With the 2021 season in the rear view mirror it’s time to take a look at what the 2022 edition of UND football will look like. Coming off a 5-6 season there will be plenty of motivation in the off-season for this group to right the ship and make a run at the MVFC championship, once again.
The Hawks have a solid nucleus coming back but do lose some major contributors, of which we will look at below. First off let’s look at the schedule, which is always important for UND being they are so strong at home.
2022 UND Football Schedule Sep 3 (Sat) Away Nebraska Sep 10 (Sat) Home Northern Iowa Sep 17 (Sat) Away Northern Arizona Sep 24 (Sat) Away Southern Illinois Oct 1 (Sat) Home Missouri State Oct 8 (Sat) Away Youngstown State Oct 22 (Sat) Home South Dakota State Oct 29 (Sat) Home (WAC or ASUN Team) Nov 5 (Sat) Away Indiana State Nov 12 (Sat) Home South Dakota Nov 19 (Sat) Away North Dakota State
The schedules shakes out as it typically does – 11 games, 1 FBS, 2 non-conference FCS, and 5 homes games. I would love to see them get to the point where it’s 6 home games and 5 road games but home & home contracts dictate that some seasons it isn’t possible. UND does have six home games in 2023 & 2024, however.
The opener vs. Nebraska will be as exciting of an FBS game as they have ever had. The drive to Lincoln is doable and playing a former national powerhouse program that now resides in the Big Ten is a great money game to get. The Hawks will receive $515,000. Nebraska went 3-9 in 2021 and Scott Frost will still be the coach but he will have a new offensive coordinator after firing Matt Lubick.
As the rotating schedule dictates, UND gets SDSU and USD at home next season but travels to NDSU. The Hawks home slate is LOADED. Northern Iowa, Missouri State, SDSU, a WAC team, and South Dakota. That is four Top 20 teams all at home! The Alerus Center will be a fun place to be come September.
UND does not play Western Illinois or Illinois State in 2022.
Transfer Portal Defections
The new norm is players leaving at semester break and/or at the end of school year via the infamous “Transfer Portal“. Every player gets one free transfer now without having to sit out a season so you are seeing tons, and I mean ‘tons’, of players around the country head into it in search of something new.
The overriding theme with the portal is that players either want to move up (FCS to FBS, D2 to FCS) or move closer to home. Rarely to do we see kids moving around the country in search of something different for obvious reasons. This is their one chance to prove themselves against better competition or be in a more familiar, comfortable situation. It does happen where they move cross-country but not as often.
The Hawks thus far have had seven players enter the portal.
- Caleb Nelson – CB
- Sam Robertson – CB
- Otis Weah – RB
- Quinn Urwiler – LB
- Quintin Seguin – DE
- Jacob Odom – WR
- Billy Riviere – TE
Of those seven, two were starters in Weah and Seguin. Nelson played extensively while the rest played special teams or minimally.
The loss of Otis will be big as he was their home run threat and dynamic back who could make guys miss or drag them for extra yards. His production will be missed. At the same time he also didn’t play in two games due to off the field issues that forced the staff to sit him (not law related – team rules is what I was told). This type of drama on a team is never good, especially when it’s your star running back that everyone looks to when the game kicks off. No player is bigger than the program and a split may be best for both parties involved.
Nelson and Seguin both had nice years in 2021 and will be missed as well. The cornerback room went from very deep to somewhat thin in a hurry.
2022 Offense
The Hawks offense took a step back in fall 2021 from their outstanding performance in the spring season. They averaged 24.5 points per game overall but only 21.5 in MVFC play (9th in MVFC). The Hawks finished 5th in total yards in MVFC play with 387.5. They were 5th in rushing with 156.9 and 5th in passing with 230.6 per game. Not bad but not great either.
The UND offense returns seven starters from last season (eight if Boltmann returns).
The Hawks return their entire QB room, which means starter Tommy Schuster is back again. Schuster had a solid fall 2021 campaign and seemed to improve as the season wore on. Schuster threw for 2,493 yards and 13 TD vs 7 INT. He completed 65% of his passes, which is this offense is somewhat expected but still very solid. Tommy also added some scrambling to his game, converting several third downs with his legs.
