We had speculated for awhile now that Robbie Rouse was a legit candidate for the running backs opening on UND’s staff.  Bubba Schweigert made it official on Wednesday.  Rouse told me earlier today that he is set to be in Grand Forks this weekend to get the ball rolling.

Rouse comes to Grand Forks from Augustana where he spent last season as their running backs coach.  He also coached at St. Scholastica prior to his time in Sioux Falls.

Rouse is a former Fresno State Bulldog great who actually played against UND in 2011.  The Sioux lost the game 27-22 and quite well that day, definitely good enough to win.  Rouse rushed for 110 yards and two TD’s in that game.  Rouse is the all-time leading rusher at Fresno State with 4,647 yards.

After college Rouse spent a little time in the NFL, CFL and IFL before moving into coaching.  He is a native of San Diego, California.

The Hawks have several nice pieces coming back for Rouse to work with.  Freshman Luke Skokna came on like crazy at the end of the year – Cam McKinney will be a speed guy – Dalton Gee is their multi-purpose back veteran of the group – Otis Weah is the wildcard of the group as he has a very high ceiling – true freshman Creighton Mitchell is already on campus and has gotten solid reviews thus far – signee Isaiah Smith will be joining the team in the fall.

The UND staff should now be complete as they progress through spring practice and look forward to the 2020 season.  Speaking of spring ball, I was told that UND is monitoring the coronavirus situation and will make a decision after spring break whether to continue practice or not. They have completed 7 of their 15 allotted practices.