Hearing that Bennie Wilson, a 5-foot-11, 230-pound middle linebacker at St. Michael-Albertville High School outside of the Twin Cities will walk on to the BIson football team as a fullback next fall. He’s already got the size for a fullback and apparently has the mentality, too,
Here is an email from SM-A head coach Jared Essler: “Bennie did commit last week to be a ‘preferred walk-on’ at NDSU. He went up for camp this summer and really enjoyed it. He’s kind of a jack of all trades guy for us— plays DE in our 4-man front, LB in our 3-man front, and FB on defense. Good kid, loves football, never misses a weight room day, happy for him.”
This from Mike Schoemer of The Patch online newspaper: “The guy is a physical specimen and tough competitor. He wrestled last year – first time – and finished with a winning record and helped the Knights to a Section Championship when a couple of heavier weights battled injury.”
Here’s a season preview clip from Schoemer, formerly of the West Fargo Pioneer and a friend in the business, wroite in The Patch: “On defense, Wilson represents the best college prospect the Knights have had in some time. The linebacker and defensive end disrupts entire games, and loves to hit the quarterback.”
Essler, by the way, is a former Bison safety who is in his second year as the head coach at St. Michael-Albertville.
So is he a preffered walk on or just a walkon?
Preferred I would guess.
This is the recruiting pipeline NDSU needs to start diving into…Twin Cities players who aren’t offered a scholarship at Minnesota or don’t fit Minnesota’s scheme.
Wisconsin guys who don’t go to the Badgers often go to Division III Wisconsin teams, Iowa guys who don’t get looked at by Iowa or ISU look to UNI and Drake. Minnesota guys should start looking at NDSU.
Starting diving into? We are there. Take a look at the roster. Arguably 4 of the biggest impact players on the field are Twin Cities kids in Zach Vraa, Marcus Williams, Billy Turner and John Crockett. Carlton Littlejohn as well among many others. Wisconsin – Brock Jensen., Derrick Lang, Colten Heagle. We don’t need to start diving into it, we need to stay there. You are correct that these areas produce tons of talent that is completely overlooked though!
Agree. When we recruit Minnesota well – we do well as a program. Jirik, Perry, Williams, Littlejohn, and Olson anchor the best defense in the country and they all hail from Minnesota. Vraa, Crockett, Lund, Turner, and Gimmestad were great recruits. All these guys had options and we won the recruiting battles.
Need to recruit Minnesota and Wisconsin well – otherwise we end up traveling into warm weather climates like Texas to get 3rd rate leftover Texans who are too soft to handle the cold, mamas boys, or flunk out. Not everyone is impressive like DJ McNorton or Holloway
We have been doing it or years.
Nice to have ex-bison gettting into the coaching ranks. That is something that is forgotten about when it comes to talking about recruiting out of the Minny Metro area. Mike Favor still in Mpls. Chris Simdorn was coaching down in metro school, not sure if he still is. Essler and others who come to the Bison Camps. Pipeline is big. Maybe a story there Jeff. Hint Hint.
Jayd Kittleson, former NDSU linebacker, is also one of Essler’s assistants at St. Michael.
Walking on, preferred or not, has to be attractive at NDSU because you have a legitimate shot at major playing time. Just ask Lang, Haeg, LaVoy, Luecke, Schaetz, etc., etc., the list goes on. Wilson is obviously a smart kid.
Wondering if the 5’11″ scared off BSC teams. Sounds like he could be Joe Mays II.
I think that Jerry Kill will take more Bison-like players out of Minnesota and has already started. Kids like Bjorkland from Rosemount, Heiffort from Bemidji in the past went to Ndsu. He sees how successful these under-the-radar types can be and will make Minnesota a tougher place to recruit to for MVFC teams.
@KCbison, From the picture he looks like Mays Jr.