next year

[UND92,96]

The cupboard looks pretty well-stocked for next year. The entire backfield returns, although it would be nice to have a little more speed there. Strouth may be the guy, but he needs to run a little more north and south as he had a lot of runs this year where he'd run about 20 yards parallel to the line of scrimmage only to get either no gain or a loss. Roland and Wisthoff will give you all they have and they are both very solid.

On the offensive line, Smith and Kuper return as starters. I expect Hendrickson and Buisker to move into the starting lineup, which leaves one open slot. Hoffelt, Bronson and some of this year's red-shirts will probably compete for the final starting position. Three of the top four tight ends also return, with Drew Thomas being added into the mix after red-shirting this year.

At receiver, Johnson and Grossman return, along with Groeschl if he doesn't switch back to quarterback. I'm not sure whether Weber, the transfer from Michigan Tech, red-shirted this year or whether he's even still on the team. Loegering and Van Dyke will be in the mix, along with freshman Rick Presthus. I'd like to see a deep threat along the lines of Lueck, but I'm not sure anyone really fits that bill unless a transfer comes in.

On defense, UND will be absolutely loaded. Duchscher was honorable mention all-NCC in his first year of playing, and he returns at nose guard. Newhouse and Peterson have played a lot at defensive end and they will be very solid. Depth on the d-line will be relatively inexperienced, but shouldn't be a huge problem. I would look for the very athletic Adam Wolff to be the backup nose guard, and senior Mike Gruschalla and perhaps freshman Alex Cadwell to be in the defensive end rotation.

At linebacker, the depth is almost unbelievable. Everybody returns, led by Anderson and Dahlen as first team all-NCC players as sophomores. Hermes and Nordick are also returning starters, and Babington-Johnson, Brennan, Maier, Halstenson and Ullsperger all got considerable playing time this year. Add in Schmitz, Lynch and red-shirts like Wise, Meek, Reiff and others, and there is a wealth of talent here.

In the secondary, all-NCC strong safety Danny Gagner returns, along with starting corners Manke and Hoffschneider and nickel back Brandsted who should move into Stratton's free safety position. Look for Jamaal Franklin to get back into the mix after a medical red-shirt year (I assume he was hurt since he didn't suit up all year but was on the sideline in street clothes). He was slated to start instead of Hoffschneider coming into the season. Also, watch for Donovan Alexander, who was considered perhaps UND's top recruit last year, to compete for time at corner. Franklin and Alexander both have tremendous speed. All of this year's back-ups also return (DeSautel, Charles and Greenwood), so depth should be as good as it's ever been in the secondary.

Glas returns at kicker, and Brian Loe will likely get the nod as the punter. Loe saw action in 2002 after Bentow was injured.

All-in-all, aside from a few open slots on the offensive line and perhaps a few inexperienced receivers, next year looks very good.

[Fighting Sioux Fan]

This year, UND won many close games. Next year, we are going to win many blowouts! When does the season start again? I am already excited for next year!

[Bisonfan1234]

If you guys had Riza i would say you would have a kick ass offense next year.

Who will be RB?

[UND92,96]

If you guys had Riza i would say you would have a kick ass offense next year.

Who will be RB?

Roland and Strouth were the primary ball carriers this year and both return. If Chris Beatty returns (he split time with Mahmoud in 2002 but was beaten out by Roland and Strouth this year), he'll be in the mix also along with freshman Alan Sundby from Cavalier. They're all pretty much blue collar guys although Strouth has excellent speed--just not much bulk.

[Diggler]

If Roland makes some runs like he did the last couple games, the running game is gonna be just fine. Just rumbling, bumbling and stumbling over six defensive players to get 15 yards when he should have got about three. That run he made yesterday dragging about 3 guys and running over 3 more was the highlight of the game for the Sioux.

[UND92,96]

If Roland makes some runs like he did the last couple games, the running game is gonna be just fine.  Just rumbling, bumbling and stumbling over six defensive players to get 15 yards when he should have got about three.  That run he made yesterday dragging about 3 guys and running over 3 more was the highlight of the game for the Sioux.

I agree that Roland really showed something this year, and in the post-season in particular. He's not the type of back who can take it 80 yards for a touchdown on any given play, but he runs hard and rarely gets taken down by the first tackler. He didn't have many yards yesterday, but then again neither did Michael Tennessee who came into the game with the eye-popping statistics. If the line gives him a hole, Roland will pick up at least 4-5 yards and sometimes more. With another year of experience under their belts, a duo of Roland--the power guy--and Strouth--the change of pace quick guy--could be very good. The question will be if the line will jell with a few guys who haven't started before. I expect that it will.

[Bisonfan1234]

I would take speed over power any day, but if you have both then that's great.

How about coaching next year? Lennon and Mussman could very well be gone next year.

