Teeder11

Never did.

It's not the plays... it's execution. I can call what the AC is going to run before they run it at 90 percent clip (just like many would lament about Rudy) but they just execute to perfection so it works. Predictable is fine when you have the horses. You'll kill the other team tonight, Gundy! Don't ever sleep on three yards and a cloud of dust!

There was a lot of football played out at Memorial Stadium today, and right from the get go. The team followed up warm-ups immediately with about 15-20 plays of 11-on-11. There was loud music playing on the sideline pretty much the entire practice. Some highlights from the first round of plays included: Kett hitting Wanzek on an a nice 40 yard fly pattern. Turner busted through the scrum for a sack, showing his sudden burst, power and speed... no chance. Zim continues to show good poise in the pocket, waiting just long enough to hit TE Pinke over the middle for another nice gain. He hears the footsteps but is able to maintain concentration. QB Grover threw a nice ball to TE Cloyd on a down and out pattern for medium gain. The big mit of Ray Haas made another appearance today, as he busted through the line and slapped down a pass by Schuster at close range. Kett followed up with a nice 25 yarder to Tovionen on a down and out pattern. Kett threw a nice ball over the top to Cochran who was blanketed by Hayden Galvin for a 30 yard pass and catch. QB Grover got into the act with a nice pass to Maag along the sideline for 35 yards. Next Grover was forced to double pump as he scanned the field on the run, good coverage forced him to ultimately escape the pocket and throw it away to avoid a big loss. The Play of the Day came during this initial round of plays when Kett hit Cochran for a 1st down while hand fighting with Blubaugh, who had good position and coverage. WR CC ultimately juggled the ball a few times before allowing it to settle into his arms for a good catch along the sidelines. The Band-aid brigade was more than a dozen strong today, as mostly young backups spent time on the sidelines nursing various bumps and bruises. Interestingly only 2 offensive players were among them: Mortel and Sherva. Another drill that produced some neat highlights was a red zone exercise, from about 10-15 yards out. Zim hit Cloyd for a 15 yard pass-and-catch TD with Galvin all over Cloyd. QB Schuster threw high toward the corner of the end zone to find CC for another TD. Zim then found Maag on a crossing pattern for a TD. Schuster went to the other corner with a high ball to WR Wilde, who went up high to get it for a TD. Schuster then zipped it into Greibel who had to react quickly to snatch it out of the air for a 10 yard TD. Zim showed he could zip the ball, too, when he found Toivonen in the corner for a TD. Zim followed that up with another bullet to Pedro Schmidt for a 10 yard TD. During Team Drills the Offense and Defense were relatively even, with a slight edge to the offense if I had to pick one. Kett faked to big HB Johanneson and then hit Boltmann on a 25 yard out pattern. Kett followed that up with a bad exchange to McKinney, who fumbled and allowed a defensive recovery. That ended the series for Kett. Zim came in and had to throw the ball away right away as Quintin Sequin busted through for a QB hurry. In a rare moment for Zim, he held the ball too long and got sacked. He is wearing a red jersey so "sack" means they blew the whistle and called the play dead. Next Grover took over and executed a sneaky sweep exchange to WR Maag who went around the left side for good yardage. When Kett got his next chance again, he hit Toivonen on a short route, in which the WR shed a Blubaugh tackle and ran it up field. Kett then faked McKinney and opted for a quick hitter short pass to Toivonen for a first down. Red Zone plays and short yardage passing to running backs, WRs and TEs were the overriding theme of today. During some more Red Zone drills, Zim found WR Pedro Schmidt in the back o the endzone for a TD. Next QB Grover stepped in and was picked off by promising young CB Jacob Odom. A bit of scary play took place when Grover hit his receiver in the corner of the endzone. The WR was covered well by Blubaugh. Both receiver and defender went up high for the ball, and Blubaugh came down awkwardly. He sat out the rest of the practice but was walking on the sidelines without any assistance. During field goal drills, holding duties were rotated among Cade Pederson, Greibel and Boltmann. The Kickers focused on boots outside of 40 yards. They seemed to be pushing the ball left at first but both Bradys eventually found their sweet spots and range, and they began booming them through. Alternate Play of the Day: Leach finished off the exercise with an absolute beauty from 45+ yards out that would have been good from longer. He did it with the entire offensive and defensive sqauds gathered to his front and screaming at him. Their distractions changed to cheers for the Kicker as it sailed through the uprights high and straight. Practice finished off with some more 11-on-11 plays. QB Schuster salvaged what looked to be a botched play by finding is security outlet Greibel in the shallow flats. Griebel turned on the jets and headed up field. Kett then had back to back nice pass plays. He faked a handoff before throwing a nice low ball to Toivonen for 15 yards. The crafty Toivonen scooped it up as he slide for a first down. You've seen them do it before in game situations. Kett then threw a nice ball to Maag for nice yardage. The young QBs then finished off the day, with Schuster getting his second ball of the day batted down at the line. This time it was deflected clear back to the secondary where it was nearly intercepted. Schuster made up for it with a nice 30 yard rope to Pedro Schmidt. "Dro" went up and caught the ball at a high point before bringing it in and coming down in stride. The Hawks are off tomorrow and back to it on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Beer is fine.

