Roster updated

[tony]

The 2003 roster is out on www.gobison.com. I've updated this site.

I see that Walt Gilbert (one of last year's Wisconsin recruits) didn't show up - I had read that he might want to play baseball instead of football. Otherwise, all the freshman recruits made it to camp.

There are a lot of new faces. There are also plenty of guys who left the team for one reason or another. Nine of last year's recruits are no longer with the team (including the four who transferred to St. John's, one to Moorhead, and one to Duluth). NDSU also lost proven players Nate Keller and Cody Fechtelkotter to back injuries. I

[JBB]

Its nice to know that a great program like St. Johns has picked the Legendary NDSU Football Club as it's first choice for transfers. That says a lot for the BISON program.

[XBison]

You might check out the UMD roster. In addition to Matt Hofman and Ted Pelzer (2002 Recruits) you will see Cody's name as well.

[tony]

Oops. My mistake. I thought that Pelzer went to Moorhead and that Fechtelkotter quit football altogether. I hope this means that his back is OK - transfer or not, I don't like hearing about people being crippled up by football. They've got his name misspelled on the Bulldog roster, you might want to run that by somebody.

[NDSU_grad]

That looks pretty good. I was expecting more attrition than that. Did anybody else notice how much weight Tadisch and Buckwalter dropped. Weren't they both around 350 last year? By the way, anybody have any prognostications for the 1st team offense and defense?

[mojobison]

I'll give it a shot.

QB - Stauss
RB - Steffes
FB - Simmers
C - Hunt
T - Tadisch - if healthy enough
T - Zilka
G - Buckwalter
G - Popowski
TE - Wieser
WR - Burrell
WR - Belquist

DE - Thomas
DT - Graff
NG - Snell
DE - Schilke
Will - Erenberg
Mike - Mock
Buck - Turner
CB - Gorman
CB - Irby
SS - Shepherd
FS - Essler

[NDSU_grad]

Only one taker so far. It seems to me that people have been pretty quiet about Charles Wiest and Travis White. I was almost surprised to see their names on the roster. Another name that caught my eye was Mark Moore. He was a pretty highly regarded running back, but there hasn't been much mention of him so far.

[Bisonguy]

I hope Enos takes advantage of the depth at WR. White and Wiest can definitely contribute to the offense. Make the receivers run, and the opposition's DB's will be worn out.

[mojobison]

Even if I was right and Burrell and Belquist get the start, the other receivers will still get tons of reps. They're too good to keep on the bench.

[Bisonguy]

Speaking of Belquist, there is going to be a feature on him on the WDAY six o'clock news tonight.

[BisonFan]

Will Tim Erickson get much playing time at receiver? I haven't heard much about him. He had a good spring game last year I believe. He has good hands and some speed.

[Bisonguy]

From WDAY news:

Elliott Belquist and Allen Burrell will be the starting WR's. Tony Stauss was interviewed and said Belquist has velcro hands. The feature on Belquist was good, they mainly talked about how he had to be improve his catching ability to get to his starting spot. Marques Johnson will be the additional starter in on three WR sets.

Here's the starters on the D line-

Jamel Thomas-DE
Issaac Snell -DT
Dwight Summerville-DT
Jordan Graff- DE (yes, DE)

[mojobison]

On WDAY at 10 they said that three freshmen could have their redshirts pulled: Craig Dahl, Justin Frick and Steve Walker. Walker is third on the depth chart and Dahl is second. I hope that they're thinking of playing Frick because he's next Phil Hansen rather than because the defensive front is paper thin.

Let's hope the guys we have get the job done and stay healthy.

[Bisonguy]

Here's The Forum's take on the Redshirts. Looks like Walker's would only be lifted if he is needed:


Bison likely to take redshirt off of safety Dahl
By Jeff Kolpack
jkolpack@forumcomm.com
The Forum - 08/21/2003

North Dakota State will most likely take the redshirt off of freshman Craig Dahl while two other true freshmen are getting a strong look to play immediately.

Dahl has moved into a backup role at free safety and will be counted on to contribute on special teams, said NDSU head coach Craig Bohl.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Dahl, from Mankato, Minn., was working with the second team defense on Wednesday.

“He’s got good football sense,” Bohl said.

Justin Frick, a defensive lineman from Yankton, S.D., has also been impressive in practice.

Bohl said his playing status will probably be week-by-week.

Quarterback Steve Walker will carry a similar status tag. He’s asserted himself as the No. 3 quarterback in practice, a spot that will probably earn him a spot on the travel roster. That doesn’t mean he’ll play. Bohl said the hope is to redshirt Walker.

Junior Tony Stauss is the starter and senior Jason Jordan is the backup. If one of those players go down, Walker may move up to the No. 2 spot.

“You always need a third-team quarterback prepared,” Bohl said.

Walker came to NDSU with impressive statistics. He threw for almost 4,000 yards his senior year at Lockport, Ill.

He led his team to an Illinois state championship. “He’s shown good maturity for a freshman,” Bohl said.

Asked if he has a command of the offense, Bohl said, “I don’t know if I would go that far, but he’s further along than most freshmen. He makes good decisions.”

At 6-4 and 255 pounds, Fricke appears to have the physical maturity to play.

At Yankton, he had 98 tackles and 11 quarterback sacks his senior year in leading Yankton to a 13-0 record and a state championship.

Dahl made his mark in high school as a quarterback running for 3,398 yards and passing for 1,769 his last two years. His brother, Brian Dahl, is a backup defensive end for the Bison.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Kolpack at (701) 241-5546

[mojobison]

I mean the Forum, not WDAY. Get foggy when up too late.

[tony]

BisonFan, NDSU is pretty deep at WR, Travis White, Chuck Wiest, and Tim are all very good WRs - not to mention Marques Johnson.

It's going to be tough but Erickson has shown he can get the job done when he gets in the game. He definitely has his work cut out for him.

[BisonFan]

I was just wondering Tony because no one was ever mentioning Erickson's name when mentioning the receivers. I know he has good hands and speed and is a great all-around athlete. Hopefully he can get in there more this year with an offensive scheme in place that actually compliments the skills of the players!

[Bob_Holiday]

I thought Tim Erickson was the best wide receiver on the field during the spring game. I'm surprised at the lack of talk about him this fall. If he's good enough I'm sure it will all come out in the wash
Go Bison,
Bob

[BisonFan]

Maybe the lack of talk about Tim Erickson has something to do with Fergus Falls. Pete Campion, also from Fergus Falls, was one of the better offensive lineman in recent years (didn't allow a sack his last two years), but he was rarely mentioned when talking about the offensive line.

[Bisonguy]

Campion was mentioned quite a bit for an O lineman. There was a lot of talk about him and the NFL his last two years.

I really doubt it has anything to do with Fergus Falls. There is just a lot of depth at WR.

[BisonFan]

I mean more in the sense of post-season honors. Campion was never All-NCC but Klabo was. Campion didn't allow any sacks. I'm pretty sure Klabo did.

[tony]

Campion was recruited the same year as Klabo and played as a true freshman so he was plenty good.

I did a search of the Forum archives and Campion was mentioned or featured in 25 different articles since 2001 and Klabo 32 (but a bunch of those were about his injury or the poor season).

Not being named All-NCC might have something to do with conference politics. For example, Jeff Bentrim was only named All-NCC once even though he took the Bison to four national championship games, led the nation in scoring three years, got named to the first class of the DII Hall of Fame, and won the first Harlon Hill Trophy.

[BisonFan]

Leave it to politics to blur the true picture of how things are. I was wondering if it had to do with politics. Don't get me wrong, Klabo was a good lineman himself, but I think Campion was better. I seem to remember Campion's pre-draft analysis listing him as the one that opened up the hole for the majority of Lamar Gordon's long touch-down runs. I also believe that the ND press hyped up Klabo quite a bit before the draft...or at least his agent did...I seem to remember a quote from Klabo's agent saying Chuck would go on the first day of the draft....I found that hard to believe when I read that. We all know the agent was wrong, as Klabo ended up signing an undrafted free agent contract. Back to Campion, I ran into him after he got back to Fargo from his season with the Frankfurt Galaxy in NFL Europe...I asked him what he was up to and he said he was with the Seahawks. I see he was cut by the Seahawks shortly after the start of training camp. Its definitely tough to make it in the NFL...especially when the injury bug bites before the player even gets a chance to prove himself. Its too bad too, because what that guy used to do in the weightroom and on the field was truly amazing. Hopefully, another oportunity will present itself and Pete will get to prove himself.