[UND92,96]

How about coaching next year? Lennon and Mussman could very well be gone next year.

It seems that the popular theory in some circles is that Lennon will be off to the I-AA ranks very soon, but I'm not so sure. Yes, if a top-25 program offered him the head coaching job with a nice pay raise, he'd likely take it. The thing is, those types of jobs don't open up very often, and when they do, it's generally because the head coach moves onto a better program. In those instances, somebody from within the staff is often promoted.

I'm sure Lennon feels he has one of the top jobs in dII, and it would take a pretty nice offer for him to give that up. I don't think some I-AA reclamation project like Delaware St. (the only I-AA job currently advertised at afca.org) would be all that attractive considering what he's got going at UND. If I'm wrong, so be it, but I wouldn't be surprised if Lennon is at UND for several more years. Some people are happy coaching at a lower level, i.e. Amy Ruley at NDSU for all these years. Less pressure, not in the shadow of a major college or pro team, smaller town, etc. are all factors in making a dII job pretty attractive for a lot of people.

[RD17]

The NCC should really be down next year, and UND will be a heavy favorite to repeat as league champs. Here's a rundown on the rest of the teams:

UNO: The good news for the Mavs is that they return most of their defense. The bad news is that the Mav defense wasn't very good. On offense, UNO loses their entire offensive line, an all-conference TE, Kammrad at RB and Krause at WR. Masek is a good QB for their offensive system and Denney at WR is a good player, but with that many holes to fill on offense, UNO will be hard pressed to have as good of a year as last year.

St. Cloud: Can they replace Heckendorf? If they have an adequate replacement at QB, the Huskies could be very solid next year. They only lose a couple of other players on offense, and if Matt Birkel can stay healthy they could be very good. On defense, St. Cloud loses 5 starters, but 3 of them are from their swiss cheese secondary. With the job Randy Hedburg has done recruiting, I would imagine they'll have some talented young players to step in and at least make their defense adequate.

UMD: The Bulldogs really came on at the end of the year after struggling early in the year on offense. The problem is the player responsible for the turnaround, Cash Langness (he switched from DB to QB midway through the year) graduates. They also lose All-American WR Tim Battaglia and a couple of all-NSIC offensive linemen. UMD has been solid on defense the last couple of years, but they need to get faster to compete in the NCC. If Mussman or Schweigert get the job, they'll be competitive, but it will probably take a couple of years of recruiting with increased scholarships for them to contend with the NCC's top teams.

Augustana: Augustana had a young team this year, but they lose some critical players like WR Eric Haugland, DL Austin Flygger, and S Ben Naumann. Augustana simply could not stop the run against the good teams this year, and they'll have to get whole lot better on defense to do much better in the NCC next year.

USD: Not a whole lot of talent and a new coaching staff. It will take some time for a new staff to right the ship.

Mankato: What a mess. Not much else to say here.

The very early pick:

UND

St. Cloud

UNO

UMD

Augustana

USD

Mankato

[star2city]

It seems that the popular theory in some circles is that Lennon will be off to the I-AA ranks very soon, but I'm not so sure. Yes, if a top-25 program offered him the head coaching job with a nice pay raise, he'd likely take it. The thing is, those types of jobs don't open up very often, and when they do, it's generally because the head coach moves onto a better program. In those instances, somebody from within the staff is often promoted.

After the season Lennon had this year, where his coaching abilities really stood out, it is surprising that he has not received serious consideration for other jobs. This year has been unusual in that there have been few decent HC opening. Two issues that hurt him are probably his lack of assistant coaching at the DivI ranks and his recruiting contacts are mainly in the upper Midwest. Also, his turning down of the Sac State job (even though it was hardly a step up) last year probably hurts him, as it doesn't show an unbridled ambition at nearly any personal cost, which is what many AD's at higher levels are looking at. Unless his true goal is coaching at a IA school, moving to the Big Sky or Gateway school just doesn't make that much sense.

[UND92,96]

St. Cloud: Can they replace Heckendorf? If they have an adequate replacement at QB, the Huskies could be very solid next year. They only lose a couple of other players on offense, and if Matt Birkel can stay healthy they could be very good. On defense, St. Cloud loses 5 starters, but 3 of them are from their swiss cheese secondary. With the job Randy Hedburg has done recruiting, I would imagine they'll have some talented young players to step in and at least make their defense adequate.

I believe the next quarterback at SCSU will be Daniel Kaczor. I've never actually seen him play, but I think it's safe to say he'll be a major step down from Heckendorf. All I know about him is that he's a hometown guy from St. Cloud, and I don't believe he was very heavily recruited at all coming out of high school.

[star2city]

There was a great write-up in the Anchorage Daily News on Chris Kuper yesterday. Hopefully the Alaska recruiting connection can continue.

