Here is your official UND Football 2015 Spring Prospectus, courtesy of the UND Sports Information Department.  They did an outstanding job with this and should be commended for the level of coverage.  If you want to know anything at all about UND spring ball, it’s in there.

Rumors
Thunder Lake Lodge

Practice begins next Friday, March 27th – 3pm at Memorial Stadium.  

Spring Football Schedule

(All practices held at Memorial Stadium)

3/27 (Friday) – 3 p.m.
03/28 (Saturday) – 9 a.m.
03/30 (Monday) – 3 p.m.
04/01 (Wednesday) – 3 p.m.
04/03 (Friday) – 3 p.m.
04/06 (Monday) – 3 p.m.
04/08 (Wednesday) – 3 p.m.
04/10 (Friday) – 3 p.m.
04/13 (Monday) – 3 p.m.
04/15 (Wednesday) – 3 p.m.
04/18 (Saturday) – 9 a.m.
04/20 (Monday) – 3 p.m.
04/22 (Wednesday) – 3 p.m.
04/24 (Friday) – 3 p.m.
04/25 (Saturday) – 11:30 a.m. (Spring Game)

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We will be putting out our offensive and defensive depth charts in the next few days.  These charts are going to be our best guess as to how the depth chart will evolve as spring ball proceeds.  UND put out there depth chart in the link above but these will be our prognostications, so to speak.

Here is what I will be watching for during Spring Ball 2015:

  1. This year of spring ball will be completely different than last spring.  Last year the coaches needed to spend parts of practice simply teaching players stance, technique, etc.  That took up valuable practice periods.  Now, they can slightly reduce those technique sessions and use them to work on installs.  I expect they will still start with the base drills but now the players know what to expect and can have expedited success in learning/perfecting them.
  2. #1 with a bullet is offensive line play.  I want to see which of the young offensive lineman is ready to step up and take a shot at the many open spots along the offensive line.  The only spot that is locked up is Brandon Anderson at LG.  Sean Meehan is a returning starter but I ultimately want to see him play RG, not one of the tackle spots.  He seems better suited for that position.  Young guys I will be keeping an eye on:  Demon Taylor (G), Kevin Camy (T), Mat Cox (T) and Adam Stiner (T).  Really wish Jake Francis and A.J. Stockwell were playing but both are out due to injury.
  3. The progression of Keaton Studsrud.  Spring ball is boiling down to Studsrud vs. Ryan Bartels to see who will be the #1 QB entering fall camp.  With Joe Mollberg still rehabbing his torn achilles, those two are left to duke it out over the 15 practice spring season.  From what I was told, Studsrud grew immensely once he took over the reigns in the final four games of the 2015 season.  The huddle was crisp and the players appeared to respond to his leadership.  Says a lot when it’s an 18 year old true freshman providing that level of confidence.
  4. The running back position is not complete and spring ball will only offer a teaser as to what it will look like come fall camp.  Senior transfer Ja’Won Arrington will be one to watch as I have heard nothing but good things about his attitude and leadership this past winter.  But, we do know they are still talking to possible transfers to come in help out immediately at the RB position.  UND needs a home-run hitter to accompany the power back that they have in Arrington.
  5. UND needs better safety play.  Much better.  Safeties can clean up a lot of mistakes that happen in front of them and make a defensive coordinator look pretty good in the process.  UND had very little of that last season.
  6. I have sharpied in sophomore Cole Reyes at the strong safety position and feel very confident in his ability to be a top-end safety in the Big Sky.  He has the size (6’2″-210), range, and hitting ability to be a disruptive force back there and in the alley.  The guy I am looking forward to evaluating is juco transfer Jawon Johnson.  He is nearly identical to Reyes in size and provides many of the same attributes.  Those two on the field at the same time can get some stuff done.  Juco transfer Zach Arnell will be an X factor, as we will wait to see if he becomes a regular contributor as well.  Arnell will not be participating in spring drills due to injury, however.   UND gave up way too many 3rd and long conversions last season.  These three can help change that.
  7. The cornerback position is another area where UND needs improvement in 2015. IMO, both spots are up for grabs.  I look for true sophomore Deion Harris to make a strong push for one of the starting corner spots.  Harris, 6’3″, brings the size UND is looking for to defend the taller Big Sky receivers.  He did not redshirt last season giving him valuable experience in the system heading into his first spring.  True sophomore Chris Carter also got valuable experience by not redshirting last fall.  Carter is a smaller corner at 5’10” but is an ultra-aggressive player who competes every play.  Senior Chris Brown made huge strides last season after a year of tuteledge by Coach Schweigert and Coach Rodgers.  He has the most experience of the group but is smallest at 5’8″.  The X factor is sophomore juco transfer Charles Flowers, who redshirted last fall.  By all accounts, Flowers needed to get stronger so he made the wise decision to redshirt and build his core.  He came in with impressive juco tape in his only season at Citrus College and I expect Flowers to be in the mix for playing time come fall.