AJS

Looks perfect, lets lock this one in.

The most recent UND pod, Schlossman said the goalie situation was locked in for next year (Hedquist coming in).

I could agree with that. Last year the two biggest weaknesses were OLB / Safety play. The big difference heading into this year is I'm confident that the Safety play will be better than last year. What they would grade out to be I guess is a different discussion.

Great listen as always. Offensively line shuffle was surprising, but exciting. Get the guys in the position they feel their skills can be optimized. Two things I'll be watching are Borud and Anderson. Lots of Borud talk for the short time he's been on campus. Kelly did mention it, but what kind of jump can Anderson make this year? Wish they spent the same amount of time on the Defense as the Offense. My big takeaway defensively, was more the discussion about what went wrong last year. The simplifying mentality / new DC will really help. I've talked myself into the D-Line / CB positions being slightly above average. ILB / Safety being average. You can win with some positional groups being average. Only group I'm worried about is OLB. They were awful last year and I wouldn't be surprised if they were worse this year. This team NEEDS a OLB and a RB from the portal in the bad way.

Interesting. Would this player be more exciting than the last teased commitment (Komzak)?

Tyree announced he’s back.

I seem to be in the minority liking the Bemidji series every year. It's far too practical not to do.

Listening to the new UND Pod. Two things stuck out in regard to the roster construction. 16th F: The question being Montgomery's health and if they felt he would be ready for Fall. 8th D: Is Strathmann ready to come in and play. They would not bring him in to sit. Those were the questions that Schlossman posed. I think there are cases where he knows more than he might lead on, but I got the feeling that he doesn't know which way they'll go with those.

Here's some other interesting NAU scores from last year. Here are their last four games. Away vs Idaho State (W, 24-10) Home vs Weber (L, 31-33) Away vs UNC (L, 20-21) Home vs Montana State (L, 38-41) At home last year, they were competitive against all schools but Idaho. On the road they were competitive against all FCS schools but UC Davis. Some of those road losses (@ UNC, Portland State) although competitive are tough ones.

I'm keying in on this response. Here's my question. This isn't meant to be pessimistic, but given where this team was last year, call it realistic. Heading into next year, are there two positional groups defensively we feel are "above average" at the FCS level? I'm starting to like the D-Line and I think the CB position is really good. My main reason for optimism is any improvement on any positional group will take pressure off other units.

Lucky for sure. Bend but don't break defense and missed FG's for NAU were big. That being said, what really sticks out about that game was under 2 minutes left in the first half, UND is up and driving. 4th and 3 at about the 36(?) Bubba decides to kick a FG, which is blocked. NAU goes down to score and is up I think 3 at the half. That decision seemed crazy at the time, there's no way UND was making that field goal. This was kind of a common theme in a lot of games they ended up winning. IF Bubba decides to go for it and they make that fourth down, does that change the whole complexion of the game? As far as how it shapes up this year. I think it's all good news. Alerus is worth (+7), UND offensively was pretty awful (see 3rd down efficiency), the defense was pretty awful (see 3rd down efficiency) last year and they still won. Went over NAU's new look roster, I'm guessing it's more talented, but lots to work out with so many changes. Getting them early is a good thing. Until proven otherwise, I'm feeling good about this team. Not touching the offense. I've been burned before, but my mindset is the defense cannot be worse than last year. How much better is the question.

Let's take a look at NAU's FCS to FCS transfers. Forsyth: All-Conference guy, great get. Starling: OVC Co-Freshman of the year UNC OL: Looking at the 2-Deep, Koustanian started. Kramer might have been hurt. Did play as a True Freshman. Britt: Saw him against NDSU. Will battle for the starting postiion McKenna / Gerle: Not much playing time, only two I would call interesting pickups (based on experience).

Did a quick search on these guys. The theme would be lack of experience. A lot of FR / Sophomores from Arizona that had limited playing time at their former schools. Four though do stick out. Dourseau (DB): Great stats, only guy from this group whose accolades (at the collegiate level) jump off the page. Millner (QB): Sophomore this year. 6'2". Limited playing time (15 attempts) but was 28th ranked QB in his class. Potentially high upside. McDaniel (RB): Injury issues early but seems productive when healthy. Robledo (DL): 300lbs. Big body Some great schools on this list, so most likely talented bunch. Good news being lack of experience. Good to get NAU early next year.

I'm guessing (hoping) that these guys weren't FBS starters, but has anyone done a dive into the 11 FBS transfers that NAU picked up?

Agreed. With Zmolek coming off an injury, I'm hoping for a 5th year RH shot for that last slot. Pyke - Pehrson Wiebe - Zmolek Livanavage / Benoit - _______ Livanavage / Benoit (7th spot) Komazk (8th spot) In my ideal situation, you have the extra skater as one of the FR d-man. Next off-season you replace the three 5th year guys with Freshman (Strathmann, McInnis and hopefully Hensler).

Big time commit. Felt like this program really needed to get a high-end Minnesota recruit. Edit: Just to get ahead of it, non-legacy recruit.

Completely different players. Warren steps into the Luke Hughes spot.

My thought is there are only a handful of Freshman defenseman that would be top-pair caliber guys on a tournament team. I'm really going back and forth on what I hope happens with the 8th spot. I'm starting to lean more toward if it's truly this Fall or Fall of 24, that Strathmann delays to 24. Ideally, you get another Higher-End (i.e. 2nd or 3rd pair) RH shot. This is putting stock that Komzak would be that #8 guy, then you have 2 Freshman that would be 2nd / 3rd pair guys nightly, with the 3rd as an extra skater. Pretty ideal situation for everyone.

Isn't the understanding that Komzak is that 8th guy? I would choose Strathmann first, but if the agreement is to go back, swing for the fences for the last portal addition. We're no longer in make-or-break territory but adding another high-ender with experience would really solidify things. Especially if he was a RH shot.

16F. @I Ranger called it... that decision is directly tied to the uncertainty with Montgomery.

How I think about this is Pehrson might not be the top NHL caliber defenseman that was in the portal, but for what UND desperately needed, he was most likely the most coveted player for the UND coaching staff that was in the portal. The addition of Pehrson changes expectations for next year. Here's where we're at now defensively. Pyke / Pehrson would be a great Top pairing. Zmolek would be a great Second pairing RHD Now, you can look at the talented LHD Freshman class and whoever proves it, can step into that 2nd pairing. The scouting reports on all three of the portal defenseman has to give everyone so much optimism. Defense first. That's exactly what they need for next year (from those portal additions).

I was listening to Bubba's post Spring practice interview he did on Bill Chaves podcast. I know we picked up on this from Siegel's quote, but he said the main focus this off-season defensively was to simplify, so they can play fast. Music to my ears.

UND has had great recruits in each class, this one though would feel different. Would be absolutely gigantic.

Zmolek is a monster get. Hip surgery in November, started skating in February. Hopefully he's on track to be 100% by Fall. I'm starting to feel some breathing room with the defensive situation. Other remaining portal guys are still important, but I really feel that this latest addition pushed them up into a playoff team.