2014 Recruiting Summary

[StL Bison Fan]

The downside of having so many early commitments and an increased national profile is that our staff will be spending the next two weeks trying to protect our flanks. There will be lots of attempted poaching. We may lose kids to FBS or "better offers" from other FCS programs.

Putting things in perspective, I'm thinking about what was happening on December 8 and where I thought our program would be at in mid-January. I originally heard that Bohl was taking the entire staff to Wyoming. I thought we would have to do a national search for a new coach and that we would struggle to maintain some continuity in the program. I thought we would lose a bunch of our most coveted commitments from recruits. I thought it might take a year or two to put the pieces back together.

What has actually happened is remarkable. We got Chris Klieman as our head coach! We kept Jim Kramer! We kept Nick Goeser and Conor Riley. We have seen that the returning players are happy and excited to move forward. Klieman has pieced together a new coaching staff that has good experience, especially in the MVFC and our recruiting territories, and tremendous enthusiasm. He has kept most of our recruits on board and added several more. He brought in King Frazier as a transfer. He has reached out to the fan base very effectively.

More than most here, I can easily get bummed out by losing a recruit or two. When I look at the big picture, I've never been more excited to be a Bison fan. It is always a great day to be a Bison.

Go Bison!!

This sums it up. We are so lucky to have great coaches, great kids, and great fans ( if not just a tiny bit crazy). Looking forward to August.

[Bison Dan]

The downside of having so many early commitments and an increased national profile is that our staff will be spending the next two weeks trying to protect our flanks. There will be lots of attempted poaching. We may lose kids to FBS or "better offers" from other FCS programs.

Putting things in perspective, I'm thinking about what was happening on December 8 and where I thought our program would be at in mid-January. I originally heard that Bohl was taking the entire staff to Wyoming. I thought we would have to do a national search for a new coach and that we would struggle to maintain some continuity in the program. I thought we would lose a bunch of our most coveted commitments from recruits. I thought it might take a year or two to put the pieces back together.

What has actually happened is remarkable. We got Chris Klieman as our head coach! We kept Jim Kramer! We kept Nick Goeser and Conor Riley. We have seen that the returning players are happy and excited to move forward. Klieman has pieced together a new coaching staff that has good experience, especially in the MVFC and our recruiting territories, and tremendous enthusiasm. He has kept most of our recruits on board and added several more. He brought in King Frazier as a transfer. He has reached out to the fan base very effectively. And oh, we got another national championship!

More than most here, I can easily get bummed out by losing a recruit or two. When I look at the big picture, I've never been more excited to be a Bison fan. It is always a great day to be a Bison.

Go Bison!!

Agree 100% - Would be nice to protect what we have but sh*t happens sometimes.

[17>1]

The downside of having so many early commitments and an increased national profile is that our staff will be spending the next two weeks trying to protect our flanks. There will be lots of attempted poaching. We may lose kids to FBS or "better offers" from other FCS programs.

Putting things in perspective, I'm thinking about what was happening on December 8 and where I thought our program would be at in mid-January. I originally heard that Bohl was taking the entire staff to Wyoming. I thought we would have to do a national search for a new coach and that we would struggle to maintain some continuity in the program. I thought we would lose a bunch of our most coveted commitments from recruits. I thought it might take a year or two to put the pieces back together.

What has actually happened is remarkable. We got Chris Klieman as our head coach! We kept Jim Kramer! We kept Nick Goeser and Conor Riley. We have seen that the returning players are happy and excited to move forward. Klieman has pieced together a new coaching staff that has good experience, especially in the MVFC and our recruiting territories, and tremendous enthusiasm. He has kept most of our recruits on board and added several more. He brought in King Frazier as a transfer. He has reached out to the fan base very effectively. And oh, we got another national championship!

More than most here, I can easily get bummed out by losing a recruit or two. When I look at the big picture, I've never been more excited to be a Bison fan. It is always a great day to be a Bison.

Go Bison!!

Great post!!! I agree 100%.
And while it sucks to lose a few here and there in the recruiting game, in the end, I want the players to come here that want to be here more than anything else.

[HerdBot]

The downside of having so many early commitments and an increased national profile is that our staff will be spending the next two weeks trying to protect our flanks. There will be lots of attempted poaching. We may lose kids to FBS or "better offers" from other FCS programs.

Putting things in perspective, I'm thinking about what was happening on December 8 and where I thought our program would be at in mid-January. I originally heard that Bohl was taking the entire staff to Wyoming. I thought we would have to do a national search for a new coach and that we would struggle to maintain some continuity in the program. I thought we would lose a bunch of our most coveted commitments from recruits. I thought it might take a year or two to put the pieces back together.

What has actually happened is remarkable. We got Chris Klieman as our head coach! We kept Jim Kramer! We kept Nick Goeser and Conor Riley. We have seen that the returning players are happy and excited to move forward. Klieman has pieced together a new coaching staff that has good experience, especially in the MVFC and our recruiting territories, and tremendous enthusiasm. He has kept most of our recruits on board and added several more. He brought in King Frazier as a transfer. He has reached out to the fan base very effectively. And oh, we got another national championship!

More than most here, I can easily get bummed out by losing a recruit or two. When I look at the big picture, I've never been more excited to be a Bison fan. It is always a great day to be a Bison.

Go Bison!!

Well said. It's quite amazing where we are at. Less than 2 months after we think everyone is gone in the middle of a playoff run, we three peat and put together an amazing staff full of players with MVFC and more importantly NDSU roots. We kept Kramer. Kept virtually all of the recruiting class that already looked really good to begin with and are targeting some really good players to close this class out. For a team that lost a lot of coaches, we have done an incredible job of holding everything together.

[goalpost]

Well said. It's quite amazing where we are at. Less than 2 months after we think everyone is gone in the middle of a playoff run, we three peat and put together an amazing staff full of players with MVFC and more importantly NDSU roots. We kept Kramer. Kept virtually all of the recruiting class that already looked really good to begin with and are targeting some really good players to close this class out. For a team that lost a lot of coaches, we have done an incredible job of holding everything together.

pretty quite out there, I have not heard much about any recruits committing , anybody hear anything ?

[Bison Dan]

pretty quite out there, I have not heard much about any recruits committing , anybody hear anything ?

I think some of the guys we're after now are waiting on FBS offers. Nice to get a couple of them.

[Bison53]

Kid that played at Stanley? Heard he verballed.

[HerdBot]

Kid that played at Stanley? Heard he verballed.

Pwo dline 6-4 235 with frame to bulk up. Qb, linebacker, basketball track and field good athlete

[westnodak93bison]

On paper, where does this class rank? I say as a whole it has to be #1 with the numbers and quality. Hard to say if any will develop into the caliber of players like Brock, Ryan Smith, Ryan Drevlow, Leevon, Grant Olson, Billy, Gimmie, Grothman, Marcus, Cole, etc.

[HerdBot]

On paper, where does this class rank? I say as a whole it has to be #1 with the numbers and quality. Hard to say if any will develop into the caliber of players like Brock, Ryan Smith, Ryan Drevlow, Leevon, Grant Olson, Billy, Gimmie, Grothman, Marcus, Cole, etc.

I don't like to look at it year by year but I think the 2 year signing class is collectively as good as any we've ever had. The key will be retention. The 09-10 classes not only were loaded with talent, most of them stuck it out.