UND has received a verbal commitment from Waukesha West High School prep Dan Konowalski, a 5’11” 165 pound WR/DB from Wisconsin. Waukesha West finished their season 10-1 after losing in the 1st round of the Division 1 playoffs to fellow 2012 recruit Mike Edwards and Sun Prairie 17-14. He was named to the Classic 8 All-Conference 1st team and 2011 All-Area 2nd Team as a defensive back by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Konowalski shows decent speed on film, but he has great playmaking ability and instincts to go along with his physical style of play. He could probably play either side of the ball, but we project him to play in the secondary somewhere, probably at corner.
Konowalski is a late-blooming prospect. We aren’t aware of any other offers that he had, although NDSU had been contacting him recently. He was a semi-finalist for the Jim Leonhard Award, which goes to the top senior defensive back in Wisconsin and is awarded by WisSports.net, a notorious website publication that follows Wisconsin High School athletics throughout the year.
Konowalski is UND’s 9th known verbal commitment for the 2012 class.
MKE Journal lists him as 6’1″. That is a little better esp if he can put on 15 lbs. Also on that 2nd area team is a kid named Nick Patterson, a tough, smaller RB that I saw run for 178 yds for Sussex Hamilton against Waukesha East or Central, cannot remember which. However WE or WC were not very good. Very good level of HS football, large schools for the most part.
When looking at tape, he doesn’t appear to be 6’1″—he is closer to what we had him at, 5’11”. However, he plays a very physical game which could help out if he needed to be moved to safety.
There is no Waukesha East or Waukesha Central. But there is a West, North, and South.
Looks like Antoine Winfield being a physical corner.
another great SFI post. Thanks Oskie and company for all the great work you do for us. Die hard Sioux fans, young and old, really appreciate it!
Best secondary player I’ve seen out the wisconsin area in a while. Dan can play both sides of the ball. He started as a quarter back his freshman and sophomore yr and converted over to the defensive side of the ball. I got a chance to catch a couple of his games and his field awareness is monstrous. What a solid kid!!!
Thanks for the writeup. He seems to be very aggressive for a secondary player, which the Sioux could use more of.