The NDSU freshman class took a hit on Saturday when receiver DeSean Warren went down with a probable torn ACL. The highly-touted Warren had the same injury to his opposite knee in high school that caused him to miss his senior season.
Warren was hurt in a non-contact drill. Running back Sam Ojuri is out two weeks with a strained knee, said head coach Craig Bohl. Defensive lineman Ryan Drevlow will miss a couple of more days with a shoulder problem. Other happenings in practice on Saturday:
- Receiver Zach Vraa was catching everything in sight. No receiver can go up and get a ball like Vraa, a sophomore.
- Cornerback Andre Martin, a senior transfer from Northern Iowa, looks to be an immediate leader in the secondary.
- I got my first look at running back John Crockett and nobody could tell he’s been out two years. He’s a physical back with explosion, as advertised, and caught every ball thrown at him. Hardly the look of a back with rust. With Ojuri out, Crockett will get even more reps.
- Sophomore cornerback Zach Colvin struggled with a couple of pass interference penalties but it was hard to be very critical of anybody on defense.
- Freshman receiver Dee Gray literally looks like he capable of stepping into Warren Holloway’s shoes. He wears the same No. 81, is tall for a receiver and got behind the secondary on one long pass reception.
- The linebacking crew is not going to miss one leadership beat in the middle. Last year it was senior Preston Evans. Junior Grant Olson is playing every bit of that part so far.
great job guys and thanks for helping us out of staters…..nice to have depth when things like this happen…
Does Grant Olson have a concussion? I thought I read that he did.
How is Matt Jones looking? How about the new transfer running back Dinwiddie?
Is Brock looking like he is as accurate as he was last year? If so that helps the receivers.
Any tightends stepping up?
Olson concussion minor at best, should return soon.
Minor at worst, I meant.
I hope Olson’s concussion is minor, based on your article in the Forum it looks like 2012 could be like 2009 at linebacker.
So, I thought you and Izzo quoted Bohl as saying none of the Fr WRs would see the field this year, but maybe Gray?
Here’s hoping Vraa, Gephart(sp?), and all other receivers have break out seasons. That will keep the safeties out of the box. I didn’t like hearing about Warren.
Keep healthy. Keep working.
This defense is loaded. We’re not thin at LB, we just have some inexperience. I’m more concerned about the OL. Sounds like we have 3-4 guys who either would have started or pushed for starting spots that are already out for the year or extended time up front. If we can patch an o-line together, we have Big10 talent at the skill positions and we won’t be touched this season.
So say you. LB coach Stanard was quoted by Kolpack as saying the difference between the LBs this year and last year is that “last year we had depth”. Warm bodies only count as depth at UND.
“We have moved on” has all the depth and meaning as “I’ll still respect you in the morning,” “The check is in the mail,” and “I’m from the government, I’m here to help.”
Glad to hear it. Go troll your own blog, tool.
I am worried about the O-Line as well. Overall I think we have a talented team just not the experience we had last year. The O-line problems are people not being on the field. Injuries and graduation are the things that make repeating so tough. The Bison have the talent to repeat but if we are all beat up it will be hard to do. The Missouri Valley is just way to tough for inexperienced guys to go out and win consistently. Go Bison!
Hey Oldguy, Yep and the rest of you haters, have you guys ever heard of the phrase “coach talk”? What do you expect Coach Stanard to say? He wasn’t even here last season. He’s going to down play everything but if you have a chance to talk to one or two of the coaches without a microphone in front of their face they will tell you that we have a ton of young, inexperienced talent at LB that will be very, very good after we beat up on the first three teams on the schedule and they get all the experience they want. I wouldn’t expect one of our coaches to come out and say we’ll be better at every position this year.
Let’s go Sioux! Natty Champs 2012!!