UND92,96

I'm certainly no expert, but considering that Jake has spent his springs and summers playing baseball, and his falls playing football up to this point, he may have just scratched the surface of his hockey potential compared to a lot of other prospects his age who haven't devoted so much time to other sports.

I understand what you're saying, but personally I'm just giving credit to the coaches for seemingly doing a nice job recruiting. I definitely don't have any particularly high expectations for next year, but with the league seemingly being very balanced, anything is possible. I don't intend to belabor the point about coaching since the a.d. change/search probably means that there will not be any major changes in any sport prior to next season. Certainly there is disagreement among the basketball posters on this board about coaching, but hopefully we can just agree to disagree and hope for the best next season.

Just speculation on my part, but since Gags is something like 77 years old, I'm not sure how much recruiting he personally does anymore.

IMO, Duluth may actually have the most returning. I believe they return four players who averaged double figures in scoring this season, and recruited a pretty good big kid this spring, as well. They're certainly not the most athletic team, but they should be pretty tough. USD returns the league MVP in Trofholz, plus a good outside shooter in Nour, but not much else. Whether they're strong again will likely depend on who they add between now and August. St. Cloud loses Miller and Trull, but should be decent if they add a few newcomers who can play. Siegle and Hanson give them a nice frontcourt combo. Augie returns almost everybody, so they should be better than they've been, but I still wouldn't expect them to be better than about 5th or 6th at best. Mankato returns Anderson, but lost a lot, including Staten and Moeller. I think they'll fall off quite a bit from where they were this year. UNO returns all-conference players Curtis and Kapels, and always seems to find some good transfers or jucos. They did lose a lot of talent so I don't necessarily expect them to be quite as good as they've been the past couple of years, but if they find a couple more transfers they could be strong again. I don't think anybody will necessarily have significantly more talent than will the Sioux, but that was probably the case this past year, too. Much will depend on how the newcomers do, and whether players like Lindahl and Nobles can play at a more consistent level. They both are as good as anybody in the league at their positions, but must play up to that level all the time.

One of the best recruiters in dII football: link.

Granted, not all NCC schools are done recruiting as USD and St. Cloud St. haven't announced any spring signings yet, but it would appear that at least arguably, UND will have the best influx of new talent next season, particularly when you factor in Harkins who red-shirted this year. Harkins, Koenig, Gutter, Miller and Phillips, at least on paper, should all contribute immediately. I'm certainly not predicting a conference title by any means, but at least we should be far more competitive next year than it appeared we might be immediately following this season.

I would think Chris Kuper would have a decent shot at being drafted next year. Digger should at least get a shot as a free agent, as could Glas.

A few questions that I had were answered yesterday. First, Jamaal Franklin is apparently still on the team. He was listed as one of the players who was not participating in the game, along with Glas, Trenbeath, Sundby, Hoffelt and Grossman. Second, Duane Wenzel is indeed the backup kicker. He's no Jeff Glas, but he looked like an adequate emergency kicker. Third, my point about Storhaug's lack of height is no longer an issue, since now he's listed in the program as being 6'0" instead of 5'11". Does anybody know whether Mike Rohde is still around? I didn't see that he got any carries yesterday, although the "other" running back recruit out of Wisconsin, Jordan Armentraut, looked good.

According to this column, St. Cloud St. funded just 24 football scholarships last year, and will be at around 28 this year. I had always thought there was an NCC minimum (30 or so) that schools had to fund, but either that's not the case, or else there's no real penalty even if such a minimum exists but is not complied with. NOTE: This link will likely expire by early Sunday morning.

Here's an article on the signing of Phillips from an Illinois paper: link.

It wouldn't surprise me if Briggs was actually in the 5'10" range, although he was listed at 6'0" in the program (believe it or not, I actually have one!). Back then, the biggest UND offensive lineman was 265 so obviously times have really changed. It's clear that the UND coaches have a strong preference for offensive linemen who are at least 6'2", and preferably taller than that. Aside from Braegelmann who is listed as being 6'1", it's been quite some time since UND has signed an offensive lineman shorter than 6'2". Presumably, that's why Storhaug had to walk-on. You see quite a few 6'0" and under offensive linemen in the NSIC, but not too many in the NCC.

Who's going to be doing the kicking tomorrow? I assume Glas has had to sit out this spring since he's a 6th-year-senior-to-be. In the Herald's depth chart, they listed Duane Wenzel, a 2003 defensive back recruit who wasn't even on the roster last year, as the kicker, but I wonder if that was just a mistake on their part?

I would agree that some people are going to look at those facts and question whether UND should remain in dII. However, until NDSU and SDSU find a conference for the majority of their sports, I don't think most UND fans will be pushing for a move. The idea of potentially being a dI independent for several years is far less enticing than remaining in the NCC in my opinion.

UND signs a juco wing: link. It looks like recruiting is now probably done, according to the article. Phillips sounds similar to ex-UND player Frank Iverson, who wasn't necessarily a huge scorer but was very hard-nosed and a heck of a rebounder.

I was a little surprised that Storhaug is listed as the starting center at this point. I figured Braegelmann may more over to that slot. Obviously I hope Storhaug can handle the job, and if he does he would be the smallest UND starting offensive lineman in many, many years, at least in terms of height. I don't recall the last starting lineman who was under 6'0".

I'd be very surprised if Cierra is receiving more than a very nominal amount of scholarship money. Regarding Seay, Roebuck has hinted on the radio coaches' show that a local junior is being recruited. Presumably, that player is Seay.

Defense OLB: 1. Dahlen; 2. Babington-Johnson OLB: 1. Maier; 2. S. Brennan ILB: 1. Anderson; 2. Halstenson ILB: 1. Ullsperger; 2. Meek NG: 1. Duchscher; 2. Wolff DE: 1. Enger; 2. R. Brennan DE: 1. Peterson; 2. Cadwell SS: 1. Gagner; 2. DeSautel FS: 1. Brandsted; 2. Greenwood CB: 1. Hoffschneider; 2. Weigelt CB: 1. Alexander; 2. Longe Offense QB: 1. Belmore; 2. Manke TB: 1. Strouth; 2. Beatty FB: 1. Christensen; 2. Thomas SE: 1. Groeschl; 2. Loegering FL: 1. Dressler; 2. Grossman TE: 1. Kusler; 2. Mielke LT: 1. Hoffelt; 2. Bauer LG: 1. Braegelmann; 2. Soll C: 1. Storhaug; 2. Muscha RG: 1. Kuper; 2. Troen RT: 1. Buisker; 2. Bronson I was surprised not see Franklin as at least a backup corner. Is he still on the team?

Has anybody heard anything about what prompted the Southwest State women's coach to resign? He was quite successful, and you very rarely see a coach resign from his or her current job without having another job lined up. Presumably, he was forced out, but I have no idea for what reason(s).

Since there was an article in the Herald, we know Miller and Gutter signed. What I don't understand is why there still hasn't been a press release on www.fightingsioux.com. There's typically a release by the middle of the afternoon of the first day of a signing period regardless of which sport it is. Also, was there ever anything in the Bismarck Tribune regarding Miller's signing? I never saw anything in the online edition, but perhaps I missed it.

Here it is: link This link probably won't work for very long, however.

It looks like the DAC-10 has been in contact with UMC about a possible move back to that conference according to the Minot paper: