A summary of sorts of my Twitter blitz (@FGOSPORTSWRITER) and other football stuff comprised from today:
- Starting cornerback Christian Dudzik will be moved to free safety, said head coach Craig Bohl. NDSU lost seniors Daniel Eaves and John Pike and Dudzik is tabbed as a replacement along with Bryan Shepherd, who also is moving from cornerback.
- Freshman safety Frank Veldman, a highly-touted recruit a year ago, left the team, Bohl said. “He decided college football wasn’t for him,” Bohl said.
- Bohl said moving two cornerbacks to safety was made possible with the depth at that position, which he calls the deepest since in his nine years as the head coach. Brendin Pierre, a former starter, is back after missing last year for academic reasons.
- Zach Colvin, who broke his foot prior to last season, is back for spring football, which begins March 24. So CB depth is Marcus, Colvin, Champion, Pierre, Boyd, Smith.
- Quarterback Brock Jensen continues to be hampered by a turf toe injury sustained last fall. The backup quarterback job will be a battle between Esley Thorton, Carson Wentz and Ryan Stanford in spring ball. Asked if moving Thorton to another position is a possibility, Bohl said, “He’s a quarterback. The positive thing about Esley is he has a lot of skills that could transition him to either a safety, outside linebacker or receiver.”
- Backup defensive tackle Anthony LaVoy is being moved to left guard. Guard/center Jesse Hinz is being moved to right tackle to battle with Jason Pomerenke and Jeff Jerve, who may miss spring football with knee issues.
- Receiver Zach Vraa is back at full strength after dealing with problems to both collarbones in the last two years. Bohl said he had a pin inserted into one. Receiver Trevor Gebhart continues to battle a stress fracture, but is expected to compete in spring ball.
- Sam Ojuri, Derrick Lang and Matt Jones are the three running backs for spring camp. Running back John Crockett is expected to be academically eligible for fall camp. “Things are looking probable there,” Bohl said. NDSU also signed junior college running back Deveon Dinwiddie.
- Linebacker Don Carter and defensive lineman Joe Horvath will miss spring football for academic reasons. Linebacker Tyler Gefroh suffered a torn Achilles heel during a winter workouts drill and will miss some fall practice.
great update. a lot of the movement did not even surprise me and some I expected, but Lavoy changing sides on the line and the other O line switches totally blew me out of the water. I am confused by those moves in all honesty. Horvath has to get his acedemics in order. I think he can be a beast if he gets on the field. Cant wait till spring ball and the the spring game.
Go Bison.
The reason is that Bohl hates giving money to high school OL. Plain and simple.
Lund will be the only senior OL on the roster that was offered a scholarship in high school by Bohl.
Anderson is a transfer from Science school that hasn’t played much and Beckius, a former walkon, was beat out two years ago by a true freshman.
That true freshman, Hinz, was beat out by Lund and so didn’t start last year – not sure how much he actually got to play. Which is a shame because he’s a very talented player.
Obviously they don’t think Jerve or Pomerenke can play RT at this level, so Hinz is the best bet there.
And Lavoy is the best bet to start at the other guard spot opposite Gimmestad – another converted DL (since Bohl won’t sign them out of high school!)
Gimmestad and Turner obviously will win their starting jobs again.
So the starting OL will likely be:
LT – Turner
LG – Gimme or Lavoy
C – Lund
RG – Gimme or Lavoy
RT – Hinz
You look at players behind them – razor thin depth, a Bohl staple on the OL.
They got lucky last year with OL injuries – is that what they’re going to count on this year too?
Wow, already handing Lavoy a guard starting spot? I think Beckius will step up this year as he’s started some important games for us in the past.
It will be interesting to see how some of the youngsters step up. For example, Josh Colville could be interesting. Also, the lineman out of the cities that signed early may be ready right away? I don’t know much about Lesar (he’s huge!), Schueller, Nack, or Haeg.
I’m guessing the reason Bohl doesn’t overdue it on Offensive lineman scholarships is offensive lineman can typically only do one thing, play the line on offense/field goals/extra points. If you sign extra D lineman/linebackers/safeties, etc they can be huge contributors in special teams.
What kind of depth do the Bison have at the defensive line, specifically tackle/nose guard that they can move a tackle to the O line?
That’s a ton of info. Dudzik will be a stud at safely and can slide into the slot and cover like a #1 corner.
Defensive tackle/noseguard depth: Justin Juckem, Ryan Drevlow, Leevon Perry and Brian Schaetz, the rookie who is impressing the coaches. Perry and Juckem are expected to be around 290 before fall practice. Drevlow was just plain good last season.
Juckem was 291 last year. Should be at a rock solid 300. Leevon should beef up close to 300.
I think this opens up a spot for Lisenby as a passing down pass rusher. He was a light 239 last year but is as quick as a cat and Bohl said on signing day he squats OVER 600 pounds. (not sure I believe it but point is hes strong and quick) If he can add 25 -30 pounds since the start of last year, he will be a beast.
That is some info, like it. Can’t wait for spring ball.
Thanks Jeff, I am waiting to see some new receivers. This should be a breakout season for Vraa, he has all kinds of tallent and bad luck (till now). The receiving core should break our offense open this year.
But the big question is, what team is being added to the schedule for next year? Any idea of when a deal might get done?
That’s really too bad about Frank Veldman. I was looking forward to seeing what he could do.
Frank would have been a good one for us but college ball isn’t for everyone. We’ll move on and be fine. Once Esley moves to safety we’ll have a lot of depth there. Any word on scheduling?
