Tag Archives: Bison football

Keeping an eye on Dee Gray

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The list of true freshmen who get looks the first couple of weeks in fall camp to play right away seems like it’s getting to be less and less every year. As of today, it’s just one: receiver Demetrius Gray. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Gray, from Aurora, Ill., ran with the first teamers for most of Monday’s practice. “Outside of that, nothing right now,” said head coach Craig Bohl.

Also:

  • Defensive linemen Ryan Drevlow and Justin Juckem were back in pads. There were the usual grouping of players with minor injuries but outside of what has been reported with the likes of Anthony LaVoy (wrist), Jesse Hinz (torn pectoral) and Garrett Bruhn (shoulder), everybody should be ready for the opener. “All these other guys, they’ll probably see the wizard the last week, game week, and are going to be fine,” Bohl said.
  • It was a sloppy practice with coaches getting frustrated with missed assignments.
  • The offensive line had trouble protecting the quarterback. That’s never good.
  • Redshirt freshman cornerback C.J. Smith continues to impress at a position that is already deep. He made one pass breakup that prompted Bohl to yell, “You’re showing us something.”
  • Sophomore Adam Schueller struggled at center, presumably a spot where the Bison are trying to find a backup to Joe Lund.
  • Junior defensive tackle Danny Luecke made two straight tackles for lost yardage in scrimmage situations and like Smith making an impression at a position that is already deep.
  • True freshman defensive end Chuks Amaechi made a defensive touchdown against the No. 2 offense.

Warren hurts ACL; other stuff

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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.

Hinz out, Bruhn looking iffy

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Garrett Bruhn vs. Western Illinois

Two injuries will have an effect on the Bison depth chart before the first practice. Jesse Hinz, who was in the mix for a starting berth at right tackle, is done for the season with a torn pectoral muscle. The playing status of starting tight end Garrett Bruhn is iffy at best with nerve damage in his shoulder, said head coach Craig Bohl.

On the plus side, they are two positions that do have depth. Junior Kevin Vaadeland has appeared to put his injured ways behind him and will contend for that spot along with junior Taylor Nelson. It will also be an opportunity for freshmen Derek Lee and Luke Albers to emerge.

Like Vaadeland, junior Jeff Jerve — once listed as a starter in the spring of 2011 — appears to be finally healthy and will challenge for the right tackle starting berth along with sophomore Jason Pomerenke. I’ve said for months replacing Paul Cornick in the offensive line will be a big piece of this year’s puzzle.

Bison fans taking advantage of USD promotion

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 Here is a short version of story that will be up on www.inforum.com soon:

FARGO – A two-game football ticket promotion by the University of South Dakota attracted more than Coyote fans to the school’s ticket website on Wednesday. North Dakota State fans also took advantage.

For $35, USD is offering a ticket for the Sept. 8 home opener against Colgate and another for the Oct. 20 game against NDSU in Sioux Falls, S.D. The result: an unknown number of Bison fans wanting good seats for the showdown at Howard Wood Field also have a Colgate ticket at the DakotaDome in Vermillion.

Having Bison fans take advantage of the promotion is not the intent of the USD ticket office.

“You know, if it happens, it happens,” said Brad Simons, coordinator of USD ticket operations. “If NDSU fans want to buy the Colgate game, more power to them.”

Simons said some Bison fans have told the Coyote ticket office that they’re willing to donate them back to USD. The promotion is running through the month of July.

“We’ve had quite a few people do that,” he said.

Simons said the ticket website went down because of technical difficulties but the glitch was not expected to last long. Tickets to the general public go on sale Aug. 1.

Howard Wood has a capacity of 10,000.

Heading Out

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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!

 

Right around the corner

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It’s one of the first signs that football is not far away; the pre-season all-Missouri Valley Football Conference team. Here is my ballot:

OFFENSE

  • QB: Kurt Hess, Youngstown
  • RB: Shakir Bell, Ind. State
  • RB: Jamaine Cook, Youngstown
  • FB: Andrew Grothmann, NDSU
  • WR: Tyrone Walker, Ill. State
  • WR: Aaron Rollin, SDSU
  • TE: James O’Shaughnessy, Ill. State
  • OL: FN Lutz, Ind. State
  • OL: Billy Turner, NDSU
  • OL: Zack Cooley, MSU
  • OL: Mark Pratt, Youngstown
  • OL: Cody White, Ill. State
  • PK: Tyler Sievertsen, UNI

