AJS

6-5 record last year, 6-4 against FCS teams. If you go through the losses, two things stick out that were crushing. If these get turned around, it will make a huge difference. Four quarters offensively: Last year, they were actually a really good 1st half team offensively. 2nd half they were terrible. Special Teams: Field position off kickoffs / getting punts blocked Not being handcuffed with Rudolph, I'm all in on this team offensively. That will make such a difference on the other side of the ball as well, the defense will get more rest in the 2nd half. Get ST cleaned up finally and this team is going to be really good. I'm so excited for this team.

I say the same thing year after year, unless a True Freshman is locked in on the two deep and a considerable upgrade over the 5th guy, I think it'd be foolish to pull his shirt. Now that they can play 4 games, I feel that way 10-fold. I was surprised that it almost feels (based on early articles) that Fort will have it pulled, considering who they have at CB. Especially considering the early reports on Siegel and looking at the CB position in general. Outside of WR, CB is the only other position where depth seems like it's a complete non-issue (hopefully), I guess you never know, but as it stands right now.

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/4051731-UND-football-camp-Day-1-roundup-Pedro-Schmidt-shines Participation note: Junior offensive lineman Noah Mortel was suited up but limited. Very interesting. https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/4051282-UND-football-team-to-use-Graham-DeVore-on-both-sides-of-the-ball-this-season

Some thoughts with the updated roster / 2-deep: Pre-Fall injury standpoint appears to be as good as one could hope. Offensive line: Excited to see Hergel / Russo as potential starters. Simply for the fact that there will be competition for two spots where there were returning starters. Starting to see some quality depth. As others have said, the weight of the offensive line is clearly not a coincidence. Not worried at all about it. Great to see Morrison up to 278, he's getting close to being right in range. Overall, that's a really good looking 2-deep. So much experience. Excited to see any movement (outside of injury of course) as that will mean more depth. I think this team has a chance to be really good. Is this the deepest team overall that Bubba has had?

I would think fairly quickly, they will have all that information today. Along with an updated roster with current weights, also very interested in a preliminary injury report.

Really liked seeing two names that haven't been discussed often on this board. (1) Steven Keech (DE) (2) Kadon Kauppinen (S). Love hearing about as they put it, wildcard guys. One other line I really liked is about C.J. Siegel pushing for a starting job. He'd be a big time talent if Siegel can hold his own as a Freshman with Holm and Blubaugh.

Think I read somewhere that players report on July 31st, first day of camp being 08/02. I'm guessing we'll see an updated full roster on 08/01.

Have been looking forward to this post from UND360! I'm not saying this will be the best team of the Bubba era, but I mentioned before, although there are holes that need to be addressed, I do think going into fall camp this year will have the fewest.

This will have to be a pretty big list. 1. Odom (CB) -- 2-Deep (#3 CB on roster) // Did they burn his RS last year? Looking at his stats it looks like 5 games. Including NAU, Unreal. 2. Siegel (CB) -- 2-Deep (#4 CB on roster) 3. Hergel (OL) -- 2-Deep (Pushing starting position) 4. Pierre (DL) -- 2-Deep 5. Beach (DL) -- 2-Deep 6. Johnson (DL) -- Pushing for 2-Deep 7. Skokna (RB) -- Hopefully able to only play 4 games and keep RS intact.

Re Rowe: UND not being fully committed. If Rowe meant he didn't know if UND was fully committed to bringing him in next year, then yes, I could see that as a valid concern for him. Who knows what this year will bring and you never know with goalies, but I would say it's a valid concern (for him) that neither Scheel or Thome will leave after this year and he gets pushed back another year. I wish Rowe the best. He's definitely a wild card right now. Because he played at the NTDP, it's easy to compare him to Scheel. Both had mediocre numbers there. Obviously Scheel had a phenomenal year in Juniors after and we all saw what he did last year. We'll see about Rowe. He could go the Scheel route, but we'll see. Looking at his Elite Prospects page, his best season was .900 SV%.

Final weekend post, before Fall Camp gets started next week. Knowing the depth chart last year and the players returning, I feel they need the following amount of players by positional group that did not play last year, or played minimal minutes to either (1) Push for starting positions or (2) Push for a two-deep role. Simply put, guys that can contribute this year that didn't last year. Some are bigger needs than others, but this would give the team very solid overall depth. Offense RB - 1 OL - 3 Defense DE - 3 NG - 2 OLB - 2 ILB - 1 CB - 2 S - 1

UNDFootball on Instagram posted pictures of the players handing out posters to local businesses. Who’s 93? Beach? Physically, it looks like he could step in as a true freshman.

