Teeder11

Hard to say... it's a mishmash of starters and young guys for the LBs. I will have to watch for more of a trend ... .The CBs seem to usually be ... Blubaugh and Holm, though Holm may have a tweak in his lower body that has forced him to miss some reps.

Practice #2: It was a fun day from a fan's perspective out at old Memorial today... lots of fun plays. Bubba might beg to differ on certain aspects, because, well, he's the coach. The theme for the day today was that The Defense Strikes Back. After a day in which the offense ran a bit roughshod over the defenders, the tables turned a bit. My Play of the Day came from the defensive side of the ball: It's not often that you see a player pull off a Pass Break Up and an INT all on the same play, but that's exactly what Torrey Hunt did. The second-year CB stepped in front of a Studsrud bullet over the middle to Toivonnen, batted it up and away and then recovered his positioning in enough time to scoop the ball up just before it hit the turf. In other action: For the second day in a row, Mikey Greibel looked really good out on the practice field, and for the second day in a row the rookie snagged a one-handed catch along the sidelines. Austin Gordon just never lets you down the way he practices. Every time, he explodes off the ball like a bull out of a chute and increases his power through the play. Some of the rooks could learn from AG as sometimes it looks more like they're rolling out of bed than exploding through the play. Speaking of practice Studs, if WR Easton Erbes were maybe a couple inches taller and a bit thicker...you'd probably have heard more about him on Saturdays. The kid continues to grind and do everything right, not letting any catchable balls hit the turf, catching tough balls along the sidelines with toes in bound, and in general, hustling before during and after every play. Observed that Izzy, Toivonnen, Mercer and McKinney were being used a lot on jet-sweep action plays, either fakes or actual sweeps. Two different QBs -- Ketteringham and Heidelbaugh placed perfect balls to Greibel and McKinney, respectively, on slant patterns that would have went for long distances. The starting four in the secondary, at this point in practice, appears to be Tyus, Reyes, Flowers and Torrey Hunt. We'll monitor if that changes. Tyus played coverage perfectly on a long overthrown pass by Zimmerman, snatching an INT in the back of the end zone. Ketteringham connected with freshman WR Izzy Adeoti for about a 40 reception. Though they had there moments, McKinney and Izzy did fight balls a little bit today, more than I've seen to this point... looked to be more mental concentration than ability. OLB Palmborg has become a monster. He looks really good, strong and fast on the edge and in drop back pass coverage. Someone asked me about newcomer TyKeise Johnson's position yesterday. He's mostly been playing corner. After the aforementioned first-line secondary, it apears that Blubaugh, Kyle Heiptas, T Johnson, and another newcomer in Eli Allen played mostly the corner back position, while Randolph, Turner, Tucker and Shannon patrolled the middle. The first-line line backer positioning appeared to be Palmborg and Lawrence on the outside with Disterhaupt and Rodgers inside. During 2-minute drills to end today's practice, Studsrud started things out again. That series was highlighted by a PBU on Toivonnen by Tyus Carter, and a nice INT by LB Andre Steiger. (The LB crew had been changed out after the Tyus' PBU) Heidelbaugh took the next series and it was mostly the Hayden Blubaugh Show on defense. Blubaugh had two athletic PBUs in a row on coverage of Mercer than then Stanley. Heidelbaugh was able to connect with Seibel on a 45 yard bomb along the sidelines, with Randolph providing excellent coverage. Just a nice athletic play by the senior. That series ended, however, with today's runner-up Play of the Day: If there was ever a play where both sides of the ball could come away feeling ok about what just happened, it would be this one. The defense, however, felt just a little bit better. Hiedelbaugh through a rope about 20 yards up and along the sidelines to Wanzek, who miraculously came down with the snag and got one toe in-bounds despite being blanketed by Tyus Carter. It's the kind of play that you'd expect only Wanzek to make. So as I am prematurely gesturing the completed catch signal from my spot in the Memorial Stadium seats, Reyes swoops in from out of nowhere to clean things up and knocks the ball loose before Wanzek is completely down. It was big boy football on both sides of the ball. Zimmerman took the final series, which was mired by bad snaps and incompletions (bad throws, drops). Zimmerman did find life on his series with a nice long third and 10 ball to Redshirt Freshman TE Derek Paulson, who is now wearing Dulin's old #84. Bumps and bruises are mounting a bit and I anticipate the bike brigade membership will start growing in the coming days. Nothing looks too serious. See you tomorrow!

that was years ago.

That settles it then.

Each year I put out a caveat about reading too much into the no-pad practices as far as whether the O is ahead of the D or vice versa. I'll do the same this year. IMHO, because the D has so many more restrictions placed on it as far as "no tackling" "no hitting" and "pin the hip" situations, the Offense has an inherit advantage in the first few days. The emphasis in the first few days is on basic drills where it's difficult to discern any kind of competitive advantage. And the few "live" drills that happen are mostly QB keepers, dives, sweeps and pass plays against a Defense that can't do anything other than lightly wrap up, PBU or intercept. The tables turn when full pads are donned and that's when the Defense usually comes out on top for a while against an offense that is still finding its way and scrambling a bit -- against a defense that's been one of the best in the FCS the last couple of years.

