Practice 8/7

Notes and no quotes from Thursday:

-- Defensive end Joe Lardinois suffered a possible concussion after getting stung during regular offense vs. defense plays. The senior was visibly shaken, but was standing around by himself by the end of practice. He will be evaluated further and head coach Craig Bohl said he was concerned about it.

--Safety Darius Purcell got his paperwork in order and the University of Illinois transfer was working with the defense. Still no on-field sighting of linebacker Fred Bussey from the College of Du Page (Ill.).

-- The injury list, none of which would be considered out for the season opener although tight end Thor Brown (shoulder) appears to be the most questionable: Lardinois, defensive back Melvin Thomas (leg), receiver Shamen Washington (knee), receiver Gary Williams (leg), receiver Hakeem Bourne-McFarlane (leg) and defensive end Garrett Johnson (knee).

-- A daily thought: what are these 5-8 to 5-10 cornerbacks thinking when running back Tyler Roehl is hammering down at them at full speed?

-- The offensive line second string on Thursday was Paul Cornick and Will Britt at tackles, DJ McGregor and Chris Wellenstein at guards and Austin Richard at center. Cornick was moved to tackle after Paul Backowski quit because of back problems.

-- No place is safe: running backs coach Tim Polasek was spiked in the leg by one of his players during a drill. Polasek is one of these tough guys who would still keep coaching even if it appeared he was bleeding to death.

Posted by: Jeff Kolpack on 8/07/2008 at 12:37 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink

Football notes

First of all, a follow up on an earlier question about Melvin Thomas.  Is in camp and practicing according to Bohl.  Dan Offerman did not qualify out of high school.  He's at NDSU studying and hopes to be eligible for next season.

Tonight, Craig mentioned a couple things, fairly minor but for what they're worth...

They had a goal line scrimmage today and Tyler Roehl did well.  I realize that's kind of like saying the grass is green, but there you go.  Troy Jackson is making some good strides picking up the playbook and Bohl seemed to be slightly encouraged by Garrett Johnson's knee.

By the way, the lone scrimmage of fall camp has been changed from August 17th, to this Saturday at 10 AM.

Posted by: Steve Hallstrom on 8/07/2008 at 12:26 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Practice 8/6

A few notes from NDSU practice today:

--Head coach Craig Bohl said receiver Jordan Schultenover will be out about a week with some type of knee strain or twist. He was on the sideline with ice on Wednesday. Offensive lineman Michael Arndt left with a shoulder strain. Of more concern is the knee of backup defensive lineman Garrett Johnson, who was hurt on Tuesday. He was walking around without crutches on Wednesday, but Bohl said it will be examined further. 

-- Quarterback Nick Mertens struggled in the early going throwing an interception (should have been two) that would have been returned for a touchdown and fumbling a snap. He also badly overthrew an open Kole Heckendorf. Those are the kind of things he can't do when it counts. Backup Troy Jackson also threw an interception that would have been returned a long way.

--In one session, kicker Shawn Bibeau struggled with his field goals.

--A goal-line collision between running back Tyler Roehl and defensive Joe Lardinois could be heard at Hector Airport.

 --No movement has been determined for the backup quarterback job between Jackson and freshman Jose Mohler. "The coaching staff is evaluating every repetition," Bohl said.

Posted by: Jeff Kolpack on 8/06/2008 at 2:06 PM | Comments (16) | Permalink

Pursuit of Happiness

Jack Michaels, the former colleague and unflappable host of a Bismarck sports radio talk show, addressed this point to me on the air: Will Craig Bohl's new contract keep him in Fargo?

My response: I don't think it's about the money for him. I have no basis for this since the coach did not show me his balance in his latest bank statement nor did he tell me his every investment. When we talk, I don't ask him his theories about the stock market. I think this guy has been in enough programs to know what is good about college athletics and what is not and it will take a very good offer (a decent FBS program) for him to bolt.

He has a good situation going at NDSU and for that reason, I think he'll be here longer than many people think (he's already here longer than a lot of people thought). The contract that NDSU proposed to him is more about the position being competitive with the rest of FCS than it is about keeping their coach.  I think he would be here anyway if Gene Taylor did nothing this summer. 

Posted by: Jeff Kolpack on 8/06/2008 at 8:12 AM | Comments (8) | Permalink

What we know

We should know by Monday the exact details of NDSU's 90-man fall practice. On Sunday, the team's fourth quarterback got into Fargo. This is about all I know about Andrew Fabry at Green Bay Notre Dame High School:

He split time, either series by series or quarter by quarter, with Kevin Rotherham, a more heralded athlete who is playing Division I baseball at Butler. When Fabry wasn't playing quarterback, he was a receiver. He did not get any all-conference honors or anything of that sort, which makes me wonder why he thought he was good enough to play at Arizona State, where he walked on. Maybe he does have the talent to play in the Pac-10 -- we won't know until we see him on the field. I do know NDSU quarterbacks coach Brent Vigen knows what a prospect looks like.

Posted by: Jeff Kolpack on 8/03/2008 at 7:22 PM | Permalink