@Longtime fan great post! I'm going to dig into your two biggest positional needs, NG & OLB as well as DE. NG: Morrison (So) What needs to happen to have this go from a complete liability to serviceable? Would Morrison be an Ok #2 NG on a team? Serviceable #1? What if one of the highly regarded True Freshman come into camp at Morrison's level. Would those two be fine as #1 / #2? For some reason I'm strangely comfortable from the point that this Unit can't be as bad as what I'm envisioning (ILB unit from 2 years ago). We're talking a one player position. Need three guys to step up in Fall camp. I've used the word serviceable a lot, but I think it's true. This will be a weakness of the team, we just need it to not be a liability. OLB: Turner (Jr), Lawrence (Sr), Steiger (Sr) Obviously others played, but those three were, when breaking down the 2-Deep all year, were staples of it. Turner is a stud. Lawrence is finally healthy, which is big. Steiger is kind of an X-factor. He played a lot of minutes last year. Really interested in how Haas looks as well. I still remember the rave reviews his FR year of Fall camp. @Longtime fan is your concern more about the talent level more than depth? DE: Bennett (Sr), Seguin (So), Engwall (Sr) Like OLB, they do return 3 of 4 guys on the 2-deep. Only losing Cieslak (huge loss). Still, out of everyone who played DE last year, they only lose 1. You look at the RE for example, Bennett / Seguin were the 2-deep last year. Johnson has been talked about a lot who I haven't mentioned yet. Some talented True-FR as well. Should actually be a pretty solid group.

Great information! Found the 2015 / 2018 info particularly interesting.

Agreed about NT. Looking at the others on your list, players that aren't returning from last year (that either graduated or were contributors). LB: 1 starter (OLB / Palmborg) 2 Quality Depth (ILB / Williams / OLB / Gordon) / 1 Depth (? / Murray) S: 0 T: 0 RB: I really do like JJ / Gordon as a 1 / 2 punch and like the idea of McKinney getting carries too, which per Bubba is the plan. Not saying you're wrong about being thin at S & T, but nice thing about Football is there's a natural progression for a player. The S / T that played last year won't be worse this year type deal. Like @gundy1124 breakdown on LB's. For the most part, I remember them being 5 Deep at ILB last year and they return 4 of the 5 (including both starters). OLB I'm interested in definitely. Getting Haas back (OLB) and getting one more year out of Vrede (ILB) was huge.

Question: From the Bubba era, a week from Fall Camp, looking at the returning players, does this year have the fewest holes of any year? Fewest units that are a big concern entering Fall camp? How many RS-Freshman / True Freshman make an impact this year?

They need to replace: Starters: Santiago (RB) / Oliveria (RB) / Aplin (OL) / Fiedler (TE) Depth: Stiner (OL) / Stanley (WR) Is it fair to say that before the wheels completely fell off the last three games, there wasn't this huge weakness in any particular offensive unit? As always depth became an issue, but overall each unit was ok at worst. Breaking down who they lost, clearly what sticks out is the loss at Running Back. Besides that though, not that Aplin / Fiedler weren't valuable, but any team would take only losing Two starters (& two depth guys who rarely played) throughout QB / OL / WR / TE. We'll have to circle back to Running Back, but otherwise, there wasn't a lot that was lost to graduation. Needs: "---" need the returners to have a natural progression QB: --- WR: --- TE: --- OL: Are there three guys that didn't play last year that are ready to contribute? Need two of them that could potentially be starters, pushing for playing time in Fall camp. RB: I'm more worried about the depth of this group. I think JJ / Gordon is a solid one, two punch. Will need at least one other to be ready to carry a significant load. I'm wondering if the True Freshman could be that guy. From a player personal standpoint, they return so much and for the first time in a long time, there aren't any big question marks entering Fall Camp. To clarify, I'm not saying this is going to be one of the best offenses in the NCAA, but there's a really solid base with no giant holes. Freund: He doesn't have to be the best OC in the country, honestly, if practices what he's preaching, I think we'll see what a difference it makes.