Not to mention Bennett on the DL and all the young ball hawks in the secondary. I suppose it won’t be long before we’ll start seeing the pro scouts at Fall camp, scoping out #55.

Looks like we got a gem in Noah Larson. https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/football/4068144-Once-an-under-recruited-prospect-UND-linebacker-Noah-Larson-building-on-breakout-freshman-year#.XUiOEQK-0Ys.twitter

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/football/4054333-UND-fall-camp-Day-4-roundup-DBs-steal-the-show

Yes, he's on the team. Very athletic. Good size for DB. Still learning the playbook. He should factor in playing time somewhere on the field this fall.

The Fighting Hawks were visited today by a couple of recent good ones in former defensive stalwarts Austin Cieslak and Tanner Palmborg. Several UND players, those in high-contact positions (hogs/rams) sported the padded helmet covers today. These protective devices seemed to be all the rage a couple days ago in the Fargo media, despite the fact they have been around for years and used by many FBS and FCS programs. I will be taking a break from day-to-day Fall Camp coverage until next Saturday, as I slip back into 8-5 p.m. work mode. The Fighting Hawks Football Team will have their Media Day on Tuesday of this week. This just in: The Fighting Hawks are deep, deep, deep at WR this year. Not much separation in talent top to bottom, and that is not a slight. As we look ahead to next season, that situation will normalize a bit. Today, the offensive and defensive units continued to trade shining moments, with no clear edge. Ketteringham had his best day of camp today, hitting WR Burian, at one point, on a shallow out pattern that the receiver was able to take up field for YAC. Zimmerman, too, looked solid. The mobile QB rolled out when the pocket broke down and zipped one to WR Toivonen,who adeptly came back to the ball. However, true freshman Sammy Fort, who continues to stand out, was able to break up the pass at the last second. The screen pass and play action passes were very effective at times today for our QBs. Zim hit QB turned WR Bolt on one of these well executed screens. QB Grover executed a nice fake hand off on a jet sweep and hit Wanzek up field after a break down in the secondary. Only 3 QBs were used in the first live session of today's practice (Kett, Zim and Grover) In skelly, Zim hit DB turned WR Hietpas for 40 yards on a fly pattern in which the receiver was able to sneak behind enemy lines. Later in the 11-on-11 series, transfer HB Dalton Gee lost the ball as he busted through the DL and converging ILBs. It appeared the impact of the collisions jarred the ball loose and the defense was able to recover. SDSU transfer Wilde is proving to be a trusty target in fall camp. He was involved in a number of medium to long yardage plays again today. Young QB Schuster showed great poise in the pocket with a well executed screen pass to HB Gordon out of the backfield. Gordon turned it up in stride for big yardage. Kett then had a nice 45 yard pass and catch play to Toivonen on play action. One of the more comical plays, came when one of the backup QBs scrambled after a broken play, avoiding a sure sack by finding a TE who wasn't expecting the quick short pass.... the ball smacked the TE right off the front of the helmet and bounced up and down into the waiting arms of a DB. The names have been omitted to protect the innocent (and guilty, I guess). The co-Plays of the Day finished off today's practice: Firstly, HB McKinney conjured up his inner John Santiago, leaping over outstretched arms of would-be tacklers and breaking ankles of others as he weaved his way through the bunched up defense, including DBs who had cheated up, into the backfield where his jets kicked in and he was gone. What's amazing about this play was that it was a no-tackle drill, but even if it was full contact, I am confident McKinney wouldn't have been brought down. Practice ended on a high note for the offense, when QB Schuster hit Wilde with accurate timing on a crossing pattern. It was set up with play action that got the defense to bite hard. Wilde was off to the races! Fun day today at Memorial Union! Talk to you Saturday.

I see a lot of Scout team in Schuster’s future, for now.

