Cities recruiting revisited
Been out of the Bison beat commission for the last seven days (ski? work? tough choice) so missed the usual signing day happenings. But spoke to a Twin Cities coach today and he said the kids in his area that the Bison got are top-notch and that the U of M may be missing the boat on a few.
He loves Carlton Littlejohn, the safety from Minneapolis North. Great kid, great attitude and great athlete. Said Zach Vraa can play in the Big Ten and Grant Olson, the linebacker from Wayzata, has all the tools. The key to raising the bar on the class even higher is John Crockett, the running back from Totino Grace. He's a definite Big Ten player, but the word is he has some work to do to pass the NCAA Clearinghouse.
Also got an interesting e-mail from a trusted football mind, who wrote this on the recruiting class:
I watched some of the videos of the new Bison recruits. I didn’t watch all of them but a couple guys stood out. Olson the linebacker from MN has a phenomenal nose for the ball. His instincts and speed to the point of contact are really good – he may be the best recruit in the class. Vraa is a stud. His high school QB sucked but he was always open because of his pass route running was great. He also has great hand eye coordination and timing when it comes to going up and getting a ball. I wasn’t sure what to think of Esley Thorton. He looks like a great athlete/tough guy, but I wasn’t that impressed by his QB skills. Ryan Smith is very fast, but not sure how that will translate at the FCS level; it works against Breckenridge, but will it work against Northern Iowa?
Posted by: Jeff Kolpack on 2/08/2010 at 3:51 PM | Comments (4) | Permalink
Tags: bison football
Adios Amigos!
So...this is it!
Officially done at WDAY, a sad time because all the great friends at the station will be in a DIFFERENT workplace, but a cool time as The Hallstroms turn the page.
This will be my last post here, so a couple things as the door hits me on the way out!
1. I believe that the best is yet to come for Bison football. Yes, Virginia, there will be a playoff game in the Fargodome, but it will take a couple years. Craig Bohl knows what he's doing. This is a guy who is a high achiever, elbow greaser, learns from the past, and has a huge vision of what his program can be.
2. There will be a new Bison Basketball arena. Just trust me on this one. And we're not talking about 20 years from now, either.
3. Carolyn is cool. Trust me on this one, too! But you all know that already.
4. Bucky is the Godfather. He knows where the bodies are buried. Might have even dug a hole or two.
5. Gene is the CEO. The Donald Trump of the operation (take it from a guy who heard "You're Fired" once - HA!) Guy is a leader. Fiery. Good cap slammer on game day when things aren't going well. Honest dude, who came to be one of my best friends in the biz. I kept waiting for him to appoint me executive vice president of overzealous reporting, but alas, I leave disappointed.
People keep saying now that you're gone, you can REALLY say what you think about NDSU and the coaches and administrators. I've been extremely disappointing to them, because I don't have a bad thing to say. Honest. We've had our battles. I've wanted to strangle Bohl a time or 2, and I know he's actually made some calls to seedy types with firearms on my account, too. But through it all there was respect and professionalism. That's why they've been so successful, and why they will continue to be so.
Some have asked if I'll post on here...not on this blog. This is a Forum property. Some have asked about Bisonville...not sure. I like to occasionally point out that NDSU isn't perfect, and that I like Stig and that UND is a great school with good people who are making the best of a pretty lean time of transition....and that doesn't seem to sit well there. Most likely -- sometime a few weeks from now may open up a new blog on areavoices or something. I enjoy offering something to think about, and not just on NDSU. I'd like to spread the wings a bit more to the Vikes, Twins, Gophs, Cobs, Drags, and Preps. So we'll see...
To all the friends/fans on here: Sorry for the times I got cranky. Thanks for the good honest give and take, and the kind words. Feel free to keep in touch at my email. stevehallstrom@gmail.com
To Kevin and Jeff: Carry on. Blog is in the right hands.
To all the naysayers and critics: Thanks to you as well, you jerkstores. You pointed out my faults and challenged me to think a little clearer.
To Agent 23: Thanks for setting up your Shanghai Bureau. You're the best!
To Dom: Good luck. I think my old seat will be your new one.
To God: The glory for every minute of 12 great years.
