AJS

To start, I thought Zimmerman played pretty well in his limited action last year. I'm sure with another summer under his belt he will be improved starting this year. That being said, I hope it's Ketteringham, because that means he's the best QB on the roster (take your Heidlebaugh / Zimmerman Montana game shots). He was a solid QB at Sac State who was terrible when he was there (2-9 his Sophomore year). By all accounts he can make all the throws and will give UND that deep ball ability they haven't had in a while. I also hope the QB battle isn't as close as it sounds and that'll only serve UND better this year with Ketteringham hopefully being safely in the Top 1/2 of Big Sky QBs.

Surprised Mancinelli didn't get an invite, but a great showing for UND recruits. This has to be the most they've had invited to this game. Very interested to see Pinto's development, had a great year last year and was someone nobody was talking about when he committed. Could turn out to be a very good find for the coaching staff.

This. I'm on the pretty opposite side of the spectrum on this game in particular, because I don't really think UND has a shot. Far from impossible, but just can't picture them going down and beating them type deals. That being said, if they can be competitive, I think that's a good sign for the rest of the year.

I look it as a good thing, the roster UND has right now is very thin with upperclassman at O-Line (5 Total Junior / Seniors). I think the Sophomore O-Line class is very good, a "building block" type of O-Line class. You'll have 3 starters this Fall from that class who are all good players and two solid "depth guys". The reports are very encouraging from this freshman class, it's an absolute must to stack back to back strong classes in that unit.

Just for the sake of conversation and to dig even further into my list of concerns: My hope for fall camp at a minimum would be for the following to emerge. O-Line: Feel fine with Mortel, Tobin, Rooney, Aplin & Nguon. Need at a minimum one guard and one tackle to emerge as a real quality depth player, Safety: Need Lenny / Canady to be the guys and adequate starters. At a minimum one quality back up. OLB: Need one guy to be a solid 4th (after Palmberg, Turner, Lawrence) D-Line: Need two of the freshman to be ready from Day 1

Going off the Pre-Fall depth chart.

Looking at the positions and quality depth (solid 2-deep), would this be fair: Set QB, RB, TE, WR, ILB, CB Concerns O-Line, D-Line, OLB, Safety To break down the concerns (biggest to smallest): O-Line: Biggest concern right now, considering the question on the right side of the line. Very, very young group. Safety: Along with O-Line, this has been the other position of concern for a while now. OLB: Palmberg, Turner and Lawrence is a good start, but worried about Gordon being on the 2-deep D-Line: Best "starters" out of the concerns, the depth is young, but talented

He’s at the top of the “X Receiver” on the Pre-Fall depth chart.

http://southland.org/news/2018/8/9/football-southland-conference-announces-tv-selections-for-first-four-weeks.aspx Conference play kicks into full gear on September 15. Week 3 features Nicholls-McNeese on Cox Sports Television, which will be available on ESPN3 outside CST territory. ESPN+ will carry Northwestern State-Lamar and Central Arkansas-Southeastern Louisiana. ESPN3 will have exclusive coverage of Abilene Christian at Houston Baptist, while Sam Houston’s home game vs. North Dakota will be available on ESPN3 throughout most of the country. KXMB will carry the game in the Bismarck market, while other local affiliates in the Dakotas will be announced closer to game time. Great news!

https://fightinghawks.com/news/2018/8/9/football-fall-camp-notebook-vol-7.aspx My favorite line: *No real news on the injury front, which is good news. Nathan Nguon is back to participating as the offensive line looks to shore up its rotation. There are a few spots up for grabs that OL Coach Luke Knauf will have to sort out. Nguon was left off the initial depth chart, because of injury, where will he fit in? I would guess starting RG (currently Aplin / Blair). Regardless, UND really needs to stay healthy at that position. Will the depth chart be updated during Fall camp, or not until the week of the 1st game?

More information on Halliday's decision: http://www.inforum.com/sports/hockey/4483297-top-prospect-stephen-halliday-says-comfort-und-coaches-led-commitment

Brad with a great breakdown of UND Recruit destinations for 2018-19: http://undhockey.areavoices.com/?p=113053 What I find amazing is of the 18 current recruits UND has, only two recruits who have graduated High School (both +1), everyone else is either a Senior in HS this year or younger. There's going to be a lot of junior experience in this group as well. Happy that Schmaltz and Pinto are both playing for their respective USHL teams. *Anyone know if anything happened to Stratton (WHL guy who played BCHL), Brad didn't include him on the list and he's also not listed on Heisenberg's site.

JT Miller, would have been a freshman the same year as Grimaldi, Gaarder replaced him.

Not saying it's not off the table, but his comments mirror every single player in his position (Drafted by Major Junior team / considering college), when giving interviews after they drafted. I wouldn't look into that at all. Since that article came out him (1) Going #1 and committing to USHL (2) Committing to a school are a lot more telling. Edit: Really happy he wasn't drafted by London though!

Halliday is a potential "cornerstone" type recruit for the class of 2020 (as is Bowen). As good as the 2019 class is going to be for UND (Top 3 in the country), 2020 might actually be better.

Deion's interview last night got me really excited, I mentioned this about a week ago as well, but Harris being fully healthy is about as big of a game changer as there is on the FCS level.

Disappointing for sure, but more than enough time to fill his spot. I know this is one guy, but I do see this as a positive that despite the recruits offers (Westberg only had D2 before UND), that the coaching staff has an eye for talent. If Westerberg is good enough for the NDSU O-Line, he's good. This type of thing is relatively rare as UND can usually hold on to guys once they commit, so here's hoping no one else flips.

When will we get a good idea of the seriousness of the injuries? I believe right now it's Stanley (least concerning for missing Fall Camp), Nguon & Greibel (both important to get reps).

Santiago / Harris named to the Preseason All-Americans list by STATS. What is everyone's actual expectations for Harris this year? Nationally they are as if he is going to pick off where he left off pre injury. Is he fully healthy? Will he be anywhere close to where he was? If he is, that's a real game changer for the defense.

Are the weights current on the roster page? Anybody notice anyone who sticks out in a good / bad way?

My 5: Noah Mortel (LT) Nathan Nguon (OG) Noah Larson (ILB): Jordan Canady (Safety) Ty Shannon (Safety) Four of the five on my list played significant minutes as freshman last year, the other was the most talked about player in his freshman class / would have played significant minutes had he been healthy.

It's almost hard to find words to describe how ridiculous that decision was (Montana game). I never have and never will see a coaching decision (personnel wise) that will be as embarrassing as that. I lost a lot of faith in Bubba and the offensive coaching staff with that single decision. It can be gained back, but it was really, really bad.

I bet 90% of us are on the same page with our overall dissatisfaction with play calling / adjustments / coming from the offensive side of the ball. As far as I'm concerned this is not even close to a Rudolph only issue anymore (it probably never was), but Bubba has now handcuffed himself with Rudolph in my eyes. He had a chance this past summer to separate himself from Rudolph and didn't, so the pressure should be on Bubba more than Rudolph. Ultimately, he's the one that makes the decisions for game plans, ect, if he doesn't like the 2nd and 9 run up the middle for 2 yards every time, he would have stopped it. If Rudolph fails, so does Bubba and they both need to be gone.

I used 1% in the Sam Houston game, simply because I can't picture UND winning the game. At the same point, I realize it's not technically impossible. If you look at my prediction for the season, I'm far from pessimistic, but like I said, just can't picture them going on the road and beating that team. I would love nothing more than to be wrong, because like others said, that game would be a true game changer for the season.

There’s a bye week between the two games