Originally Posted by
bisonpride2k
Two reasons.
#1- The roster was expanded by the athletic director from 32 to 36 which sould allow for more walk ons and freshman to make the team and develop. It was a major problem that McLeod was forced to deal with when Taylor took over as athletic director. Not only was he not given enough scholarships to compete but was taken away 4 roster spots where he had the ability to develop players who were not quite at the level to compete right away which was needed at 32. Players like Matt Mann (schools all time leading hitter), Brandon Olson (schools all time leader in tripples), and Charles Magadanez (made maybe 4 errors his whole career at 2B) were all project players that would have been numbers casualties had they arrived after 2002. Those three worked their butts off and became great players after a year of redshirting. No more then 2-3 players were able to redshirt with the smaller roster limit as injuries can turn that roster from 32 to 28-29 or less in a hurry.
#2- Plecki graduated (and can never be replaced!), Otto transfered, and with the departure of Mossey, Langlais will slide to SS from third which moves in starting LF Beese to third base meaning there will be three new regular starting outfielders. Billy "the goose" Gazich will probably fill RF and Eckermans will probably fill CF, leaving LF up for grabs.
I know who you are refering to and there was no space for him on that roster until this year. Hate to say it because he is a good player but he was not better then the 6 other outfielders on the roster. He doesnt bring a PLUS tool (arm, speed, hitting, hitting for power, defense) all average. However he doesnt have any killer weak spots which makes him a solid average player. But, in comparison to other DI players who NDSU will face, he would be at the bottom of average if not below average.
HS players from ND need to be far and above the rest to make a difference in DI. Example... Jake Laber (if he has a break out year), Phil and Charlie Shirek, Darrin Erstad. You look at how dominating a player Brian Erstad was from Jamestown and he was a middle of the road player for Wichita State. It seriously is a whole different level.