Peace,
SH
Posted by: Steve Hallstrom on 2/06/2010 at 1:45 PM | Permalink
Touche
Oldguy takes me to task in a recent comment, and fairly so. I asserted in my last post that Bohl seems to have learned from some past failures and it apparently came off as though most, if not all, of the woes came from a result of complacency after the 10-1 seasons.
But there is much more to it than that. It may seem like my take on the recruiting issues was based solely on the complacency issue, but I've said here before that the recruiting woe has been a monster with many heads.
First, Bohl had given too much autonomy to his assistants, both in their work ethic and their evaluation. I am not saying that these were bad coaches or lazy people, but it only takes a small amount of slippage during recruiting to result in mixed results. And also remember, a class is going to typically have 25 percent high achievers, 50 percent solid but not spectacular, and 25 percent misses. Take a few percent out of the top column, and a class starts to look very average in a hurry.
Second, he's been too rigid on positional fits. For example, if they were looking for a corner, he had to play corner in high school. These days, they're being more flexible.
Third, they had been too focused on athletic ability and had not put enough emphasis on the total makeup of a kid.
Fourth, they were working as hard as everyone else, but not outworking their competitors.
Fifth, they were spread out too thin geographically and had lost their focus on the Twin Cities area. And you know what? They can do even better in that area. 3 guys that are going elsewhere that I really like are the CB Brown out of Wayzata (UND), DE Cummings out of White Bear Lake (UND), and WR Schneider out of Andover (SDSU). Don't believe NDSU offered any of them. The Twin Cities is LOADED. NDSU has also found some niches like Omaha that were undertapped. I hear Kansas City is the same kind of opportunity.
And sixth, they made assumptions that their successes of years past would automatically bring a different kind of player to NDSU -- the complacency issue that you refer to.
This is my theory, gleaned from many sources and conversations.
Now, some of these things you can say were mistakes that Bohl made. Most of these things are part of the learning process for a major college assistant who is learning how to compete at the 1-AA level. In the end, it appears that he has learned from the past and made changes accordingly. We ALL make mistakes. I have in my job, and you have in yours. Many of us never learn from our errors. I believe Bohl has.
Call me a homer, or a koolaid drinker if you want. But I've been doing this a while, and this class is as good as any he's had. I believe if they can coach them up, this class will be special. Feel free to save this post somewhere and bring it up in 3 years. We'll see if I was right. And if Bohl was right too.
Posted by: Steve Hallstrom on 2/05/2010 at 11:18 AM | Comments (30) | Permalink
Signing Day 2010
Random thoughts from today:
* 3 players that I've been very interested in, apparently did not sign today. Keorris Berry, a LB out of Nevada that NDSU had, at one time, had interest in. Lechein Neblett, a receiver with huge numbers out of Madison, WI (also the Wisc. receiver of the year) and receiver AJ Troup of Wayzata. Dangerous to assume that this is academic related, but one has to wonder why these kids, that looked to me like legit FCS talent, are still out there.
* The story to me, today, of the NDSU class is the Twin Cities angle. Olson, Turner, Vraa, Littlejohn and Crockett are a remarkable set of players. They can carpool home and do a lot of recruiting when they're back in their respective hoods. Bohl told me tonight that once Olson committed, he got on the phone to get some of the other deals done.
* Was looking over some old notes from verbal time and remembered that Turner's coach told me that he had a 31 yard kickoff return in the section playoffs against Stillwater. He's a 6-6, 280 pound offensive lineman, mind you.
* Bohl is apparently going to switch from a 4-3 front to a 1-6 or something. This bunch of linebackers could be very good. Add Evans to the group in this class and that could be a fun bunch to watch in a couple years.
* Littlejohn just has to remind you of Jemison. Same build and apparently the same kind of speed. Lot of learning to go for both, but Jemison came on pretty well toward the end of last season.
* WR position group now holds about 38 guys, I think. Look for Vraa and Gebhart to get some early looks.
* WR, S, and LB are the positions that insiders think have a chance to play right away. I'll give you the 5 names that are on my list....Vraa, Gebhart, Dudzik, Heagle, and Olson. Willson and Forbes certainly will be in the mix as they are older and will be in Fargo for spring ball.
* I just have this feeling that Ryan Smith will be really good. I know he's a local guy so most are kind of overlooking him, but his balance, vision, and speed are really remarkable.