Backup QB Quincy Vaughn will be back and undoubtedly be pushing Schuster for the starting spot. Vaughn, with his 6’4″-240 frame, turned into a short yardage ace for UND as OC Danny Freund would have Vaughn come in on 3rd and short or 4th and short and have him sneak it. Vaughn went 9-17 for 70 yards and 3 TD’s throwing the ball.
Freshman Trey Feeney and Simon Romfo will be back to push those two for the starting job or even the backup spot. Feeney was highly-regarded out of high school and will be one to watch in spring. Romfo surprised everyone in the fall with his play on scout team and could be a diamond in the rough.
At RB, Weah accounted for 844 yards and 9 TD’s so that production is going to need to be divied up between several different returning backs that all have experience. Luckily the Hawks return their next three leading rushers in Isaiah Smith (362 yards), Luke Skokna (237) and Gaven Ziebarth (116). Freshman Creighton Mitchell will also be returning from a lower tib/fib injury suffered in fall camp and will certainly be in the mix. The RB room is in good hands.
The tight end room returns the majority of their guys led by starter and main receiving threat Adam Zavalney (20 catches for 303 and 4 TD). Backups Trae Steckler, Jaden Norby, Max Gunderson all saw time this fall and should see their roles increased.
Garett Maag (21 catches, 266 yards, and 2 TD) and Bo Belquist (52 catches, 535 yards and 5 TD) return as starters at wide receiver. There is an outside shot that Brock Boltmann (38 catches for 377 yards and 4 TD) returns, as well, and if he does that would be big shot in the arm for this offense. Jack Wright, Marcus Preston, and Tyler Burian combined for 31 receptions , with Burian missing the majority of the season due to injury. The WR room should be solid next fall.
Now for the biggest part of the offense and frankly, the entire team. The Offensive Line.
If UND wants to win the MVFC and make a run at the national championship they need to improve their offensive line. It’s that simple. I don’t care about any other position group as much as this one. Show me a dominant offensive line and I will show you a great running back room, good/great QB, good/great defense and so on.
Defense’s look pretty good when they are rarely on the field and always fresh. Opposing offenses don’t look as good when they are sitting on the sideline getting out of sync from hardly ever playing. All of this is due to dominant offensive line play. UND had a taste of it in the spring but took a step back this fall with the loss of a few seniors.
The Hawks lost LT Matt Waletzko to the NFL Draft and he will be a big hole to fill. They do return starters Easton Kilty, Ben Christian, and Donny Ventrelli. I would look for Kilty to slide out to LT as he has a big upside and is going to be a good one. Having Kilty and Ventrelli on the ends is a good setup. The inside of the line was this season’s issue and the Hawks need to shore that up one way or the other.
Freshman Peyton Lotysz was supposed to be in the mix at center but was injured all season. He should be back and push for the starting center job with the loss of senior Babak Ghadaksaz. Freshman Jack Kuntz got some time in relief duty and will be in the mix at one of the guard spots. Fellow freshman Sam Hagen will also be given a look. This unit is young overall but has to gel for UND to take the next step.
Look for UND to add veteran depth through the transfer portal – at least three offensive lineman I would say.
One name that already has been rumored as coming to UND is OL Seth Anderson (6’4″-280) from NDSU. The Moorhead native was a bigtime prospect out of high school and played sparingly in Fargo his one season. He will have three season remaining. Making the move from Fargo to Grand Forks is pretty much unheard of in my lifetime so this is pretty unique and very good for UND.
2022 Defense
The 2021 Hawks defense played very well overall. They finished 2nd in the MVFC in scoring defense allowing only 20.1 points per game. They were 3rd in total defense allowing 327.4 yards per game. UND was 6th in rushing defense at 145.9 yards per game but they finished #1 in passing defense allowing only 181.5 yards per game.
The Hawks return six starters from fall 2021.
UND did a nice job of limiting explosive plays this past fall and that made teams have to consistently move the chains to put points on the board. The run defense was improved and the pass defense was very good most of the season, as well.
