Carson Wentz

[2011BisonAlumni]

For those of us who went to school with Nick, know how much he cared about the program and put his all into it. He was a constant performer in practice, who just mentally could not block out mistakes. From my experiences with him, he was a hell of a nice guy and always was in attendance in the classroom.

One thing I will always fault Bohl for is that he never took advantage of Nick's athleticism. When he struggled passing, he should have gotten him involved in the run game to give him some confidence and get him into the flow of the game, just like we saw him do countless times with Brock. I truly believe he would have been a much more successful QB had Bohl done this.

[2011BisonAlumni]

For those of us who went to school with Nick, know how much he cared about the program and put his all into it. He was a constant performer in practice, who just mentally could not block out mistakes. From my experiences with him, he was a hell of a nice guy and always was in attendance in the classroom.

One thing I will always fault Bohl for is that he never took advantage of Nick's athleticism. When he struggled passing, he should have gotten him involved in the run game to give him some confidence and get him into the flow of the game, just like we saw him do countless times with Brock. I truly believe he would have been a much more successful QB had Bohl done this.

[westnodak93bison]

For those of us who went to school with Nick, know how much he cared about the program and put his all into it. He was a constant performer in practice, who just mentally could not block out mistakes. From my experiences with him, he was a hell of a nice guy and always was in attendance in the classroom.

One thing I will always fault Bohl for is that he never took advantage of Nick's athleticism. When he struggled passing, he should have gotten him involved in the run game to give him some confidence and get him into the flow of the game, just like we saw him do countless times with Brock. I truly believe he would have been a much more successful QB had Bohl done this.

Agree 100%. Great guy who was in a tough spot.

[NDSU1980]

For those of us who went to school with Nick, know how much he cared about the program and put his all into it. He was a constant performer in practice, who just mentally could not block out mistakes. From my experiences with him, he was a hell of a nice guy and always was in attendance in the classroom.

One thing I will always fault Bohl for is that he never took advantage of Nick's athleticism. When he struggled passing, he should have gotten him involved in the run game to give him some confidence and get him into the flow of the game, just like we saw him do countless times with Brock. I truly believe he would have been a much more successful QB had Bohl done this.

I will always blame Bohl more than anyone for the entire Mertens fiasco. How any coach could go several years without recruiting a QB is unfathomable. Bohl should consider himself very lucky that Mohler and Brock bought him enough time in 2010 to get things back on track. Another year like 2009 and his career would most likely look a whole lot different today then it does.

[CaBisonFan]

I will always blame Bohl more than anyone for the entire Mertens fiasco. How any coach could go several years without recruiting a QB is unfathomable. Bohl should consider himself very lucky that Mohler and Brock bought him enough time in 2010 to get things back on track. Another year like 2009 and his career would most likely look a whole lot different today then it does.

...agreed...

[CaBisonFan]

For those of us who went to school with Nick, know how much he cared about the program and put his all into it. He was a constant performer in practice, who just mentally could not block out mistakes. From my experiences with him, he was a hell of a nice guy and always was in attendance in the classroom.

One thing I will always fault Bohl for is that he never took advantage of Nick's athleticism. When he struggled passing, he should have gotten him involved in the run game to give him some confidence and get him into the flow of the game, just like we saw him do countless times with Brock. I truly believe he would have been a much more successful QB had Bohl done this.

....bravo....

[SoCalBison]

I will always blame Bohl more than anyone for the entire Mertens fiasco. How any coach could go several years without recruiting a QB is unfathomable. Bohl should consider himself very lucky that Mohler and Brock bought him enough time in 2010 to get things back on track. Another year like 2009 and his career would most likely look a whole lot different today then it does.

He'd be at a school with fewer wins than Wyoming?

[td577]

Yeah, I don't really get the continual hate on Mertens anymore...and I admit I was one of the biggest naysayers. It's done, we've won 3 straight titles and are on our way to a 4th. The thing is, Mertens probably did so much behind the scenes for the program that no one even knows about here - it's ridiculous to think we would still be trashing one of our own. He still wore the jersey...and I'm sure he gave his all for the team/program - what more can you ask for from a young student athlete?

I agree 100%. There were a lot of issues with the program during that time frame and not once did you see Nick point the fingers at anyone else when I think he certainly could have. He accepted a lot of blame for a lot of things which were completely out of his control. I have always had great respect for the young man who didn't quit the program, didn't turn away from the criticism when it wasn't completely warranted, and still is a great ambassador for Bison football. There have been a lot of past discussion about the program during those days and all it took was for someone to pull the loose string and everything would have unraveled. He not only didn't pull the string, he tried to protect it. There will come a time when he will be rightfully credited for his contributions rather than the senseless criticism. Regardless of everything going on back then, there was a core group of players willing to tough it out, keep going to class, and keep putting the time and work in for football. He was one of them. Maybe everything on the field didn't work out exactly like everyone wanted, but nothing happened that didn't contribute to future success. That included a complete philosophical shift by the entire football program from the top down which preserved some careers and propelled the program to the success it has sustained for the past few years.

[Bison 4 Life]

What's next? Should the John Crockett thread turn into how much we like/don't like Pat Paschall?


I don't see the need to constantly rehash old beefs on this board.

[NDSUstudent]

That's an insult to Nick Mertens.

My point was that both guys had a ton of hype and didn't get it done for whatever reason. That said in regards to both of them their teams had some major issues so obviously it isn't all on them. The 2008 team Nick was apart of had a ton of talent but not much leadership, the 2009 team was just a mess that I don't think Brock could have even saved. It didn't help obviously that we had no back up QB which forced the coaches to run an offense that didn't fully utilize is strengths.