Reusse: Bethel’s star safety, Matt Jung, wasn’t always a towering giant on the field

The Concordia Cobbers had been very competitive against St. John’s in losing 38-31 in early October. A month later, the other MIAC perennial football power, Bethel, was in Moorhead to decide which team would have a rematch with the Johnnies a week later to decide the conference title.

Mike McFeely, a sports columnist for the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, was located in the press box at Jake Christiansen Stadium. And as Bethel lined up to receive a Cobbers’ kickoff, McFeely would exclaim:

“My gawd, there’s a giant back there to return the kickoff for Bethel.”

The athlete in question was Matt Jung, a D3 All-American safety for the Royals — 6-foot-3 and maybe with a few more pounds of clout than his listed 215.

“This was the MIAC, where 6-3, 220 is huge for a non-lineman,” McFeely said this week. “And this guy was a safety, a kick returner … and fast.”

Bethel 49, Concordia 16, with the giant safety returning two interceptions for touchdowns.

All of which makes it more astounding to hear the family tales of Matt having been the only scrawny kid among the four football-playing Jungs — standing 5-foot-8 and weighing 135 (tops) as a freshman at Neenah (Wis.) High School.

Matt was 2 years old and his mom, Wendy, was seven months pregnant with youngest brother Luke when Matt broke a femur. He was put in a cast covering the lower portion of his body and hauled around in a red wagon — generally by an older brother, Joe or Sam.

Through grade school, he was small … and feisty. “Sam was two years older, and we didn’t get along too well,” Matt said this week. “Lots of battles.”

Sam Jung was asked about this and said: “Yes, there were some … ah, altercations. When we all got a pickup basketball game going, most of those ended with an altercation.”

Father Steve was a D3 All-American safety at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis. Mother Wendy (Hill) graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and is a pediatrician.

Steve played rugby for seven years after college, traveling the world with the United States Eagles. He put that aside to teach science and coach football. Neenah High was his alma mater, and Steve returned there as the Rockets’ football coach in 2013. Oldest sons Joe and Sam were with Steve’s varsity as sophomores — and as safeties on defense.

Then along came Matt. “I didn’t play varsity at all as a sophomore,” Matt said. “I wasn’t ready.”

He was in the Rockets’ lineup as a safety as a junior. As a senior, he was the starting quarterback and a middle linebacker.

Matt also was a starter on the Rockets’ basketball team that won Wisconsin’s large-school title in 2022. Neenah had a previous legendary basketball coach in Ron Einerson with many state appearances, although this was the first title since 1978.

“We had four starters who could shoot, and we had me,” Matt said. “I played defense. I usually guarded the best player on the other team.”

The recruiters had come to town for Sam Jung and they also did for Matt. Sam chose to be a preferred walk-on with North Dakota State’s legendary FCS program. Matt went to MSU Mankato and soon was uncertain if he would fit — talent-wise and also on a large campus.

“I wasn’t playing as a freshman, but being there was getting better for me,” Matt said. “Then I was making a play in practice and broke a fibula.”

That made the decision easy for Jung. He entered the transfer portal in December 2022 and wound up deciding between two potent D3 programs: Wisconsin-Whitewater and Bethel.

Mike McElroy, then Bethel’s defensive coordinator, had recruited Jung out of high school. Matt had visited the Bethel campus twice during the high school recruiting process.

“I thought Matt would go to Whitewater — the big success they’ve had there, and being a Wisconsin school,” father Steve said. “But he chose Bethel, and it’s worked out great for him.”

And for Bethel. The Royals went 0-2 vs. St. John’s this season, losing a November shootout 41-33 and falling 45-20 in September — even though Jung appeared as receiver and caught a 69-yard touchdown pass in the first game.

Now in the playoffs, Bethel has rattled off wins vs. Coe, Lake Forest and Wartburg. Meantime, the Johnnies were upset at home by Susquehanna, meaning the Royals will be playing the River Hawks in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

McElroy was elevated from defensive coordinator to head coach after Steve Johnson’s retirement following last season. On Jung’s arrival at spring practice in 2023, Matt was slowed as he recovered from the broken fibula.

“I knew we were getting a good player in Matt,” McElroy said. “I didn’t know we were getting an MIAC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-American.

“He’s a dude, that’s all. We were out there last Thursday, last practice before going to Wartburg, ready to leave the field. And Matt said, ‘Wait, we have to run that again. We missed a fit on that one. Let’s get it right.’

“Coach’s kid, right there.”

As Matt has excelled for Bethel for two years, Sam put in three seasons of development and spot duty at NDSU before becoming a starting safety in 2023.

Sam was back there this season, then suffered a torn pectoral muscle in game No. 8 against the Bison’s now rival of rivals, South Dakota State.

The Bison are in the same place as Bethel — national quarterfinals vs. Mercer on Saturday in Fargo.

No more football for Sam, although Mom made the 7½-hour drive from Neenah to Fargo for a senior event last weekend. He will graduate this month with a degree in engineering, and a job with a firm in Green Bay awaits.

The early morning Saturday drives to follow two college-playing sons will resume for Steve and Wendy Jung late next summer.

That’s because youngest son Luke has signed with Minnesota Duluth, although projected as a linebacker, and not the family trade of playing safety.

“Maybe they’ll move him,” Coach Jung said.

9 — Interceptions, third-most in a single-season for Bethel and most in the nation

4 — Interceptions returned for a TD, leading the nation; single-season DIII record

6 — Career interceptions returned for a TD, tied for DIII career record

16 — Career interceptions