UND92,96

Apparently the field has been narrowed down to seven "semi-finalists" (according to WDAZ news). Unfortunately, Milo didn't tell us who they are (will apparently be on the 6:00 news, though). For whatever reason, it's not been posted on fightingsioux.com or the Herald site. EDIT: There was a story on the 6:00 news, but WDAZ isn't going to actually name the seven until the 10:00 news.

I suspect all of the Dakota FCS schools will be taking a look at this kid, who is transferring from Minnesota (according to the Strib).

Seth Wisthoff article.

A few more applicants: link

I don't think anyone's going to be shocked if he doesn't apply, but evidently one person may disagree with the bolded part of your post--Mark Massari, senior associate AD at Oregon State (already applied).

Google let me down.

I don't believe he has signed with anyone.

Hard to say. But there are a number of Purpur's in town, so I'm just guessing that Fee didn't just write that without speaking with somebody who might have some inside info.

Let's hope Kevin Fee is correct.

No real news--other than it sounds as though Tyrell Rosemeyer is looking elsewhere. Allcanadagridiron.com continues to list Duraney White as a UND commit. I believe there are still some quality preferred-walk-on-types out there, including Kyle Gratzek and Jared Gowan. Also, I'm guessing there are still some talented jucos out there.

Not necessarily Kelley-related, but I'm going to post this Mike Jacobs column here anyway. My favorite part:

At the risk of beating a dead horse, our administration made the decision that head coaching experience wasn't nearly as important as having NCAA experience. That resulted in the elimination of nearly every candidate who actually had head coaching experience. Of the four finalists, I believe the only head coaching experience was Weemer's one year at the high school level. Sometimes hiring a coach with no previous head coaching experience works well, e.g. Hakstol. Sometimes it doesn't. Hopefully Jones will start getting things moving in the right direction next year. But obviously it won't be easy, and there's a long, long ways to go. Here's a semi-interesting statistic: over Rich Glas's final two years, UND won a total of 10 NCC games. Through Brian Jones' first slightly more than one and a half seasons, UND has won four NCC games (with five left to play).

While this isn't our only problem by any means, it's certainly a big part of it--every team in the conference except UND has a post man who averages double figures in scoring (conference-only stats). UND's three posts combine for about eight points per game in conference play. I know finding quality big men isn't easy, but if EVERY other team in the conference has somebody who can be a scoring threat in the post, is there really any good excuse why we don't?

I took SooToo's post as simply asking for information about Duraney White--not a correction of GeauxSioux's post, who was apparently asking whether anyone knew if White had actually signed. Anyway, here's an article on the school he currently attends, and how it has sent a lot of players to US college programs. Among the alums of this school are Tim Biakabutuka, the former Michigan and NFL running back. About all I know at this point is that he's listed at 6'5", 195 on their roster, and he's a receiver. Here's a picture.

My best guess is that he's "committed", but hasn't signed a LOI. Mussman said in an interview aired between basketball games last night that there are three offers still out there. I can only assume one is to White. Considering there were apparently several Canadians visiting this past weekend, I'd say the odds are fairly good at least one of the other offers may be to another Canadian. And Rosemeyer's status is still unknown.

After watching the highlight video, I can see why the coaches sound so high on Watkins. At 5'9", I assume his height scared off a lot of schools, but he appears to have everything else you'd want in a corner, and obviously he played against very strong competition in high school. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he sees the field next year. Rosario is also impressive, as are Benjamin, Sutton and several others. Overall, a nice class IMO.

From McFeely's blog: I've noticed in a couple of places where Haugeberg wasn't mentioned as ever having committed here. I wonder if he was going to be a walk-on, and thus his "de-commitment" is just sort of disregarded?

He's been banned from here--twice. He's all yours.

From the above-linked article: I'm not sure there's a definite deadline for applying.

In addition to Rich Glas, here are the other new applicants: link No Rob Bollinger...yet?

The recruit highlight video is now available to view at www.fightingsioux.com.

Article on Brett Cameron.

link Welcome to UND, Dr. Kelley!

Apparently there's a 6'4" junior at Forest Lake (MN) High School who is coached by ex-UND player Jenny (Hoffner) Wagner who UND may have some interest in.

Not sure how accurate this is, but this was on www.allcanadagridiron.com today: I saw him at the UND basketball games last weekend, and he's very tall--about 6'5".