One year has made quite a difference for Nahdir Guinyard.
He enjoyed a breakout year while surrounded by some steady seniors last year, and this fall the junior receiver and safety has increased his production and elevated his chances of playing at the college level while also taking on more of a leadership role for a group of budding young stars.
“It’s way different being a junior because now I have the role because last year we had veteran players like Ryan (Greig), Jaheim (Williams) and Bryce (Brown),” Guinyard said. “But now I’m the leader, so I’m that guy that has to step up being an upperclassman for so many young guys. I have a young quarterback, so keeping him composed during games, keeping everybody on track. Being the leader of this team, that’s really been a real big part to take on.”
After going 7-3 and 5-0 in the West Jersey Football League Valley Division in 2025, Ewing graduated its statistical leaders in all three major offensive categories: Greig, who passed for 1,589 yards; Josh Missick, who ran for 1,057 yards; and Kristian Thomas, who had 486 receiving yards. Someone had to step in when they graduated, and Ewing started to see the answer in the summer.
“During the summer, it was a little bit of, who’s going to play this, who’s going to play that?” Guinyard said. “But at the end of the day, I know what Hutch’s doing. So I’m always going to trust the process with him. I never thought we were going to be a bad team. I always thought the young guys were going to come in, and we’ve seen from the first day they had the athleticism that we needed. So we knew they were going to be a great asset to the team.”
The confidence has been rewarded. The young players have posted some impressive numbers through the first eight games of the season. Zaydin Boyce is just a sophomore, but he’s jumped from playing JV last year to throwing for 1,418 yards as the varsity quarterback. Freshman Asante Colvin has been a huge addition, leading Ewing with 740 rushing yards. And Guinyard has already surpassed his receiving total from last year with 598 yards and six touchdowns on 41 catches to lead all Blue Devils receivers.
“We’re a very young team. Very young,” said Ewing second-year head coach Al-majid Hutchins. “We’re playing with freshmen and sophomores basically. We’re not a heavy senior-led team. And that’s good. You talk about building a program, that’s what you want. If your young guys are good and they’re playing football and they’re getting all those reps, you’re going to have a good program going forward. So I’m very pleased with our young guys and how they’re going out and competing and executing.”
As with any young team, there are bound to be ups and downs. Ewing was 5-3 after eight games, and in all three losses, the Blue Devils could point to a few plays that made the difference between winning and losing. It’s also possible they could have a chance in the postseason to avenge a 33-28 loss to Hopewell Valley if the seedings work out in the South Jersey Group 3 playoffs.
“That’s definitely a game we’re looking to get back on,” Guinyard said.
In their wins, the Blue Devils have unleashed a balanced offense that scores in a variety of ways and can score in bunches. They scored 33 points in a win at Franklin, put up 56 points in a victory at Hightstown, hung 30 points on Princeton and 44 on Cherry Hill West. After a narrow 17-14 loss to Delran, they rebounded with a 55-27 win over Allentown to improve to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in the WJFL Capitol Division.
“It’s so good to get back in the win column,” Hutchins said. “Those weeks are long when you suffer one of those heartbreaking losses. So it feels good for the kids to get back in the win column and to move forward from that.”
Against Allentown, Jaidyn Myers ran for 102 yards and three touchdowns, and Boyce passed for 357 yards and five touchdowns. Christian Casey had eight catches for 202 yards in the win, Quadir Young caught two touchdown passes, and Guinyard had five catches for 96 yards and two scores. Guinyard has learned to deal with more attention from defenses after his breakout year.
“It just set it up for me getting the ball more and defenses sort of double teaming me,” Guinyard said. “Defense is sort of double teaming me. So I’m still like one of the main targets, but I’ve gotten the ball less times because of getting double teamed and stuff.”
Guinyard made a big jump from his freshman year last season. It put him on the radar and helped establish that he could be a playmaker for the Blue Devils.
“I wouldn’t say I was surprised because I’ve worked for it, so everything I worked for I worked pretty hard to get the accomplishments I got,” he said. “But I didn’t know our team was really talented so I didn’t really think I was gonna have that big of an impact as I did, but I was definitely a good asset to the team.”
Guinyard sees his future in college on the offensive side but also helps on the defensive side of the ball for Ewing. He’s having a great time playing safety for a defense that has held opponents to 21 points or fewer in five games.
“Both of the sides have their perks, making big plays on both of the sides,” Guinyard said. “I would say I like offense, but this year defense has it more because our team on defense has that chemistry so it’s non-stop talking, repeated talking, and I know if I’m out of my position one of my teammates are gonna be there to pick up. So defense and getting the big hits on defense and interceptions, that’s definitely like an adrenaline rush of this team so far.”
Guinyard expects that his athleticism, speed and agility will translate best to playing receiver at the next level. Last year’s success started him thinking about continuing to play beyond Ewing, and he’s hopeful that a Division I school will be interested. He’s been focusing on improving all he can to prepare for that possibility.
“Keeping my head up, my body language right because I realized that’s what a lot of coaches have looked at,” he said. “And do everything at full speed. I realized last year I didn’t do a lot of things at full speed, so this year I’m definitely also doing everything at full speed, doing everything at the D1 level that I want to play at.”
It’s an example that the younger players can learn from now. They are mirroring the way their veteran leaders act, and Guinyard has embraced that role.
“He’s taking more of a leadership role,” Hutchins said. “Last year as a sophomore he didn’t have to be the guy. He played his role and when his time was called, he answered. Last year we had Kristian Thomas, the stud for us at the receiver. We had Josh Missick at the running back and we had Ryan as our leader at the quarterback. So he didn’t really have to be the guy, but he was the guy. This year, he’s the guy and he’s owning it and he’s going out there, and he’s making plays on both sides of the ball.”
He’s far from alone. There are plenty of young players making their mark, too. They have taken to the varsity level quickly and made huge strides from the beginning of the season.
“I see a drastic change in the maturity level,” Guinyard said. “They’re understanding the game more, like at practices it’s not much of a turnaround no more. They know what they’re doing and they’re getting it done. They’re getting it done at a fast pace. They’re picking up everything.”
The young nucleus has been a huge plus. The players wouldn’t have gotten there without a new crop of leaders like Guinyard.
“It all starts with the culture and the guys that they’re around last year were extremely important for us as a program,” Hutchins said. “Winning that conference championship, winning all of those games, going to the playoffs, something that wasn’t done in a long time there in that manner in Ewing, they wanted to be a part of that. And obviously they’re extremely talented kids naturally. But I think the culture is what really helped kind of incorporate them into what we do.”
