Teeder11

Verbal #6 Graham Devore, 6-4, 225#, DE/TE, Mahtomedi, Minn. Graham visited campus today and took in this morning's practice at Memorial Stadium. 3m Graham DeVore‏ @GrahamDeVore Excited to announce that I have committed to play Division I football at the University of North Dakota! http://www.hudl.com/video/3/4399299/5721da4e90eead5d90e32a2d

A new Hawk has landed. Any guesses? UND FB Recruiting‏ @UNDFBRecruiting Under the radar #HawkLanding in Grand Forks has us high stepping!! A DUDE to play in the trenches! #JoinTheFlight17

Day 4: Aug. 8 Another very good but relatively uneventful effort from the whole team today. 1. Mason Bennett showed his pass defending potential by getting up with his big paw to bat down a Studsrud pass. 2. Toivonnen had a nice one on one battle with C. Carter down the sideline in which the true freshmen asserted himself wrestled away a 50/50 ball and took it the distance. 3. Torrey Hunt showed his break-to-the ball potential with a nice INT on a ball intended for Demun Mercer. 4. There is a developing battle for back up QB between Heidelbaugh and Bartels. Both took a ton of reps today. Edge: Heidelbaugh. 5. Cam Hunt Jr. Showed up today with a nice PBU on a pass intended for Toivonnen. 6. LB Jawon Johnson was a beast today with a number of PBUs. Looked good patrolling the midfield area. 7. Highlight play of the day goes to Clive Georges. It was Clive being Clive breaking ankles and taking names. He took a quick pass to the flats and absolutely cork screwed Labat, who was his closest defender. Just think of his Juke and jive TD against Mont. state at the Alerus Last year. 8. Joe Mollberg is still working with the tight ends. He had a couple of catches today. He's got an uphill battle ahead of him to see the field IMHO with Matthewson, Fiedler and Francis ahead of him and the young TE's Cloyd and Pinke looking good early. Joe's a great team first kind of guy.

Heidelbaugh has been taking a lot of reps with the 2s. I will continue to watch this.

True. Rob is equally anti-UND as much as he is anti-NDSU. And if anyone sees it differently, they are viewing things through a skewed prism. Basically, he's anti- public higher ed. He's made no bones about it. I get just as miffed when he goes after UND on stuff I feel is just as petty. But the point his we've taken our shots (many times deserved) and we will have our day in the Port "spotlight" again someday. Also, the corporate world analogies from our friends to the south are off the mark, in this case, because the corporate world is, well, private, and largely does not use public money to operate. When you take public money, there should be scrutiny involved --text messages included. If you don't like it. Go find a private sector job!

In a word ----DEPTH. but we already new that. Special teams is a bit of a wait and see on all fronts.

I usually arrive at Memorial Stadium right at 8:30am, and I believe the specialists do the bulk of their work before that. However, there was some punting to day in the regular session. We had two punters go today: Bolduc and Dussold. The kid out of Mississippi looked to have a wrap on his thigh and thus did not participate. Bulduc did just enough per usual, nothing to write home about but his punts tended to land in bounds more. Dussold produces the sound you were talking about, and he did force the returner to back peddle a couple of times. But his sometimes came off his foot funny. Niether were sticking them like Meindel tended to do routinely.

Really good! He's not holding much back at all, it would appear. He had another good day.

Day 3: Sunday, Aug. 7 Let's cut to the chase. 1. DNP Heldgren, D. Harris, Francis, Seibel. Vashon Tucker is feeling better and back on practice field at safety. 2. Aplin indeed did take a lot of reps at left guard with the No. 2 Offensive line with Stiner, Rooney at center, Miller at opposite guard and Blair. After that it was Mortel, Tobin, Nguen, Hunt and Russo taking reps ont the line. 3. What can I say about Toivonnen. Are we sure he's not a RS freshman? He brought down a high throw over the middle with just one of his big paws. Like he was palming a basketball out of the air. 4. Studrud looked locked-in for the most part today. He seems to have really really good chemistry with all the receivers, but especially Clive, Stanley, Dulin and Carr. 5. As far as the best pass defenders today, that award would have to go to speed demon Garrett "Gee" Bollant, followed closely by Arnell, Torrey and Carr. Reyes was his usual solid self but didn't have as many opportunities today. 6. An interesting line up for the back-up secondary today was Holm and Randolph at CBs and Vashon and Canady roaming the middle. 7. I am trying to temper my excitement on Blackwell and Wanzek, but they, again today, had a really good practice as dependable role playing receivers with good blocks and pulling in tough balls coming their way. I joked with the Herald guy that, if those two continue their progression, they might be writing a little story about the "I-94 connection" of Blackwell (Dickinson), Wanzek (Jamestown) with Seibel (Bismarck). Don't sleep on Carr from Hazen, either! But that didn't fit my Interstate narrative. LOL! 8. Wanzek made his defenders look absolutely silly on a play, taking one the distance after a 15 yard pass from Hiedelbaugh over the middle. 9. Taj has the pick of the day with one that he snatched along the far sidelines and tip-toed along the line to keep it in bounds. It was reminiscent of Will Ratelle's pick against Northern Colorado last year at the Alerus Center. 10. Keelan Poole got in on the INT action, too, after Bolinksi's pass was tipped by LB Rodgers it was snatched up by Poole. However, Poole made a rookie judgement call to run it up field through a host of would -be tacklers instead of taking it to the near sideline. He'll learn to finish it right. With that ... I'll see you tomorrow!

