Back in New York for a quick vacation, before the craziness of fall camp begins, but wanted to throw out a couple things before going dark (or trying to) for a few days:

The Sports Network put out its FCS Preseason All-American teams today, NDSU has just one representative on the 3 teams, and it’s no surprise being Marcus Williams at cornerback. The Valley had 8 other representatives, led by Indiana State, with a surprising 3, nothing surprising about Shakir Bell and Ben Obaseki being there. Illinois State then had 2 with Tyrone Walker and Jordan Neukirch on the squad, Bison fans will remember UNI’s Tyler Sievertsen, one of the better kickers in the nation. Youngstown has just one rep, which stuns me, Kurt Hess in my mind is in the conversation of the top 3 QB’s in the league(Jensen and Matt Brown the others), he was left off, while RB Jamaine Cook is on the squad. Granted before the Bison fans complain about the lack of NDSU players, it is just a preseason prediction, can’t take too much to heart.

The other big news came from the Bison men’s basketball team, where NDSU got a verbal from Fargo Shanley product AJ Jacobson, the top priority of the 2013 class. Jacobson is 6’6 and a traditional swingman, who NDSU has been super high on for the last 2 years. A closer look at his numbers shows why from this past season:

PPG: 23.8 (led conference)

Rebounds per game: 10.9 (lead EDC)

Assists: 4.2 (6th)

Offensive Rebounds: 2nd

FG Percentage: 50.5% (8th)

Steals: 2nd

3-point %: 4th

Blocked shots: lead EDC

He has been a special player in high school and this is a guy NDSU HAD to get. This is the first Fargo player to get a D-1 offer since Jordan Allard in 2008 for UND, NDSU’s 1st metro-player since Austin Pennick, local player since Jordan Aaberg. A recent look at standout North Dakota prep players has seen them leave the state; outside of Dexter Werner, who is coming to NDSU this fall (Austin Dufalt-Colorado; Brent Qvale-Montana; Luke Martinez-Wyoming, Joe Hanstad-Boise State), so to keep  a kid this talented in-state(Cal Poly offered, Brown and Colgate were also super high on him) is a major deal. NDSU used 3 scholarships this year (Werner, VandenBerg and Kory Brown – the last to replace Andy Nagel’s departure); in 2013 Nate Zastrow graduates, but with Dylan Hale leaving the team, that gives NDSU another scholarship to play with, curious to see if they go high school or with a JUCO.

That’s it for me until next week, Jeff has you covered as always with anything that’s happening, we have a new video blog coming up next week and some major new twists we’re working on for the video blog for the upcoming season!