DEFENSE

  • DL: Ben Obaseki, Ind. State
  • DL: Cole Jirik, NDSU
  • DL: Andy Mink, SDSU
  • DL: Tyler Starr, USD
  • LB: Aaron Archie, Ind. State
  • LB: Jacolby Washington, Ind. State
  • LB: Travis Beck, NDSU
  • LB: Evan Friersen, Ill. State
  • DB: Marcus Williams, NDSU
  • DB: Garrett Scott, UNI
  • DB: Colten Heagle, NDSU
  • DB: Varmah Sonie, UNI
  • P: Kyle Bernard, UNI
  • RS: Ryan Smith, NDSU

 

NDSU, UND, NDSU, UND, NDSU, UND

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Maybe the University of North Dakota should have held on to the Fighting Sioux nickname after all. With the continuing bumbling of the NCAA and its fifth grade geographical knowledge, there would have been a 50 percent chance the NCAA would have sanctioned NDSU rather than UND over continued use.

This after another fiasco involving NDSU’s championship football banner. It was sent to UND. Furthermore, NCAA representative Kelly Dodds confused Brian Faison as the athletic director at NDSU. Not a good day Kelly, time to punch out and head for the local martini bar in Indianapolis.

The point of this post, however, is to further give credence to my FCS top 25 poll theory from last fall when NDSU fell from No. 6 to No. 12 despite being idle. It was the same weekend that UND lost in a close battle at Fresno State. That theory caught the ire of UND fans, who let me know about it in certain ways after UND moved up in the poll despite a loss. Again, let me point out: teams that lose to FBS teams either stay the same or move down a few slots, not move up. 

If the NCAA can’t figure out NDSU and UND, surely voters from across the country who have no idea where North Dakota is in the first place could easily mix up the two. It’s the same poll that gave Missouri State University (MSU) votes on a week when Montana State University (MSU) moved down despite winning. Missouri State was 1-7. As I said last fall, I don’t care about a poll; but I do care about accuracy.

Martin: knows the depth chart situation

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Here is my story on Andre Martin, who transferred from Northern Iowa to North Dakota State at the conclusion of spring semester. He seems like a rather classy individual, although I would guess some of his former teammates will let him know what they really think of the move when the teams play next fall.

One part of the story that wasn’t printed were Martin’s comments on finding a place in the lineup. He’s coming here knowing that the starters coming out of spring football are Brendin Pierre and Marcus Williams,

 ”We have two great corners here,” he said. “It’s me getting into (a graduate program) and me getting better as a player. That’s the only way to get to the next level. Like I said, we have two great corners, as well as a coach behind me too, so you can’t beat it. It’s icing on the cake.”

The defensive rich get richer

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Andre Martin (8) chases Iowa State running back Alexander Robinson last season.

Interesting day to say the least in the world of Bison football today. Nothing like adding more hot sauce to an already spicy game when NDSU visits Northern Iowa next season. Andre Martin transferring from Cedar Falls to Fargo was a bombshell transfer that is about as intriguing as it gets.

Martin was a star two years ago with 77 tackles and a team-leading five interceptions. This guy is an athlete — runs a sub 4.5-second 40 and has been good every year with the exception of last season, when he fell off to 17 tackles. It led to an obvious question to Craig Bohl: Was he hurt? “Bad back,” Bohl said. “But he’s healthy now.”

This transfer perhaps hurts UNI more than it helps NDSU. The Panthers have a brutal schedule next season opening at Wisconsin, Iowa and Youngstown State and hosting NDSU in the first five games. They lost several key veterans off of last year’s team and they need every seasoned senior they can find to handle that kind of a start.

Moreover, the Bison have perhaps the best lot of three cornerbacks in the country now with Marcus Williams, Brendin Pierre and Martin. It never hurts to have a sub 4.4 guy on special teams either. Is the talent level on par to last year? Easily. There are still concerns in the offensive line and receiver in my mind, but everywhere else is solid if not outstanding.

I’m not sure where the three JUCOs will fit yet. Historically, it takes JC transfers a while to get in the fold. I think d-end Jeremy Gordon from NDSCS can fill a depth need behind Cole Jirik and Kyle Emanuel. NDSU rotated defensive players freely last year and probably will do so next year. NDSU looks loaded, really loaded, on defense next year.