UND92,96

One could be 6'7" sophomore Bryan Kielpinski from Mandan. I've never seen him play, but he was all-WDA this past year, and he has two sisters who were great high school players so he's evidently got good bloodlines.

At the dI level, don't you have 13 scholarships which can't be split? In other words, isn't everybody now either getting a full, or else they get nothing at all?

The recruiting class is finally officially announced: link

I guess to me, it's an apples to oranges comparison. Koenig and Mertens were three years apart in high school (Koenig was a 2003 grad; Mertens a 2006 grad), and they played different positions. Sadly, we'll never know what Koenig may have been, because injuries rendered him a shadow of what he once was athletically. Hopefully Mertens fares better.

Besides Mertens, any word on which of the incoming recruits may not red-shirt? I suppose it may depend in part on the status of players like Harkins (is he actually going to be able to play?), and Dumas/Porter/Joseph (are they returning?).

Mertens is enough of an athlete that both UND and NDSU recruited him heavily for football. At 6'4" or 6'5" with great leaping ability, he was a very intriguing prospect at receiver.

IMO, if one were to judge purely on talent alone (and not necessarily position or years of eligibility remaining), only Woodside, Winkelman, Nelson, Tveidt and Carlson are any better players/recruits than the three North Dakotans UND signed this year. Obviously the Bison Dan's, JBB's, etc. of the world will vehemently disagree, but would anybody expect anything else from them?

I believe they were in the upper-50's as of last season.

Yes.

With Stroup done, and Bodoh's injury situation being uncertain at best, the weakside OLB position is looking like a problem. Besides Giles, who else is there? I assume red-shirt freshmen, although I have no idea who else practiced at the position this spring.

Another UND recruit having a lot of track success is Brian Sorensen from Hazen. He has the top time in class B in the 200--an impressive (particularly for his size) 22.24.

I don't think Mertens is limited to playing the 3 any moreso than Winkelman is at NDSU. They're pretty much the same size, and if I'm not mistaken Winkelman actually played the 4 most of the time because NDSU didn't really have anybody else to play that position. Which brings up another point--the one and only reason NDSU didn't and couldn't offer a scholarship to Mertens (or May) for next year is because they have a whole bunch of scholarships tied up in players who have shown little or nothing so far. For example, who would be more likely to help NDSU next year--Mertens or Lorenzo Riley? Who would be more likely to develop into somebody who can actually score once in awhile--May or Pennick/Vaughn?

Yes, he is skinny. I haven't seen him play, but hopefully he's one of those players who plays bigger than he is.

Former Sioux player Brady Larson has been hired as one of Rich Glas's assistants. link

I don't specifically know to what extent Montana State was recruiting Mertens, but I'd have a hard time believing they would have only been interested in him as a walk-on. For what it's worth, another North Dakotan, James Hennessy from Williston, played 16 minutes per game for Montana State this year, and IMO he's nowhere near the talent Mertens is.

We likely won't see him on the field this year, but I'm excited about the potential of incoming freshman Devin Benjamin. On paper anyway, it sounds like he has exactly what you'd like to see in a nose guard.

I'm sure we're going to be reminded ad nauseum that NDSU didn't have any available scholarship for Mertens, although I believe there was some talk of him red-shirting next year there, and getting a scholarship the following year (ditto for May). I think we're all well aware of how scholarship availability can impact recruiting. It's certainly played a role in football, i.e. 36 vs. 63 scholarships.

I tend to agree, although my understanding is that red-shirt Pat Mitchell is very good and will contribute a lot this season.

Was that the case even before cousin Nick from EGF went to NDSU?

I can't really say I noticed any of them one way or the other, but for whatever it's worth Quesenberry and Hawkins are both listed as second-stringers right now. Of course, given the number of injuries at db, and the lack of numbers on the OL, it's probably not a big surprise that red shirt freshmen are possibly slated to see some time at those positions.

Seth Wisthoff has been quite impressive in track so far this spring. He's thrown the shot 60'4" already. Jim Kleinsasser's class B record of 62'2" could possibly be within his reach.

I think there's just too many variables for somebody outside the program to even begin to speculate as to exactly how many scholies may still be available. For one thing, there are numerous players on the roster who came in as walk-on's, and presumably one or more of them may now be on scholarship. Also, who knows whether the Dumas rumor is true or not? I would say that the odds are pretty good that we may still see two or three additions, but that's really just a guess. At a minimum, I have to think that both Mertens and Allard have scholarships waiting for them if they choose to come to UND.

Not really. They're impossible to beat in Vermillion, aren't they? link

I don't know for sure whether he didn't play much down the stretch due to injury or simply due to coach's decision, but I wouldn't be surprised if Darius Joseph doesn't return. I strongly suspect the coaches were expecting more than 5 points and 3 assists per game when they recruited him.

Nice pick up. I understand May is good friends with South's Jordan Allard. Any word on Allard's college destination yet?