MARSHFIELD – A Stratford native will play football for the Green Bay Blizzard of the Indoor Football League.
Noah Barrett, a 2022 graduate of Stratford High School, has signed a contract with the Blizzard for the 2027 season.
“The coaches from Green Bay gave me a call, and being a Wisconsin kid and huge Packers fan, it was kind of a no-brainer and I was going to love it there,” Barrett told Hub City Times. “I was loving what the coaches were telling me about the culture they have there, and they’ve been having some winning seasons there, so it all just kind of felt right.”
The Blizzard announced the signing of the former Stratford and St. Olaf linebacker on Oct. 18.
“Obviously the end goal isn’t the IFL, but as long as it’s still a bridge league, I feel like if I’m loving where I’m at and loving what I’m doing, I’ll be able to thrive,” Barrett added.
The 6’0”, 220-pound Barrett is a second-year player in the IFL. However, this is his first season with the Blizzard, and will play his home games at the Resch Center in Green Bay, just a two-hour drive from home.
“I had some tryouts last spring towards the end of my college career,” Barrett told us. “I had an NFL Pro Day with some NFL teams. [I] went to a CFL Pro Day up in Canada. Nothing stuck from those unfortunately. Graduated in May and moved back home and was just trying to get something. Northern Arizona reached out to me and I was able to go out there for the last four weeks of their season and get some pro film and get this ball rolling.”
Barrett began his pro career with the Northern Arizona Wranglers at the tail end of 2026. In just four games, the linebacker recorded 20 tackles and one interception. As a midseason signing, Barrett did not participate in an IFL Training Camp. So, 2027 Green Bay Blizzard Training Camp will be his first, in a league which features eight-man football.
“It’s really about just trying to be at the right place at the right time,” said Barrett, about converting his mindset from 11-man football to the eight-man game. “Obviously they’ve got the CFL rules on offense with the high motion, so you’ve got two receivers running full-speed at the line of scrimmage when the ball is snapped, and you’ve got to kind of anticipate where they’re going, get into your zone, read the quarterback’s eyes, so it’s a lot faster. That was a big adjustment, but the scheme doesn’t really change that much. It’s just adjusting to the condensed field and less players and trying to still play that Chess game trying to figure out where the offense is trying to go and to take that away from them.”
The Green Bay Blizzard are defending two-time Eastern Conference champions, losing the last two years in the IFL Championship.
IFL teams play a 16-game schedule over the course of 20 weeks from March through July, with the postseason occurring in August.
Barrett competed in football, basketball, baseball, and track and field at Stratford High School from 2018-2022. He was a member of two football teams which appeared in the WIAA State Finals and he played with Easton Kilty and Ben Barton, who are currently in the NFL.
Barrett committed to football at St. Olaf College in Minnesota. In 39 games from 2022 to 2025, Barrett recorded 131 total tackles, 23.5 tackles for loss, seven-and-a-half sacks, five passes defended, one forced fumble, six fumble recoveries, one blocked kick, and one touchdown. Barrett is a one-time All-MIAC selection for his outstanding play in 2024. He followed up that year as a Campbell Trophy semifinalist, an honor often dubbed the academic Heisman.
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