Not a cloud in the sky over Memorial today, and it was another warm one. Intensity was good on the field, too, for a second consecutive day. Only minor nicks and bruises apart from the other already known injuries. Jaxon Turner is going to be a beast off the edge this year. He is thicker than I ever remember and just as fast. As far as newbies go, I really like the look of Matt Koshiol, a 6-3 195 DB, out of Roccori H.S. For a young guy with size, he really moves well on the field and possesses good strength. In passing drills, Travis Toivonen showed off his big mitt with a one handed grab, while being closely defended and tiptoeing along the sideline. The throw from Kett was online but a bit high. The Play of the Day easily goes to the Defensive squad today. During Team Drills, Kett dropped back and tried to finesse lob a ball (like he was tossing it into a basketball hoop) to a cutting receiver about 8 yards ahead of the line of scrimmage. Nose tackle Griffin Lickfeldt, as deftly as a D-lineman can, dropped back a few steps and leaped, using all 6 feet of his 270 pound frame to tip the lobbed ball down into his waiting arms, then barreling forward for a solid gain. His D teammates went crazy as he made one of the first deposits into the INT barrel. In other action, DB Blubaugh had a solid day with some PBUs and a ball strip of a receiver that would have been a nice gain. Young QB Shuster grew up a lot overnight and took a step today. He looked really good today. For a relatively short QB, he throws a very nice ball. Crisp and straight. He's got good wheels, too, when he needs vacate. Schuster found who I believe is SDSU transfer Alex Wilde (though I thought I saw the paper saying he hasn't practiced yet) for a 30 yard reception, allowing the tall receiver to catch it high above the defender's hands. Kett and Zimm also had good days in the pocket. Kett hit Greibel for a 45 yarder catch and run in stride. Grover didn't shine as much today but, he demonstrated decent mobility and wheels in the pocket. The Defense came to play today to start off the full skelly drills, disrupting the rhythm of the QB and receivers. The Offense eventually regrouped and had better results to finish off the drill. I must say, of all the QBs, Zim shows the best mobility and pocket awareness. Kett still needs to get the clock inside his head reset, IMHO. The freshman QB and freshman center struggled to get it together, with 5 bad snaps in short order. It was a combination of poor snaps by Center and QB butterfingers. DB Seigel showed good coverage on Greibel with a nice PBU. Today, during 11-on-11 drills, nose tackle rotation was 1. Engwall 2. Morrison 3. Lickfeldt Zimmerman threw a perfect bomb to Wanzek, who slipped behind coverage, but the normally sure-handed #31 couldn't haul it in. Later Zimmerman tried to thread one into WR Tyler Burian, along the sideline, but freshman DB Sammy Fort used his speed and athleticism to pick off the ball from the taller receiver. I should note, however, that the a little hand fighting preceded the arrival of the ball. Finally, what I have seen so far in limited action is that the offense and defense are pretty even. Traditionally, the defense gets off to a fast start before the offense catches up. We will see if the evenness of the squads continues as we move forward. Have a great day!

Caleb Nelson attended today’s practice at Memorial in street clothes, intently watching his defensive mates on the practice field and studying a UND defensive play book.

Way early. I think Grover needs to keep this up, but Zim certainly didn’t do anything today to suggest he is regressing. He and Kett were fine. Grover just stood out today.

It was a beautiful day to kick-off the year out at Memorial Stadium this morning. A little overcast to start but the sun cam a-blazing as the morning progressed. Speaking of blazing, there is a marked uptick in the tempo of the offense between plays in skelly and in 11-on-11. It's like they are in hurry-up all the time. Execution did not seem to be impacted too much for the offensive unit. This is a welcome change, I think. As long as coaches know how to use tempo -- both hurry it up and slow it down -- in game situations. Yes, yes, yes, the hogs are a bit leaner this year. Noticeably so. This does not appear to be by accident or unintended, after a quick survey of in-the-know folks on the sideline. It was nice to see Otis out there practicing as hard as ever despite having to sit out the fall. His explosiveness and speed seem to have gotten even better and more sudden. And his catching out of the back field was better. Keep it up! And study hard, Otis. Also really good to see Izzy out on the field at full speed. Same goes for Mikey Greibel.... starting off fall camp without a cast on his arm. As far as new speedsters, I give you Sammy Fort. He looked aggressive and ultra fast in drills. He also took some time on KR duty. Coach Schmidt took some time today to introduce Nos. 52 and 93 to UND Fall Camp life. The DL frosh duo had to redo one particular drill a half dozen times one right after the other. No dogging allowed, boys, under Coach Schmidt's watch. As was mentioned earlier, former Hawks receiver and special teams standout Alex Reed is now an assistant, working with Coach King with the WR Corps. QB Grover had a couple of really nice balls in which he dropped it in perfectly with the receiver surrounded by defenders on sideline routes. One to Chrysten Cochran (AKA "CC") and the other to Maag. Maag also went the distance after a short over the middle pass. Maag caught the ball about 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, then made an awkward move to head up field. The move surprised the two DBs that were about to converge on him and he was able to escape the tackles untouched and burst 45 yards for the TD. Leach was 5/6 on FG tries from varying distances. The other kicker in camp, presumably Brady Stevens, was 3/4 on FG from varying distances. His last was a miss -- oof! The No. 1 Offensive line appeared to stay true to the 2-deep today: Waletzo, Tobin, Rooney, Hergel and Russo. Morrison (1) and Lickfeldt (2) alternated at Nose on the defensive side. I will continue to monitor this area. Pedro Schmidt, of all players, had the best offensive showing during 11-on11 drills to finish out the day. One of the wildest plays involved Pedro sneakily getting behind the DBs, and the QB spotting him for a 40 yard catch and run for a TD. Kett looked fine...nothing to write home about yet. Zimmerman held his own today as well. Grover looked really good. Schuster looked smallish and like a freshman should --his head was swimming. Let's do it again tomorrow!

Don’t let the facts get in the way of an awesome narrative, tho. LOL