UND recently received four more commitments to the Class of 2016. This brings their total commit list to 20 including preferred walk-ons.
QB Ben Bolinske, FB Brett Finke, and FB/LB Matt Marler all committed to UND recently. We believe that all three are going to be “preferred walk-ons”, meaning they will start fall camp with the team in early August.
**OL Nathan Nguon just commited to UND as we were typing up this writeup. More on him below.
Ben Bolinske of Minot High School (ND) is currently the only QB in this class and is considered a developmental project at QB for the long term. However, while he is only around 6’0″ tall, Bolinske has outstanding athleticism. He would be defined as a dual-threat QB. Bolinske shows a nice, easy and quick release on film. He has also worked under center and out of the gun, which is big for acclimation to UND’s offense.
We believe Brett Finke of Muskego High School (WI) is projected as a fullback. Finke has great size at 6’1″-235 and shows good athletic ability, as shown by his running the ball and catching it out of the backfield. That makes two from Muskego High School in this class as Finke is teammates with current UND commit Ryan Tobin.
Matt Marler of Minot High School (ND) probably projects best as an inside linebacker at UND. Marler was the USA Today North Dakota Defensive POY in 2015. He is an explosive tackler from his ILB position. At 6’1-210, Marler has a good frame to put on weight. We can’t help but make the cliche’d comparison to former Minot/UND linebacker Dan Hendrickson, both in size and style of play. Marler is the 3rd State of North Dakota commit in this class (Pinke & Bolinske).
Nathan Nguon is projected as a guard at UND (played left tackle in HS). The 6’3-285 senior from Eagan High School (MN) shows excellent footwork on film to go along with good lower body strength and great technique with his hands for a HS kid. Has a nice initial punch to create separation vs. pass rushers. Nguon is also a standout shot putter for the Wildcats. Nguon is the 4th offensive lineman in this class (Helgren, Mortel, Tobin).