[Corella]

Any speculation of Lennon moving on is just that. At this point there is nothing but rumor. He has never shown that he even wants to move on, even Lennon stated that his trip to Sac St was out of respect for Wanless, not because he had a sincere interest in the job. He has never stated any displeasure for the program, city , or university. The only people who seem to think he is going to leave are Bison people, that isn't a dig at them, but they all seem to think he is gone for whatever the reason. I'd be very surprised if he left.

[UND92,96]

There was a great write-up in the Anchorage Daily News on Chris Kuper yesterday.  Hopefully the Alaska recruiting connection can continue.

It was interesting that Kuper commented on how he doesn't know why the roster has him listed at 280 when he's clearly over 300. I've wondered all year about why the official roster listed the weights of guys like Duchscher, Momerak, Anderson, Hermes, etc. as probably 20 or more pounds under their actual weights. I think it gave something of a false idea to media members and fans from other teams that the UND defensive front seven was very small, when in reality it was clearly not.

[Hansel]

here is some more "speculation" from a bison fan. i think lennon's goal is to coach UND to success at I-AA. is UND considering a move... who knows .. they are normally pretty "tight-lipped" about such things to outsiders. if UND has no desire to move up.. i feel that is the only way lennon would consider leaving.. and i think it would have to be a pretty good job... similar to glenn from UNC taking the job at Montana a few years ago.

[RD17]

I agree with somebison, I don't think Lennon is going anywhere in the near future. There are very few jobs in I-AA that are a better situation than UND. Combine that with the fact that UND is Lennon's alma mater and he is from ND and I think it would take an extraordinary situation to pull him away. I'm more worried about losing all of the top assistants (Dosch is also rumored to be the frontrunner for the Jamestown College job).

[UND95]

I would take speed over power any day, but if you have both then that's great.

How about coaching next year? Lennon and Mussman could very well be gone next year.

I would agree with you here most of the time, but Shannon Brunell for the Sioux (sure I spelled his name wrong) was a power runner and he ate up the yards just fine. Speed is nice, but good old fashioned power and muscle is quite ok too

[Wilbur]

I think Cody Saunders should be given a shot at kicker next year for UND. The kid only missed one field goal playing outdoors and in the snow most of the time and was the DAC 10 kicker of the year twice playing for Minot State. Don't get me wrong, Glas won some games for UND, but Saunders should get his chance as well. Some people are okay with 50% accuracy for the season(about Glas's average), but I don't think that the Fighting Sioux should be.

[Corella]

I think Cody Saunders should be given a shot at kicker next year for UND. The kid only missed one field goal playing outdoors and in the snow most of the time and was the DAC 10 kicker of the year twice playing for Minot State. Don't get me wrong, Glas won some games for UND, but Saunders should get his chance as well. Some people are okay with 50% accuracy for the season(about Glas's average), but I don't think that the Fighting Sioux should be.

I have a hard time believing that the 1st team all-NCC kicker is in any jeopardy of losing his job. Sure he was inconsistent, but kickers go through that. He had to deal with a different holder for at least 2 games when Bowencamp was hurt and Ahlers did it. That could have obviously been a problem. And yesterday, Morten Anderson would've had no chance at making that one. I doubt Saunders has legitimate range to almost 60 yards. Glas's kickoffs reach the endzone half of the time, and are touchbacks probably 20% of the time. He's got a shot at kicking at the next level, scouts have known that for 5 years since when they came to watch Peterka. I'm going to have to disagree.

[siouxrock2]

im jsut wondering whose gonna be the qb next year?

[RD17]

im jsut wondering whose gonna be the qb next year?

Well gee, don't you think John Bowenkamp has an excellent chance at retaining the job?

[siouxrock2]

o ya

i forgot hes only a jr, i thgouth he was a sr

[Bisonfan1234]

Ok so Lennon stays then, for now.

Mussman or Schweigert (sp?). One of them is going to be offered the head job somewhere, sometime. Where and when i ask you.

[Corella]

On one hand, I think that Mussman and Bubba would be the top 2 for Duluth. They've both experienced the NCC and know what it is about, the people and their tendencies. But on the other, and this hand seem to be the one that I believe, I don't think UMD would want to head into a new conference with a head coach who has never heald that position before. Also, the 2 other finalists for the job are now heads at D3 Wisconsin schools, which is where UMD gets a lot of their players, so these two would have a good recruiting contacts in the state where a lot of their players come from. For these reasons, I'd be surprised if Bubba or Musman are lost to THIS head job.

[choyt3]

Ok so Lennon stays then, for now.

Mussman or Schweigert (sp?). One of them is going to be offered the head job somewhere, sometime. Where and when i ask you.

I'm going out on a limb and saying sometime this month as they are two of four finalists for the UMD job. One of them is going to get that job. I'm hoping it's Mussman. I'd like to see Bubba stick around a little longer.