UND Football will be hosting their second – and biggest thus far – recruiting weekend of the year beginning today. We are hearing there will be around 12 recruits in with most of them being high priorities. UND is currently sitting at 10 verbal commitments (due to the coaching change and late start) and ideally they would like to pull at least 6-7 commitments out of this group. We do not expect a full class this year due to the reasons listed above, so signing 18-20 kids is very possible.
Here is the list (that we have been able to confirm from sources and via the Internet):
- Ezra Szczyrbak – DE – 6’5-240 – Moose Lake, MN. We are hearing the current NDSU verbal commit has decided to come up to UND on an official visit. It says a lot about the message the UND staff is sending. Will it be an uphill battle to flip him? – yes. But the only way to show what you have to offer is to get the recruit on campus and sell him.
- Payton Jordahl – LS-LB – 6’2 -210 – Perham, MN. Very good long snapper, also plays linebacker.
- Brandon Dranka – DE – 6’2″ – 235 – Huntley, IL. High motor, athletic play maker at DE.
- Josiah Montague – CB/S – 5’11″ – 180 – Minnetonka, MN. Physical, athletic corner. Already committed to UND.
- Austin Cieslak – DE – 6’3″ – 250 – Hazen, ND. Athletic big man with good feet.
- Chris Carter – CB – 5’10″ – 185 – Bloomfield, MI. Absolute stud at CB, great skills, aggressive.
- Brandon Walker - WR – 6’0″ – 180 – Flint, MI. Fast playmaker at WR, good shake.
- Jacob Francis – OL – 6’4″ – 280 – Liberty, MO.
There are probably 5-6 other names that we could not locate or identify. We will update this page as the weekend goes on if/when we are able to confirm.
Great job with this coverage but one question. Does this staff really only only plan on signing 18-20 commitments. It would seem with the large attrition caused by the coaching change that we really need to bring in close to 30 new players in order to fill out a roster. Thoughts?
My thoughts are you don’t need to spend money just to fill the roster. If they get the kids they want, great. If not there is no reason to bring in guys that cannot help you. Wait and use the money on transfers or next year.
Only the staff is able to answer that question definitively. As always, we just try to give our best thoughts and opinions on everything, some of which is pure speculation. This could probably be considered one of those cases and you might be right based on the numbers. We could also see a handful of transfer kids coming in after the spring semester.
I have to be honest, I was hoping there was more “big names” coming this weekend.
That’s fair but let me ask, who are the “big names”?
Good question! Haha I guess it is hard to say. I like the two Michigan kids on this list and have a good feeling they will be here next year. It would be great to steal Ezra from the Bison but I don’t really see that happening. I guess I would like to see us get Demareyeh Lane, Maynard and Zach Reuter on campus. Not trying to take anything away from the kids that are coming to campus though because I will be thrilled if any of them commit.
Wasn’t trying to get after you, just wanted to see some names. There are names from previous classes that are alot of hype and not alot of substance. I will leave it at that. You will see some of those kids fall off the radar.
Maynard is a “big name” but I dont particulary think he’s a blue chip type of kid. There are at least 4-5 other RBs I like better. People get hung up on accolades and notoriety too much. Lets remember that guys like Kenny Golladay had minimal offers and interest and no accolades out of high school. Just one example.
Plus we need to realize that there are probably 5 or so names out there that we don’t know about for this weekend.
Good point. Just curious, who are some of the RBs you like more? I like Parks more but haven’t watched too many of the others.
We are looking more to Michigan as there are a couple there that are pretty good. Not completely sold on Parks at this point.
Off the top of my head:
- Parks from Chisago
- Fischer from Sun Prairie
- Anderson from EP
- couple kids from MI
I feel Parks is the better prospect over Maynard though.
Correction: Fischer is a FB prospect
How about o-line guys like Jack Vasko, Paul Herbes, Eric Dunn. what position are left to fill?
Herbes is a 2nd tier type kid in my opinion. Cant find any film on Vasko. Dunn is decent I think but I’m just not sure if he has the feet to play guard and/or center. Dunn’s teammate Robert Olson is a legit OL target as well.
Looks like Paul has a walk on for Fighting illini and Dung is looking at UNI.
And once again, as always, these are just our amateur opinions.
Don’t sell yourself short. You guys do a tremendous job in your analysis, coverage, predictions etc. Keep up the great work.
It was my impression that the offensive line was going to be a BIG need and then would be a focus of these coaches. I don’t recall seeing much for O-line players yet. Do you know if there are any on the radar or may be coming next weekend?
Pipkins and Stiner were in last week I believe. Since we are missing a handful of names for recruits this weekend, we would guess that 2-3 OL are on campus that we can’t account for. And there’s still next weekend. Who knows, there may have been more OL in last week too.
Thanks Fritz! Hard to keep up on it all! Glad that you guys are! I appreciate your updates and feedback!
Remember how many young OL we brought in last year with huge potential.
I see Rashad Williams, AJ Stockwell, Dustin Adams (injured) and Dan Bell.
Don’t forget Miller. Mussman was VERY high on him.
Shouldn’t we have young players at all positions brought in last year with huge potential
LB, RB, WR, OL, DL, LB, S. If Riddle hadn’t left I’d say QB too. Last class was pretty phenomenal, far and away the best of the Mussman era. All I’ve heard is that they as a whole have a great attitude and work ethic. They want to win.
I think the chances of Ezra decommiting from the Bison are about zero. He is taking a visit here but he might just like the free trips. Don’t get your hopes up.
He may very well say “thanks, but no thanks” to UND, but I really doubt that him & his dad take the time & effort to drive from Moose Lake to GF for the “free trip” & to see the sights of GF in January. There must be some level of interest in the school & football program.
I don’t know if you guys can but you should try to link the writeups for each commitment to their name on the side of this page under 2014 commitments. It would be nice to easily go back and look at what you guys had to say about each. Anyways as always keep up the good work!
Good thought Rob! Not an option however given our capabilities with the website.
Sounds like Jareem Fleming, DE/OLB from Chicago, sounds like hes on campus as well.
Probably an outside linebacker when all said and done.
Jareem fleming@The_Shogunn 8h
Hope im sayin #rolltribe on sunday
Also do you know if Jevante Alexander, DB, will be come soon. He went to the same HS as Brandon Walker and it looks like we have some interest in him
Adam Buirge, DB from Brooklyn Park is visiting.
Possible that Jake Francis, OL out of Liberty MO is visiting.
Should note Buirge is a 2015 so it is an unofficial visit.
Good find, I think Francis could be on campus.
Saw the coaches and some current players with probably 10 or more kids on visits mingled in at Saturday’s MBBall game. I tried not to look too obvious after the game, but when I walked out I made a point to walk by the end bleachers. Only 2 name tags I was able to catch before they left were Andrew Schiessi and Blake Weber.
Still hoping for some OL and RB commits of note! Ten more kids to get???
Just saw a commit from OL kid from liberty, mo. Great!
Roughly, yes. Writeup coming.
Do you plan on doing write ups for every commit?
Yes, most definitely. We have a few cued up and ready to go tomorrow. Time restraints have gotten us the past couple days!
How we doing on replacing 5 graduating LB’s?
Got a couple but need more as was pointed out in blog post this morning.
I hear that Josiah Montague has a younger brother who has some great speed and is working hard in Josiah’s shadows as a DB. I believe the name is Micah Montague Corner/Safety, sophomore out of Minnetonka High school I found some highlights on him check it out what do you guys think.
5’10″ 165 lbs
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1605662/highlights/87236402?autoplay=1