UPDATE (9 p.m. Monday): Offensive tackle Sam Hahn (6-6, 260) of Tri County High School in DeWitt, Neb., said he is committing to NDSU and will sign Wednesday. He said Nebraska talked to him about walking on but he told me ”it just didn’t work out.” Hahn took two visits to NDSU, one against Missouri State and another last weekend. His other scholarship options were a couple of D-IIs. (Izzo)
UPDATE (3 p.m. Monday): Talked with Jacob Davis earlier this afternoon and his soft verbal that Dom reportered earlier is now a firm word. He visited Army over the weekend and said “my gut tells me North Dakota State.” This guys looks the part; 6-2 1/2, 238 pounds, benches almost 400 pounds (per HS coach), runs a 4.6 40-yard dash (per his Max Emfinger all-star file) and has a 34-inch verticale jump (Emfinger). High school coach was disappointed Kansas or Kansas State didn’t offer. (Kolpack)
UPDATE (10:15 a.m. Monday): Chris Larson, Sargent Central head coach, says defensive end-tight end Justin Arp has not made a decison. — (Kolpack)
BREAKING (9:55) – Travis Wilson of the Wisconsin Sports Network reports that Milwaukee Tech RB Marcus Horne has committed to Michigan State. Wilson tweeted to me that Horne denied to him ever committing to NDSU, his high school head coach Craig Bevilacqua told me that Horne had given the Bison a “soft verbal”. Here’s the post from back in November. Now NDSU did add a running back on Sunday, according to ESPN, Hutchinson Community College RB Deveon Dinwiddie will transfer to North Dakota State. Dinwiddie is the older brother of current Bison linebacker DeShawn, who played this year as a true freshman. Dinwiddie originally signed with Kansas State two years ago, left, tore his knee up and sat out the 2010 season. Dinwiddie starred for the Blue Dragons(love nickname) going for 143 carries, 806 yards and 12 touchdowns. This to my knowledge is the only running back to date for this Bison class. Craig Bohl will join me LIVE on Wednesday at 6:20 on Channel 6 to talk signing day, also on WDAY.com.
Got to say great conversation on the blog about NDSU and the future, whether it’s the Summit League or the Missouri Valley or wherever. Know we are not the only ones talking about it. But also there are some big time discussions going on at higher levels, meaning the NCAA about what to do with football. And as we found out in the summer of 2010, football is what drives the boat in the NCAA and the disparity between the super-elite (the BCS Schools) and everybody else is growing wider. NDSU finds itself in a unique situation in my mind. I firmly believe that the FCS is where NDSU belongs. But what happens if FCS no longer exists? It’s a question that may become a reality soon. NCAA President Mark Emmert had some interesting comments, you can read them here. Say if the top 50 schools break away and form their own division, what happens to everybody else? I believe the remaining big boys, the Mountain West-Conference USA’s, WACs have a division. That leaves the Sun Belt and the MAC, you take the top 20 teams from the FCS (the NDSUs, UNIs, normally the top 4 teams in the Colonial, 2 from the Big Sky) and there’s your 3rd tier of Division 1 football. I don’t think it will happen exactly like that but it appears this is just the beginning of this discussion.
On to the here and now, the NDSU men got a landmark win yesterday in Oakland. Saul Phillips changed up his starting lineup, inserting the 2 seniors in (Eric Carlson and Drew Lundberg) and it seemed the mojo changed. The Bison had never won at Oakland, gets the all-precious split that teams crave on the road, NDSU maintains 3rd place along in the Summit League with Southern Utah and Oral Roberts coming to town. Everyone will point to the ORU game, but SUU is huge too, the Thunderbirds are just a half-game out of 3rd when they visit Fargo. Also will be the last time these two schools come to the Bison Sports Arena, be nice if somehow a home and home could be worked out with the Golden Eagles, a nice rivalry has been developed there. Now the win over Oakland will help with the RPI for the Bracketbuster game, but I think NDSU is locked into a couple opponents:
NDSU, RPI of 125: Possible opponents – Indiana State (126), UC Santa Barbara (143), Youngstown State (149), Fairfield (148)
SDSU: RPI of 66 (Opponents – UNI (62), Nevada (64), Akron (60), Drexel (87)
Oral Roberts: RPI of 55 (Opponents – Wichita State (33), Long Beach State (37)
Oral Roberts and SDSU both more than likely will be on TV, the selection show is at 5:30 tomorrow night on ESPN U. Plenty of bracketbuster and hoops conversation on Dizzo’s Den, 970 WDAY at 6:30 tomorrow night, NDSU associate head coach Dave Richman joins me, also online at WDAY.com. (Izzo)