Boltmann was raw and let balls sail a bit... but did hit most of his targets. Looks like a kid out there just trying to get things figured out. To be expected. I will focus more on Ray tomorrow. I saw more of the MLBs today.... Jake Disterhaupt looks bigger and thicker but just as quick. ( I realized he might be either OLB or MLB or both). Tamas Stewart was out practicing today with a red "don't touch me" jersey on. He's healed up... just want to keep him healthy at this point for depth. He did not show much today but I will keep watching him.

Practice #1 is in the books and Bubba and crew really harped on special teams work and two-minute offense. "Finish strong" was the mantra of the day and that is exactly what they the team did, as QB Andrew Zimmerman connected with Demun Mercer on a 65-plus yard pattern that, if it wasn't a TD, would have set the offense up with 1st and goal to go. That was the last play of the day in the the 2-minute offense drill and it got everyone excited. Other notes and highlights from the day: My hot take for today is that we have the most complete QB group that we've ever had in the DI era, with Studs, Heidelbaugh and Zimmerman, and Ketteringham and Boltmann on deck. All looked good today on Day 1. Three have a bigger learning curve than the two returning QBs. All that being said, it is not to say that we necessarily have the best QB group in the Big Sky, it simply means top to bottom, the raw talent and potential talent is the best I've seen at UND in the D1 era (that includes when we had Mollberg, Bartels, Studsrud, Riddle and Palendeck or Braden Hansen, Marcus Hendrickson, Mollberg and Bartels). Studs, Heidelbaugh and Ketteringham had the best day today under center... Boltmann and Zimmerman threw some nice balls but had quite a few balls sailing over receivers. It should be expected that Studs and Heidlbaugh would be more polished in the pocket due to their familiarity with the offense. Studs didn't do anything flashy but what he did got the job done and almost without error. A contender for play of the day was a nice long pass, catch and run from Ketteringham to WR Izzy Adeoti for a TD. Studsrud's best connection of the day came when TE Cloyd got behind coverage and went up to grab a long pass for a TD. JUCO Transfer Tykeise Johnson got everyone's attention with a Deion Harris-style pick 6 off of Studs. Johnson was in coverage when he changed directions on a dime and stepped in front of the waiting receiver to snatch the ball and run. Mikey Greibel was impressive today with all balls thrown his way including a one-handed snag along the sidelines. He looks the part early. Logan Alm played a ton at TE today and was equally impressive catching the ball as he was on hitting his blocks. Cloyd also had a good day at TE Newcomer Hayden Blubaugh made his presence known with some nice sticky-as-glue coverage on receivers, including a nice strong PBU in which he punched the ball out of the path to the receiver at the last second. As I alluded to before, practice closed with 2-minute offense series. Studs took what appears at this point to be the first string OL (Stockwell, Bell, Rooney, Taylor, Cox) and efficiently marched them down the field in the first run of the 2-minute drill. Studs capped off that series with two nice balls to WR Easton Erbes, the second of which was for a TD. Erbes was covered by Canady both times. Heidelbaugh took the second series with an OL comprising Blair, Aplin, Nguon, Tobin and Mortel. Heidelbaugh had two nice passing gains during his run: one to Mercer over the middle and a TD in the back of the end zone to WR Stetson Carr. Zimmerman took the final two series, first with OL Helgren, Bell, Stiner, Miller and Russo. Zimmerman struggled under center at first, though he did have a nice ball over the middle to newcomer WR Cam McKinney. Ultimately though the series had two balls sail on him and a sack. Zimmerman then got a chance to guide, what I am calling the first team OL, down the field for a TD -- capped off by the beautiful pass to Mercer that ended the day. As expected, Cam Hunt did not practice due to undisclosed injury. Also, freshman TE Graham Devore had what appeared to be a hand cast on today at practice. See you tomorrow.

Kenny G

This ^^^^^^^^^

So we've got that going for us, I guess. What's not to love.

But it had the word "Fighting" in it.

Sorry, I like many on here, have a PH.D. in this stuff. No matter what name was ultimately chosen, the backlash would have been the same (yes, even just "North Dakota" as it did have its fair share of detractors). The love for the old name was, as it would be for any school, just too strong. If we would have been the "Terrible Termites" for 80 years, and in some bizarro world, changed to the "Fighting Sioux," the torches and the pitch forks would have been just as prevalent. YOu love what you know and our culture is totally averse to change. Oh and we Germanic-Scandahooovians also hate others telling us what to do.

*triggered. Thanks, Danny Boy.

True, but just having fun.

I like that better... you own it!

Bennett, Wilson, Seguin and now Okpoko (love the name)... the Canadians are taking over at the line. Border control.

Holy M*&&&$# F&&$! Feed that boy and get him on campus quick!

Couldn't resist. Little Nate has me fired up this week.

Good call on Turner.

If playing with themselves was the deciding factor.... the Griz would be "hands down" No. 1.....

Just tweeted... sounds like another Canuck Jordan Gigli‏ @CoachGigli 1m1 minute ago More ***Another #DLdawg in the boat for 2018! Tall/Long Runs Well Loves football Great character #RushTheEdge

We're sure awesome at putting together cake schedules!

Totally agree on Mikey... the kid, like Noah and Hayden, just appear to be more college ready than even some of our current RS Frosh. I debated adding Mikey but only 5 slots. It was a coin flip.

1.Ray Haas 2. Izzy Adeoti 3. Noah Larson 4. Cam McKinney 5. Hayden Blubaugh

Cool.