[BisonFan]

Any word on Jared Peck? Is he still on the Saints depth chart?

[BisonFan]

Nevermind, I see Peck is listed third at Left Tackle on the Saints depth chart

[Bob_Holiday]

I seen in the transactions this morning that Cleveland waived Chuck Klabo yesterday. I wonder how well he was physically, if maybe he was pushing it a little.

Go Bison,
Bob

[JBB]

I thought Tim Erickson was the best wide receiver on the field during the spring game. *I'm surprised at the lack of talk about him this fall. *If he's good enough I'm sure it will all come out in the wash
Go Bison,
Bob

Erickson came out as a freshman and looked great. He seems to have it all. Im sure he will get his chances and if things fall into place he may well emerge as one of our best.

[BisonWarrior]

Did Tim Erickson get hurt today at the scrimmage today? Heard he blew his knee.

[Bisonguy]

I saw somebody carted off, but didn't recognize him.

It looked like there was a good rotation of Burrell, Johnson, Belquist, and White at the receiver spots.

I think Dragosavich is going to give other teams headaches in future years ;D ;D

[BisonFan]

Did Tim Erickson get hurt today at the scrimmage today? *Heard he blew his knee.
Can anyone confirm who was hurt and how serious it was?

[BisonFan]

The Bison didn't come out of the scrimmage unscathed. Junior wide receiver Tim Erickson suffered apparent knee damage after getting tackled near the sideline on a down-and-out pattern. Bohl said it could be a major injury. When you go into these things, you have some risk, he said. .

[tony]

Man, that sucks. I hope it's not major.

[BisonFan]

From GOBISON.COM:


INJURIES: NORTH DAKOTA STATE came through fall camp with just one major injury...Junior backup wide receiver TIM ERICKSON went down with a knee injury in the final scrimmage of the fall camp and will be lost for the season...

[JBB]

That is horrible news.

[BisonFan]

I guess its too late to knock on wood

[joebison]

Hey,
I was watching the scrimmage and saw Kole Zimmerman limp off early on and not return, anyone got any news?

[mojobison]

Kole Zimmerman was listed on the depth chart so it must not have been too serious.

[NDSU_grad]

I see that Josh Epperley is not listed on the roster. Does anybody know his wheaeabouts? He was the consensus best player in ND in his class.

[tony]

He transferred to Dickinson State.

[KTF]

I just looked at the St. Johns (Collegeville, MN) only to find that Jamie Steffensmeier-LB and Josh Pope-DE have both transfer to play for the Johnnies. Sure would have been nice to Jamie back this year to play for the herd.

[Bisonguy]

Kole Zimmerman was listed on the depth chart so it must not have been too serious.

Here's what The Forum said today:

The Bison also will be without backup linebacker Kole Zimmerman. He suffered a deep knee bruise in practice and will be out indefinitely. Bohl said it could be three to four weeks.

[BisonFan]

I hope there is more than a one-game suspension handed down to the Bison player who recently was charged with a DUI! That is unacceptable behavior and a message needs to be sent loud and clear that such behavior/decisions will not be tolerated as NDSU moves to D1 and hopefully becomes a model for Academic, Athletic, and Civic responsibility!

[BisonWarrior]

Granted Simmers made a mistake but I know Ryan and you will not find a more upstanding young man. He is an excellent student and a dedicated Bison. He is a credit to this program in spite of the mistake he made! There is no doubt he is being punished in many ways...by the law, by the insurance company and now by the media. This is old news...it happened June 29th. Why the media had to headline it does not make sense.

[BisonFan]

A DUI is a serious mistake and no slack should be given because people want to see him play on the football field.

[BisonWarrior]

Yes a DUI is serious and he is being punished just like any other person in the same situation. No slack is being given. Should he be punished more. What more can and should happen?

[JBB]

Maybe the NCAA should have a suggested sentencing list? Then there would be a guideline.