’s victory over Shepherd University and the victory against East Stroudsburg University.
He counts KU’s 20-3 win over Shepherd as his first big win as a starter. KU defeated the long-time rival on Shepherd’s home field.
The following week, KU grappled with East Stroudsburg on Family Day. KU found themselves down 27-20 coming into the fourth quarter. “I’ll never forget the two touchdown passes: one to Kurt Ravenel and the final pass to Jordan Davis,” said Novak.
KU pulled away 34-27 to seal the game. “I was taking everything in and thanking God for putting me in this situation,” said Novak.
Novak’s skill has been years in the making. He has been involved with football for as long as he can remember. He started playing around fourth grade. “Before that,” said Novak, “I would always go to my brother’s football games, and my dad would throw me footballs during halftime.”
In high school, Novak was Manheim Central’s starting quarterback during his junior and senior years. During his senior year, his team won the section championship and finished the season 8-2.
When it came time to choose a university, Novak knew he wanted to play for KU. Novak’s older brother Jake also played football for KU, and his sister, Olivia, played for the women’s soccer team. “I always went to Jake’s games,” he said. “I’ve basically come here all my life, so I had the mindset, ‘if Kutztown gives me an offer, I’m coming here.’”
The Novak brothers were on the team together for the 2022 football season. Judd said that there were a lot of perks to being on the same team as his brother. Through his older brother, Judd had connections with the team before he started playing. Additionally, he described his older brother as always welcoming and someone other players looked up to.
For his part, Jake continues to be an important influence in Judd’s life. “He always texts me before every game,” said Judd. “He holds me to a high standard.”
Novak credits his father, Paul, for always pushing him. His dad always tries to find the good in everything, and never lets Novak get comfortable.
Novak’s brother-in-law Caleb was his quarterback coach in high school. “He taught me basically everything I know about being a quarterback,” said Novak. When Novak has a problem, he knows he can rely on Caleb to help solve it. Caleb played football for Lock Haven University and is a hall-of-famer for their program.
Novak advises younger players to be patient, because anything can happen. “Look what happened to me,” he said. “I wasn’t the starter for this year but things happened.” Additionally, he recommends working hard and focusing on the things that can be controlled.
For the rest of his football career at KU, he has two goals: to continue his starting position and for the team to make the PSAC championships every year. “Ultimately we want to win PSACs every year,” he said. “It would be amazing for Kutztown, and for me, so I want to bring that to our university.”
Novak has already checked off his first PSAC win, and if this season is any indication, he’s well on his way to achieving this goal. Novak has many options on the horizon for post-graduation. He hopes to use family connections at the Cleveland Browns or Discover Lancaster to find a job he loves, or, potentially continue his football career.