You guys always seem to forget or dismiss the quarterbacks from out of state. Ryan Stanford out of Arizona had very good stats coming in as a recruit. I say let the best QB come out of spring and fall practice as the backup to Brock Jensen. Hopefully Brock takes another step forward and continues to move towards a dominating player at QB for the Bison.
The coach should play the best player period. Where they are from doesn’t mean anything in determining who plays. It is about winning games and that is what the Bison do. Playing the best player earns the coach the respect of the other players because they know who the best player is as well.
Jeff if the starters on the O-Line are Turner, Lavoy, Lund, Gimme and Hinz, then what are we looking at as far as backups to these guys? I don’t understand not wanting to have a fully stocked group of O-lineman as it is one of the most important spots on the team. Go Bison!
I’ll get to the backups once spring ball gets going. Would like to wait for a few practices first.
What do you think the true freshman were doing this last year if they werent learning the plays? You also think that the coaches werent teaching them proper technique?
You dont have a clue do you.
Oline is spewing a bit of BS.
Hinz didn’t get beat out by Lund this year. Lund started 2010 but broke his leg and a TFr Hinz had to fill in for him during the playoffs and played well for having so little experience. Lund came back from his injury as the starter, which he was before he got injuried.
You can ding Bohl if you want for having only one senior OL in Lund, but that is not because he didn’t want to put money into OL, it was because the 2008 class was largely a bust. Only three players on the roster this past fall remained from that class, so lots of positions lack a redshirt senior, OL is only one of them.
I would agree that Perles did a marginal job evaluating OL talent while he was here and as the OL coach and OC he did not put enough emphasis on recruiting OL when he was the OL coach. Please recall that at that time Bohl gave a lot of authority for the assistant coaches on recruiting for their positions. That philosphy no longer exists and has changed considerably during Fuch’s regime in evaluating talent, so Oline is way off base there. He obviously has a lot of issues with Bohl and likely is sour grapes for some other reason. I hear the Whioux are looking for fans Mr. Oline.
You apparently are a new fan or don’t pay attention or have a piss poor memory, or all of the above.
Bohl admitted to Halstrom in an interview that they dramatically changed recruiting philosophies after the horrendously poor 2008 recruiting class in which five players left before fall camp was over. In that interview, he admitted that he had given too much autonomy to his assistant coaches. He also switched recruiting coordinators, but I am not sure that is such a big deal.
So Wrong, get the wax out of your ears and pay attention, you’ll have a better chance of getting ahead in life. It will at least do better for you than calling people liars when you haven’t got a clue what you are talking about.
Despite your correction, they are still wrong. You forget Laudner, Jacobs, etc., etc.
You also are not taking into account the numbers. The weakness in the line has been to due to low numbers of OL recruits. Perles tried to do it with walk ons, a sprinkle of JUCOs (all of which you conveniently ignore to make your point, you are obviously a FOX news watcher) and that has proven significantly less than effective. Perles simply did not create the numbers. Fuchs is doing that.
Just going by the Gobison site, there are 11 O Line listed from last year: Hinz, Lund, Beckius, Gimmestad, Lesar, Schueller, Colville, Jerve, Nack, Haeg, Pomerenke and Turner. This does not include D transfers or incomming freshmen. Doesn’t look like it’s time to push the panic button? Probably pretty normal numbers for FCS football.
oops, my mistake. 12 O. Linemen.
The only wrong with your analysis is that it would take $300k to $400k to get a MAC/WAC team to play.
Or we could give your idiocy some exposure.
Oh, wait.
The metrodome is so good for exposure that the Gophers moved out of it and the Vikings are willing to relocate if they don’t get out of it. Nice logic.
We don’t need a game in the Metrodome to get on FSN North. We could put Robert Morris on FSN if we are willing and they have a time slot. Why would we want to showcase an empty Metronome when we can showcase an electric Fargodome?
And now that we have HD lighting and new turf, it would look great on TV… as long as qe dont have KVLY produce it!
Unveiling of the new banner!
Hey wrong, most defensive linemen that are good enough to get a division I scholarship also play offensive line at their high school. Maybe it takes a season or two to see which side of the ball they really belong on.
As for me I trust the job Coach Bohl is doing with this program.
I think if Coach told them they would be a starting offensive lineman or a backup defensive lineman they would choose to start on offensive line.
Sure, play a team from the SWAC in the baggie and the TV guys will come running. WHAT???
Lakes, peoples opinions have nothing to do with hating you. Your idiocy is another matter.
I don’t think we can question recruiting results or OL depth right now. Every year our OL is the strength of our offense and along with our defense what has carried us in the post season. Injuries are always a concern no matter the position. Also, our coaches job is to put players in the best position to be successful and allow the team to win. If that means they make a position change so be it. I won’t be suprised when Farnloff switches to OL and if the coaches tell him he’ll play DL to get him on campus so be it. The kid will be a beast of an olinemen
I think you all make valid points. The bottom line is that unless the Bison suffer a horrid number of injuries to key players we will be in the mix to win the Missouri Valley title and have another shot at the National title. That is how it rolls with NDSU football! Coach Bohl knows what he is doing. Go Bison!
Yep, and that is why he’ll play o-line here. That doesn’t mean he won’t get a shot at D-line, a position he wants to play but he won’t cut it there. Not cause he’s a bad DL, but he’s a better OL. There is nothing wrong with telling a kid he can play a certain position just to get him on campus than change positions. He’s not going to transfer over it and as a coach, you have to do whats best for the team and get the best players.
Jerve will start this year at OT if he is healthy. He is a beast who has just been plagued with injury problems. Probably won’t go through Spring ball, but if he is healthy once fall camp comes around, he will be the starter at RT.