I was lucky enough to be able to sneak over the annual UND Media Day on Tuesday and catch up with a few players and coaches.

Rumors

The one takeaway that I keep focusing on after talking with these young men is the level of excitement that is emanating throughout the program currently.  I do feel the change to Danny Freund, while possibly a step back in overall play-calling knowledge and experience, will be made up for in the passion/excitement he is instilling into his offense.

In talking to Coach Schweigert, he mentioned Alex Cloyd as a guy who is directly benefiting from this change.  The junior TE was brought in to be a heavy, blocking TE using his wrestling background to set the edge. Beginning this past winter, Cloyd purposely slimmed down to around 250, which is still plenty big, and is moving around with much more fluency.

Definitely a buzz around the program this fall camp.  You will hear in the interviews that they aren’t as worried about the schedule and more focused on getting better and making it back into the playoffs.

Here is Round 1 of the interviews via Shannon Schweigert and Kelly Howe (Round 2 will feature Danny Freund, Jaxson Turner, Malcolm Agnew, Travis Stepps, and James Johannesson

Junior safety Jordan Canady

Senior Quarterback Nate Ketteringham

Senior Defensive End Mason Bennett

Senior Center Patric Rooney