Midwestern Hawk

I have heard the same about the dline. Actually, exceptionally pleased with the class as a whole.

Great question. The process usually starts out with high school coaches determining who can play and at what level and then the coaches will contact the college football teams that fit the kids ability and potential in the coaches opinion. This is done via email and phone calls, with the larger high schools that produce multiple players receiving regular visits from college recruiters. The college recruiting teams analyze film trying to recognize potential. Most schools then contact the kid via email, twitter, phone calls or personal visits depending on the age of the kid and the level of interest on both sides. Most schools will also try and get face to face contact with the kid before making an offer either at the kids school or getting him to attend a summer camp. The problem with all of this IMO is the recruiting process is much more intense in different parts of the country, different parts of the same state or even in the same city depending on the high schools success on the field and the connections the coach has made and the recruits placed over the years. Football is far tougher than say basketball, because you rarely get to see the kid compete and participate vs his skill and ability level peers. There are no summer AAU leagues and such, which results in lots of mistakes by recruiters, both in thinking a kid is far better than he is or a kid that goes way under the radar based on the which state he goes to high school in and how connected his coach is. Its why UND gets kids like Santiago Reyes etc. Its why Carson Wentz went from almost unrecruited to the #2 pick in the draft. If he went to high school in Florida, Louisiana, Texas or California would have been a 4-5 star recruit and never ended up at NDSU. Its also why 3-4 star recruits never end up playing a down in college.

In 2017 we have found out.... Our defense is not very good with 3rd string ILB and and 2nd string corners and safeties. Our D line, while experience needs more size and explosiveness overall. Our O line still needs alot of work. Our S & C needs to be reworked. Our offensive coordinator needs to be replaced. Our defensive coordinaror needs to be more flexible and inventive. Our backup qb is zimmerman and not heidellbaugh. The team needs to find some leaders to step up in the future to improve the culture and the focus on football.

Offensive and defensive 2-deep this week consists of 15 from Minnesota, 6 from Wisconsin, 5 from Colorado, 3 from North Dakota, 3 from Illinois, 2 from Canada, 2 from California, 2 from Washington, and 1 from Florida, Nebraska, Louisiana, Indiana, Alabama and Sweden.

The military academies are different, recruit nationally, but I get your point!

I agree with this. Lots and lots of quality players in both states that stay under the radar. Illinois 12.8 million and 6 D1 schools, Wisconsin 5.8 million and 1 D1 school, Nebraska 1.9 million and 1 D1 school, Minnesota 5.5 million and 1 D1 school, Iowa 3.2 million and 3 D1 schools, Colorado 5.5 million and 3 D1 schools and North Dakota 758K and 2 D1 schools.

The linebackers other than Hunt and some of the dline don't come even close.

Mortel is very dedicated to doing everything he can to help the football team including gaining size and strength. There are many guys on this team that have put on less than 10 pounds of muscle mass in over a year(some of them over 2-3 years) in the program. i understand guys all have different body types and some it is easier than others, but I question alot of guys commitment.

The facts are we have lost games a good program does not lose, injuries or not. Blown out by USD, Cal-Davis, and Montana. There is zero excuse for getting blown out by anyone.

I agree completely. If we were competing in these games the way I fell like we should be able to, we would not be 2-6. No excuse to lose to Sac St with a 4th string qb, Montana tried keeping us in the game the entire 1st half, and we should have beaten Montana State too IMO even with the injuries. The South Dakota game is a summary of the season, we were missing a few key players, but not we were not mentally ready to play, had a poor game plan and nobody ever stepped up to make a key play.

I agree the expectations do need to be changed. blown out in most games?

What should the expectations be then? Remember this was a consensus FCS top10 team to start the season which was also favored to repeat as Big Sky Champions. A collapse of this magnitude rarely happens in sports. It would be different if UND was losing a bunch of close games, but the offense sputters and the defense cant stop anyone. We are seeing some "not ready for prime time" players not getting put into position to compensate for their short-comings and then not calling the plays on O and D that can be carried out to give us a chance to win.

I agree.

He is the leading tackler on a really bad defense. Again not taking anything away from Rastas, if everyone on D was giving his effort we would not be 2-6. i am just not sure with him at ILB we wont struggle to get above .500 in the future. He does not have the burst to get home on blitzes or to fill the whole. Hunt has much, much better natural burst. I would think Hunt has a standing broad jump in the 9'6" range and Rastas about 8'. Again not taking a thing away from Jake's effort, has been outstanding.

I think he made some guest appearances on a few sidelines. Some ugly football yesterday.

Completely agree. Great motor, just not ready physically. Obviously not there weight and strength wise and also needs to work on his burst and footwork. Based on his frame, not sure how much good weight he will be able to put on. A+ for effort.

Probably depends on the next two weeks play and the weather on that Saturday. How different will the feel be to that game compared to what we were expecting 60 days ago?

Next year we will be able to get way more pressure on qb's and Bluebaugh will lead the team in picks. You are correct he is a competitor that never hangs his head and keeps fighting. He will be AA by the time he is senior.

I am not inferring the other guys were involved in dealing but the guys living with Poole, Taylor and Randolph obviously knew what was going on, as did a great portion of the team. The other part of this that really bothers me is who do we think the best customers were?

IMO the other "issues" will never allow the type of cohesive team needed to put your best product on the field consistently. If a few guys are not as focused as they need to be that can be overcome but when too many guys are not football focused you end up with a train wreck like this season is turning out to be. Also needs to be wholesale change in play-calling and adapting to personnel and what the other team is giving us. At times the offense is just plain ugly and the defense can't stop the run. A team at any level will never win consistently if they cant stop the run.

If you really break down the offense last season, what was season record without all the defensive and special team points and points that were scored on a very short field? Season is much different last year with this years defense IMO.

There is more at work here than just “bad luck”, the number of injuries, sicknesses, suspensions and dismissals is absolutely crazy.

Agree with everything said. Tight ends are never targeted in this offense and Santiago should be in the slot a lot getting oliviera or jj on the field more. Rastas is playing his heart out, I am just doubtful he will ever carry even close to 230. Maybe an option for OLB in the future? lots of guys on d should not be playing this year, bluebaugh, Shannon, rastas and richman are all at least a year away from being ready IMO. Been a long season already.

Remember the guys arrested for dealing all lived with other players, a number of them. A lot of house cleaning and refocusing needs to be done.