I always start by looking back to last year, the final numbers being 5th in the NCHC and 20th in the pairwise. Not where any of us hoped they'd be, but honestly, not that far off from being a tournament team. As annoying as it is to play what ifs, they were one win against Western at home on Friday night of finishing 3rd in the NCHC. Goalies: Scheel: Real deal, very impressive Freshman season. His Save % was solid at .911, given the limited amount of shots that were usually given up, that will give the team a chance to win a lot of games. His so technically sound, doesn't give up bad goals, always in the right position. Thome: Although his numbers took a hit from his Freshman year, he was very good when Scheel went down at the end of the year. Unlike his Freshman year and the start of his Sophomore campaign, he looked very comfortable, more structurally sound at the end of the year. Rebounds were much better. Overall, a very good one / two punch in net. These two are a strength of the team. No worries in net. Defense: I like to use a term "pop" when it comes to a player taking a large step. Some never do, others do at different times. Kierstad did it last year, his game took a gigantic step. Guy like Poolman never really had his, but was really good right away his Freshman year. This was such a solid unit last year and I honestly believe when looking at the college hockey landscape, that they will be one of the best this year. When comparing to a unit like Duluth, I don't think they have any guys that will pop this year. That's not necessarily a bad thing, they had the best and will likely have one of the best units again. What UND has is an incredible Top End players and more importantly Top End Depth. Guys like JBD and JT given their pedigree and age are guys that most likely will "pop" this year. They'll be able to mix and match what I consider two true top end pairings between Poolman, Kierstad, JBD, JT and Bast. Peski is also very solid and will be the 6th guy. I'm hoping Frisch will be the 7th guy that will play most games. This defense will be so much fun to watch this year. If you look at Goaltending / Defense as one unit, I think they are a sure fire Top 5 combined unit next year. Forwards: This unit overall was terrible last year, but I think that will change this year. Michaud is such a unique case that we aren't used to. Getting a grad transfer that is a proven Top 6 guy in the NCHC, possibly CC's best forward at the end of the year. It's rare that you can bring someone in that can basically cancel the loss of Jones. Jones (1st line Center) / Michaud (1st line Center) Gardner (2nd Line center / 3rd line center talent) / Pinto (2nd Line Center talent (as Freshman) Hoff (Role player) / Blaisdell (Top 6 Forward) JJ (Didn't player 2nd half) / Caulfield (3rd Line Forward) The infusion of talent definitely outweighs what was lost last year. We're already starting out with a more talented roster. Then I look at guys that return. Kawaguchi, we know what to expect, leading scorer last year. Mismash, was injured the 2nd half of the year, being fully healthy is a Top line guy. Weatherby / Adams have talent and can't possibly have point production as low, could both pop. Mismash / Pinto / Kawaguchi -- Put Pinto with two upperclassman Blaisdell / Michaud / Adams -- Senior in the middle of two talented players Caulfield / Weatherby / Hain Smith / Senden / Bowen I like that forward lineup and forward group. Overall: This team will be back in the NCAAs this year, not only that, I think they have a very high ceiling this year. I really, really like this team.

Boys Select 15 starts this week. Panzer (Red) and Spicer (Forest) are taking part, will also be keeping an eye on how Clark (Grey) who has been mentioned as a potential recruit does. Is Ausmus injured?

Care to elaborate a bit? Done like not playing this year, or quit the team done?

I know this has been a continued topic of conversation, but can we really dig into the Nose Guard / D-Line for next year? Here's the Spring Depth Chart: Left End Bennett (SR): Legitimate All-American candidate, incredible player Johnson (R-FR): Remember a handful of people being high on him, seemed to leave a positive impression during Fall Camp Schoenfelder (R-FR): -- Nose Morrison (So): Got a lot of good reps as a Freshman last year Lickfeldt (R-FR): -- Right End Engwall (SR): Big body, should be fine starting Seguin (SO): Like Morrison, got a lot of good reps as a Freshman last year Injured: Ott I'm going to assume now that they are rolling with what they have. My questions are as follows. What's the word on Ott? Is he expected to be fully recovered by Fall Camp? Will Beach (260) and Pierre (255) both have their redshirts pulled?

After the draft, so about as bad of timing as you can have.

Johnny Brodzinski couldn't score for the Force and look how he did in college! In all seriousness, nobody is going to argue that there are a lot of different variables when recruiting each player and when constructing a team. You'll also be able to find any example you want to prove a point. When talking about variables, a players point production is a pretty important factor (I'm guessing), so tracking it from year to year would probably be useful.

Re Stratton: His numbers weren't awful this year, but there was a pretty modest drop off in production from the year before (when he was at a PPG). I never really like the entire situation in the first place, a guy having to sit out an entire year and change, just seemed like a lot of extra work. I'm happy there's a spot open, either for another recruit or to alleviate the log jam of recruits a little.