* Don't forget that CB Marcus Williams is expected to join the team this summer and could be a huge contributor immediately. He is in school and apparently on track to getting the schoolwork all figured out. If you'd add him to this recruiting class it would be an even better bunch.
* John Crockett is the biggest wild card in the class. And maybe the best story. His HS coach told Dom Izzo that he took official visits to Michigan and Michigan State, before his academic concerns went public. He will be much like Williams. 50-50 at best coming in, but if he puts in the time and really wants to make it happen, he'll have a place on the team next year. Just think of it as a redshirt year without any football, but with access to training staff and academic support. And RB's can contribute early, so if he gets it all squared away a year from now he could work his way into the mix quickly. Some in the cities say he is Big 10 talent. Kid has ADHD, nice story about him in the St. Paul paper and has overcome a lot, including a sketchy environment growing up. I will be pulling for this kid in a mighty way.
* I've been at every one of Bohl's signing day press conferences, (last time I can say that!) and I've never heard Bohl say the things he did today. Now, the skeptics will say he's trying to take the heat off of a 3-8 season, but the vibe today was very different than a guy who's trying to sell a bill of goods. He said his staff worked like crazy early in the process with calls and follow ups and admitted again that they (him) were too complacent after the 10-1 seasons. He is convinced that the group of assistants he has now is the right kind of nucleus. Bohl said tonight on WDAY Radio that this is unequivocably (hope I spelled that right) his best class. The strongest statement yet, but his nonverbals this afternoon said as much. I believe that you need to wait 3 years to really analyze a class, so we have to be careful here about how much to buy in. But after talking to a number of different high school coaches and even some college coaches and recruiters in the area, I don't know that I can disagree with Bohl.
I see this class as too close to call with last year's group. And to have 2 classes like this back to back is a good sign for the future. You can put together a pretty good depth chart with just these last 2 classes. Only time will tell how it works out, but credit the old ball coach for not standing pat or just shrugging his shoulders and blaming bad luck. It takes something to point the first finger at yourself, recommit yourself to tireless work, and reinventing your recruiting plan. They have to coach these guys better than they did last year, but at least the raw materials appear to be high quality.
Posted by: Steve Hallstrom on 2/04/2010 at 1:34 AM | Comments (31) | Permalink
Everyone off the ledge!
I know that many Bison fans have been freaked today with the report in the Pioneer Press about Zach Vraa, that I posted about earlier today.
Turns out it's a mistake.
Vraa is still planning on attending NDSU, the reporter just made an honest error.
Also, found out more on the kicker that visited NDSU last weekend. His name is Brian Davis, he's from Brentwood, Tennessee and has an offer from Arkansas State, and a walk-on invite from TCU, according to his kicking coach, James Wilhoit.
Wilhoit admits he's biased, but believes that Davis (6-0, 170) is the 2nd best kicker in the state of Tennessee, behind a kid named Acosta who's committed to Southern Miss.
Jamie Kohl, of the Kolh's kicking camp says in his December event, Davis won the kickoff competition with a boot of 75 yards, and took second out of 70 kids in the field goal contest.
Wilhoit says Davis is also a very good punter, and has the ability to hang his kickoffs high, and very adept at onsides kicks. (One hopes that isn't a necessary commodity for the future, but lest we forget last year....)
Wilhoit says Davis may not make a decision by tomorrow (signing day). It may take a few days to sort it all out.
And while I'm here, let me backpedal a bit on my comment from earlier about not believing that NDSU wouldn't have this position locked up by now. I learned today from Wilhoit that kickers all hope for the FBS offers because they are all full rides. Then once signing day comes and goes, the ones that don't quite make the FBS grade all look to see what FCS money they can get.
It's very similar to what Division 3 schools do once the scholarship D1's and D2's have taken all their kids. Their recruiting season really just begins, at that point. I get the feeling it's the same with kickers at the FCS level, unless a school knows it wants a kid as a walk-on and that player is not fielding FBS offers. Or the player really wants to go to a certain school and is fine with earning his scholarship later.
It certainly seems risky to play the waiting game, if you're Craig Bohl, especially since he knows he needs someone immediately. But he's apparently comfortable shooting high on this one.
Posted by: Steve Hallstrom on 2/02/2010 at 5:41 PM | Comments (27) | Permalink