Thanks! Nice to have someone out there to check my reporting in case I err on something! Take care!

That makes a lot of sense. Rooney was taking most of the snaps at center with the second stringers. I will watch for Aplin.

No problem at all! I should say that the QBs were really throwing some good balls today, outside of the picks. Many of the long plays were when rookies were trying to defend. They will get better, and I also should add that on some of those long plays, in a contact situation, the QBs would have never gotten the ball off against the on-coming push of the DL and the linebackers around the edge.

Day 2: Saturday, Aug. 6: Another great day out at Memorial Stadium. The student-athletes kept their motivation up and it was an overall good practice. I focused mainly on QBs and receivers today, and to some degree the DBs. Someone out there today commented how far the whole team has come in two years. They are actually working on plays and game situations, whereas two years ago on day two, "they were practicing going to the ball" over and over and over again. Seibel, Helgren, Vashon Tucker (was present), and Deon Harris were among only a few players who DNP. 1. Among those who took reps today at returning duties were: Ryan Holm, Demun Mercer, Jordan Canady, Torrey Hunt, Santiago, Clive, Tim Ryan and Alex Reed. 2. WR Toivonnen and TE Cloyd continued to be men among boys when compared to the other true freshmen. 3. Cloyd took a lot of reps at TE today. 4. WR Tim Dulin had a much better day today. 5. In CB Harris' absence, C.Carter took a lot more reps along with Torrey Hunt and Garret Bollant with first string defense and against first string offense. 6. The future of UND's secondary -- Randolph, Geier, Canady, and Holm -- also got a lot of reps today with the second and third string offenses. They looked shaky but they have a lot bigger learning curve at their positions than their other true freshmen brethren outside of the OL. 7. The Pride of Red River High School Chad Bartosh showed his skills with an impressive one-handed snatch along the sidelines. 8. Reyes was just toying with the boys today, with two clean picks over the middle off of Studsrud. Reyes just lurks around in the middle and steps out of nowhere for the INTs. 9. Studsrud threw a 40 yard rope to Stetson Carr over defending Torrey Hunt. Would have gone for 6. 10. Heidelbaugh had a long TD throw of his own to Stanley over defending Tim Ryan. 11. Studsrud then hit true freshman WR Wanzek who snagged a ball over his defender, tip toed along the sidelines for about 10 yards and then took it another 40 yards for a TD. Truth be told though, if it wouldn't have been a no-contact situation, Reyes had the young receiver directly in his sights and would have demolished him at the point of the reception. 12. Heidelbaugh with another nice ball to WR Blackwell along the sidelines for a TD. Blackwell continues to impress compared to his true freshman year. 13. True freshman stud WR Toivonnen beats safety Palmborg over the middle and runs 40 yards-plus for a TD. Heidelbaugh at QB. 14. Next play, LB Jake Hanson steps up and picks off Heidelbaugh. 15. To end the day, Bartels hits TE Cloyd for a 30 yard-plus catch and run for a TD. See you tomorrow!

It sure is a weird time down there at the AC.

Is that what they do down in Cow Town to .... virtually everybody else in the University System and the State Legislature?

Relax, Dan, it was intended to nip the weak trolling attempt in the bud and to avoid another nauseating d!@k measuring contest that would go on several pages. The thought being, just say "Congrats, good for you" and move on.

Noticed him a couple of times. Nothing special --yet. I will continue to keep an eye on him.

Crap! I knew I was going to do that. I kept thinking to myself today that Haas looks like a DB more than a LB. He's an LB. Thanks for point that out. My bad.

