Long term approach

It's easy to look at Monday's practice -- with only 10 of the 17 recruited freshmen on the practice field -- and come away with the following comment: this class is a bust.

But the head coach's philosophy with these young lads seems to be one of patience. Craig Bohl said he is not surprised by the academic eligibility problems of the freshmen, especially given the new NCAA requirements. He said his staff takes a long haul approach to the players. (Is this spin or is it the new reality? You decide).

Bohl doesn't get rattled very often, if at all, and this snafu doesn't seem to be fazing him. I'm guessing in recruiting, the Bison are willing to accept this academic scenario given other factors -- personality, toughness, work habits, athletic ability, references -- are solid. (Not sure how the WR from Bloomington passed the test).  It's like your own health: if you have just one risk factor, say beer, than you're probably in pretty good shape. But if you smoke, have high cholesterol, are overweight and don't exercise, than you're probably not.

As with all recruiting classes, the proof is three or four years down the line. Just because you're academically ineligible doesn't mean you're not intelligent. These guys have probably met their ACT and SAT sliding scale standards. So far, Bohl has a pretty high batting average with his classes. We'll see about this one.

Posted by: Jeff Kolpack on 8/19/2008 at 8:06 AM | Comments (24) | Permalink

Practice 8/18

Some football junk from today's practice:

• Receivers Gary Williams and Jordan Schultenover were back in pads after being out with leg injuries.
• More injured players looked close to being back. Joe Lardinois, Michael Fairbairn, Pat Paschall, James Septak and Thor Brown were all running full-blown wind sprints. Mike Maresh turned in half-blown sprints.
• Former punter Mike Dragosavich was at practice helping the young Bison punters. It's a double-edged sword with Drago on the field; you hope he gets another NFL shot, but at the same time the Bison punters are getting a bonus with him being around.
• After dropping a pass during a routine drill and having to pay for it with push ups, tight end Jerimiah Wurzbacher looked like an NFL draft pick catching everything in sight the rest of the morning.
• Freshman defensive end Greg Reid is out for academic reasons. The NCAA's new Division I academic core course standard for incoming freshmen is causing a few headaches. More in Tuesday's Forum on that.
• Still have not seen any lingering affects of middle linebacker Tyler Henry's off-season knee surgery. If NDSU is being cautious as the coaches said they would, it is not noticeable.

Posted by: Jeff Kolpack on 8/18/2008 at 12:35 PM | Comments (11) | Permalink

Scrimmage 8/16

The No. 1 offense and defense for the most part took a knee, but there was still enough stuff going on:

• The Jose Mohler transcript problem is a case in study of how the NCAA paperwork trail works. Here's the best that I can figure: Mohler's high school ran until the middle of June, which means his high school had to wait until at least then to send his NCAA Clearinghouse information to NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis. The Clearinghouse is the NCAA's eligibility arm. Considering over hundred thousand athletes are doing this over the summer, the NCAA just can't get to everybody at one time. NDSU figured Mohler was OK, but his situation involved multiple transcripts. The Clearinghouse finally got to Mohler earlier this week and they sent a red flag to NDSU's compliance officer, who then notified the football team. NDSU coaches believe his situation will get resolved next week.
• On to the scrimmage: Running back D.J. McNorton stole the show with some hard running and nifty moves.
• Receiver Warren Holloway and tight end Austin Vetter each had a case of the dropsies. On the other end, quarterback Troy Jackson showed he's capable of running an offense.
• The most impressive receiver was Kirk Felton, a sophomore walk-on from Austin, Minn.
• Safety Darius Purcell is now No. 11, taking the number of departed freshman Hakeem Bourne-McFarlane. With the attrition, NDSU brought backup kicker John Obarski to camp as part of the 90-man roster.
•  McNorton returned a couple of punts. Running back Matt Voigtlander was on the No. 1 kickoff return team and brought one back about 60 yards.
• Final comment on Bourne-McFarlane: He was perhaps one of the most talented players in the recruiting class, but it's also safe to say there were questions with his attitude. My experience says that teams are better off in the long run if guys that don't fit take a walk. The NDSU program is good enough to recruit another quality receiver.  
• With a good combination of speed and explosion, freshman linebacker Preston Evans reminds me a lot of Ramon Humber when Humber was a freshman. "He has good instincts on the field," Humber said.

Posted by: Jeff Kolpack on 8/16/2008 at 11:40 AM | Comments (10) | Permalink

Poll time

Posted by: Jeff Kolpack on 8/15/2008 at 10:07 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink

Practice 8/15

Some items for practice today. It's the last two-a-day workout and that's probably a good thing. The boys seemed a little irritable.

• As expected, head coach Craig Bohl announced receiver Hakeem Bourne-McFarlane quit the team.
• A lot has been said about Tyler Roehl's running ability, but the kid also has dependable hands out of the backfield.
• For the most part, quarterback Nick Mertens has been pretty sharp in fall camp. The coaches would like to see him have a little more consistency. On the other hand, he's a better practice player than last year's quarterback. Of course, the game is what counts. My prediction for the first half against Austin Peay: 7 of 10 for 142 yards, one touchdown and one near-miss pick.
• Look for defensive end Nick Compton to have a big year.
• It was not a crisp practice this morning. Blame it on fatigue or the dog days of August, but receivers were dropping balls, the offensive line jumped the gun twice in four plays. And when receiver Kole Heckendorf drops a pass, you know you can file this practice tape away and burn it.
• Junior college transfer Fred Bussey walked into practice about halfway through in street clothes. The linebacker looks big even without pads. He's still not been cleared to play.

Posted by: Jeff Kolpack on 8/15/2008 at 1:13 PM | Comments (15) | Permalink