Up front the Hawks lose starter Seguin but return all three of their nose guards, led my senior Jalen Morrison. Also returning is Jaelen Johnson, who was having a big season before he injured his knee and is the twitchiest of the defensive lineman. Ben McNaboe had a nice first season after transferring from Minnesota. Chandon Pierre is back and will be in the full-time rotation again.
This DL group only loses one player and should be even better in 2022.
The outside linebacker position is scary thin heading into 2022. They will certainly be looking for transfers to help bridge the gap for the young guys to develop. UND lost starters Jaxson Turner, Ray Haas, and Ty Shannon to graduation. Urwiler transferred back home to NIU to play with his brother. That leaves Ted Mullin, Josh Navratil and Marcus Vaughn-Jones as the only three with any type of experience and it isn’t much. Navratil was playing quite a bit before getting injured part way through the season. (edit: was informed I left out Mullin).
This OLB group needs to develop depth and let that depth get experience the hard way, unfortunately. A transfer or two would be huge.
The inside linebacker position is in much better hands with the return of starters Noah Larson and Devon Krzanowski. Both of them had solid 2021 seasons and will be the backbone of the 2022 defense. Backup Caden White returns along with youngsters Kason Kelley and Wyatt Pedigo. This group should be the strength of the defense.
Safety will be in a developmental stage for a while with graduation of starters Hayden Galvin and Jordan Canady. Both logged alot of reps and made big plays over the years so there will be big shoes to fill. Kadon Kauppinen returns and started several games before getting injured in 2021. Sammy Fort will be next in line with the ultra-twitchy Jayson Coley battling those two, while Ethan Ball and Matt Koshiol back them up.
Need to see a few more INT’s from this group next fall. Four interceptions isn’t enough but I will say that the opportunities aren’t as plenty in the MVFC as teams tend to run the ball and play close to the vest.
Cornerback was a position of uber-depth in 2021. It has turned into a bit of a question mark in a matter of weeks. The graduation of Evan Holm along with the defections of Nelson and Robertson suddenly leave this group a bit thin. Starter C.J. Siegel is a lock but opposite him the job is up in the air. Youngsters Richard Agyekum and Clayton Bishop are probably the most highly-regarded of the rest coming out of high school so they will be ones to watch.
UND was excellent at defending the deep ball in 2021 and the development of the youth at this position will be a huge key to the 2022 defensive success of the Hawks.
Special Teams
Punter Cade Peterson is returning for his senior season and this is good news for Hawks fans. Peterson has steadily improved during his time in Grand Forks, culminating in a solid 2021 season where he averaged 40 yards/punt and put 19 inside the 20 yard line.
The Hawks lose kicker Adam Stage to graduation and that leaves Brady Stevens to fill the void full time this season. Stevens stepped in for Stage halfway through the season and went 5-10 on field goals but had several costly misses down at Southern Illinois. Stevens was perfect on extra points. Having a reliable kicker from 45 yards in is a must for 2022.
Long snapper Ross Hinders should be back in 2022. We never talk about Hinders and that is a good thing. It means his snaps are always true and nothing bad is ever happening. The four year starter has been pretty darn consistent over his career in Grand Forks.
Transfer Portal Additions
Besides the addition of Anderson on the OL, I look for UND to add a couple more offensive lineman, possibly from the NSIC. That conference plays very good football and the kids are typically local (4 state region). I have absolutely no problem taking 2-3 kids per year from the NSIC. Especially offensive lineman.
UND is also looking at safeties and linebackers via the portal. Linebackers are typically available but safeties can be harder to lock down. A corner would also help with depth.
To sum it up, the 2022 UND Fighting Hawks Football team can be pretty good – like top 3-4 in the MVFC and a playoff participant. It will all hinge on the development of the interior offensive line and the young outside linebackers. The rest of the position groups should have solid to high-end talent.
The 2021 team was right there in every MVFC game and could’ve been 7-4 or 8-3 very easily. Developing senior “alpha leadership” in the offseason is a must. The type of leadership that can will a team to a hard-fought three point win on the road against a ranked team.