Day 1: Friday, Aug. 8: If you complained about being out on the Memorial Stadium turf today, you need to find a new line of work: beautiful, slight breeze, not a cloud in the sky and temps in the upper 70s. The demeanor on the field among players and coaches was very businesslike for a first day. No shouting and screaming like drill sergeants. There was an expectation in the air and for most part the players were meeting it. The young guys were calmly coached up and the vets were a bit more brusquely reminded about their technique when needed. I expect that to change as camp lingers on and the coaches get a little more excitable. Bubba gave his usual "first day is easy" speech, and that what really matters is keeping the attention to detail and motivation to improve up throughout fall camp. Bubba pointed out a situation in which one particular player thought he was at a picnic versus football practice and that he was not "valuing the ball." He said that cannot and will not happen under his watch. Players who I noted did not practice (for various reasons): Bennett Helgren, Josh Seibel and I did not see Vashon Tucker on the field, though, I may have just missed him. No reason to speculate beyond that. The uniform was helmet and shorts ... no pads. 1. Zach Arnell looked like he was shot out of a cannon all day. He was all over the field and made several plays on defense. It's obvious he was chomping at the bit to get back to it after the suspicious hit on him at the AC last year. 2. Clive Georges looks much less slight this year. Looks like he's packed on a little muscle. Still blazing fast. He caught the ball very well per usual. 3. The 1st team OL at this very early point in the season is: Stockwell, Bell, Coe, Taylor, Cox. Some speculation whether Coe and Cox might be interchangeable between the center and tackle spot. Just interesting speculation at this point. Not sure how much substance is there. 4. Rooney took snaps at center with the back up O linemen, followed by Nguyen. I did not see Aplin take any snaps at center. He did practice. 5. Coyne and Norberg switched on and off at FB all practice. They are both about the same size, though Norberg looks a bit more mobile and limber. 6. Taj Rich looked to be practicing at normal speed, with a brace on his left knee. He put maximum pressure on his knee all practice and did not favor the other leg at all. Keep your fingers crossed. 7. WR Carter Blackwell gained some weight but shrunk from his recruited height. Now listed at 6'1" down a couple inches. Go figure. On a more positive note, he developed some catching ability over the summer. He pulled in some tough balls and had much better attention on ball and exploded up field after the catch. Juries still out on him for me but he looks much improved in the catching category after 1 practice. 8. I don't understand it, but WR Dulin is still fighting the ball a bit. Arrrgghh! 9. QB Heidelbaugh still takes forever (relatively speaking) to get his throws off, and that did result in at least one INT, but he did have a few nice balls today, including one where he put it perfectly over the receivers opposite shoulder along the sideline. Indefensible. 10. Arnell came from out of nowhere and skied high into the air for a PBU on Blackwell. 11. As mentioned before a slight hitch in Heidelbaugh's mechanics caused an INT... the ball was tipped and fell into the arms of newcomer Cameron Hunt. 12. Santiago was Santiago. And that's good. Great depth behind him is even better. 13. I am going to go out on a limb here and say that, though there are some reservations on what happens if Studsrud goes down, I think Bartels finally puts it all together if he's needed a la Marcus Hendrickson in his senior year. Bartels has little to lose, it's his senior year, he knows the system, he knows the Big Sky. He showed a bit more mobility last year. Just a hunch. But I am an optimist. I remember Hendrickson and thinking why didn't he show what he showed his senior year in any of his previous years. Oh well. More about the new guys--- here's what you've been waiting for: 1. Putting all the message board chatter and speculation aside, for me, Toivonnen and Cloyd definitely passed the eye test and are the real deal. I had a similar reaction to Santiago last year and to Reyes and Cam Kuksa prior to that. Toivonnen has all the tools right now and looks like a Luke Stanley type dependable receiver. Cloyd is a massive human being who will only get bigger and better as he tones a bit and adds even more muscle. One of my buds today said that Cloyd looks like he has shoulder pads on when he doesn't. 2 Ray Haas also looks very noticeably tall at his position in the secondary. I will keep my eye on him. He may be a fun one to watch develop over the years. 3. WR Noah Wanzek looks good early. He had a beautiful reception up the middle where he used all of his 6'4" and then some to sky into the air for the catch. 4. WR Demun Mercer had a solid day, nothing flashy, though. Has some decent speed. That's it for today. Sorry that was long. Probably don't need to reply to this long post if you have questions or hot takes.

Heading over there right now!

He's listed on the participation report for that game but William James and Jawon Johnson are the safeties who made plays on the stat sheet. No entries for Reyes on the stat sheet.

What gall he has!

Awesome! Great exposure for the state, too. Thanks for posting!

I seem to recall a quick blurb on Denny hanging it up last spring and I noticed Shaide wasn't on the Big Sky Kick-Off guide roster, either.