The decision area football fans have been waiting on for a couple weeks now has happened. QB Joe Mollberg from Detroit Lakes, MN has made his decision and he has chosen the University of North Dakota. Mollberg also had offers from NDSU and SDSU. Back in June, the Fargo Forum had run an erroneous article stating Mollberg had pared it down to Iowa and NDSU as his favorites. That was never the case according to Mollberg. We are not sure that UND was the front-runner in June but he was definitely leaning to UND as August rolled around.
Mollberg, 6’2″ 210 lbs, was the most highly recruited player in the area and is a major win for the Sioux. He is a dual threat type of QB with good speed and very good arm strength. He also appears to have nice accuracy on the run which is essential in the college game. Mollberg ran and passed for a 1000 yards plus in his junior season.
The Detroit Lakes QB called last week to let NDSU and Coach Bohl know he wouldn’t be choosing them and that he would instead be attending the University of North Dakota. That hasn’t stopped the NDSU head coach though. Following NDSU’s win on Saturday, Coach Bohl was still contacting Mollberg and trying to get him to change his mind, according to our sources in DL. So I think it is safe to say the recruitment may still be going on for awhile.
The x-factor in this whole situation is the University of Iowa. They are still in contact with Mollberg and have not made an offer to any quarterbacks for this upcoming recruiting class. If they do decide to come in late and offer, Mollberg would be hard pressed to turn down the Hawkeyes. This is something to definitely keep an eye on in the next month or two. Goes to show how good of player Mollberg is when Iowa is still considering offering him.
In a day and age when recruiting interest and exposure is being chronicled under a microscope, this recruiting win is huge for UND heading into the Big Sky next year. They just went up against the 2 schools in the region who have had a head start in the D1 footrace. He had “full-ride” scholarship offfers from UND, NDSU and SDSU. Let me repeat that – “full-ride” offers from all 3 schools. There shouldn’t be ANY confusion on who offered what this time. This definitely will help the PR battle and will hopefully help with the dominoes falling UND’s way again in recruiting from here on out.
Welcome to The University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux family, Joe Mollberg.
Bohl is obviously an aggresive recruiter. The fact that he was calling Mollberg right after beating the Gophers tells you something.(Mollberg had already told him no) It tells you how badly he didn’t want to lose a prize recruit to UND. You would think he would have other things on his mind right after the game. The recruiting wars are starting to change. We got 2 or 3 Minnesota kids from NDSU last year too.
obviously mollberg doesnt want to, or cant beat out 4 QB on ndsu’s roster.
I highly doubt Bohl called him saturday, he was a little busy being on twin city tv and radio. the question must be asked of joe, 2 programs, 1 plays and beats a bcs team, the other plays a naia team on the same day. are you kidding? I think he is a wimp for choosing not to compete with the 4 other qb’s on ndsu’s roster.
Go away lakes
This is great news for the Sioux program. Hopefully, it will help encourage other top recruits to opt for UND.
As there has been no confirmation about the Rich commitment, can we assume that the initial information was inaccurate?
We are still waiting on confirmation on Rich. It has been awhile but we haven’t seen anything to dispute what we heard.
Calling Mollberg a wimp because he decided to commit to UND over NDSU is just pety. Yes NDSU has a great program with a very storied tradition. But that doesn’t mean that it is the right fit for everyone. Do you think that every player recruited by NDSU that chooses to go elsewhere is a wimp? Maybe he didn’t like coach Bohl. Maybe he didn’t like Fargo. But don’t rip on a guy that doesn’t want to go to the school you cheer for. Believe it or not there are other schools around besides NDSU that appeal to young football players. Sorry if that school happens to be a school 70 miles up the road that you obviously despise. Maybe you should “get over it.”
I don’t believe the call was after the game, I believe it was before the game. He isn’t afraid to compete with 4 QB’s who have been a question mark for NDSU thus far, he wants to attend UND. He doesn’t want to sit around Chubs pub the rest of his life and talk about how the Bison beat the Gophers when the Gophers were terrible. He wants to go to UND and lead them to the Big Sky and out of the transition years. If they were so set at QB they wouldn’t be after him as hard as they have been. Bohl also showed up on the DL sidelines during one of their home games this fall wearing his new yellow shirt. Fans weren’t happy because they felt he was feeding his ego when they were their to watch their kids play HS FB. It is the second time he has done something that stupid and the second time he lost the kid to UND (the other was Rory Manke and that time DL’s team physician had to tell him he didn’t belong at the DL bench at half time waiting for the team to return for the second half). Maybe Bohl is a wimp for letting some old doctor run his sorry butt off of a high school sideline! “Give it up” needs to give it up. Welcome Joe Mollberg.
Thanks for the clarification Ira.
Sounds like Bohl is really full of himself. Even right before the Gopher game you think would have other things on his mind than the star recruit he just lost to UND. His ego must of really been bruised when Mollberg committed to UND.
Apparently not only does Bohl want the recruit to know he was there he wants everyone in the stands to know he was there too. I wonder if he was handing out flyers with his picture on. Wouldn’t surprise me.
The AC’s five year head start is officially over with this signing…thank you Big Sky!!
It tells you something that a Sioux football blog is bragging about beating NDSU out of one recruit. It’s sheds some light on the state of the UND program when the biggest news of the season is winning one recruiting battle between the 2 schools. Maybe after signing day, you should have compare signings and see which school signed the most players who were offered full rides by both schools.
By the way, my “sources” in Bismarck tell me Wentz from Bismarck was contacted by Mussman right up until signing day last February, even after he had commited to NDSU.
It is truly pathetic to make stuff up and hope people will believe it. In Mollberg’s case it is a fact that Bohl called him at the Alerus Center before the game.
Also, check your timelines before you lie. UND had signed Joey Bradley in early January and were done with QB’s. It gave them 5 QBs on scholarship at the time.
At least we don’t:
A) Claim that our schools are confused when both are in the polls, both our fans and media. I guess this weeks poll proved otherwise. Kolpack didn’t have much to say this week did he? Last week was as pathetic as it gets for ndsu fans and media. Stay classy.
B) Claim every recruit that signs elsewhere wasn’t offered or is a “wimp” cause they didn’t sign with your team. We are getting used to this behavior come recruiting time but lets be honest, its the first time it happened in September. Usually its December or January.
Also, how fitting is it for your program that the week leading up to and the week after beating a FBS program all the talk in the media and by your fans was UND, their rankings and their recruits. I guess maybe you haven’t moved on as much as you thought.
nd1sufan,
why even come on here with that garbage? you guys have better things to worry about right? you are just coming off beating another 1-11 gophers team. there isnt another win for them on the schedule. the only question is which team will be worse – the 2007 or 2011 gophers?
in all seriousness, you just beat a big-10 team and lost the biggest recruit pr-wise in the 2012 recruiting class to UND. why not just accept both and have some class. that is some weak crap.
once again, ndsu has moved on without us and doesnt recognize us as peers……unless we do something to gain notoriety (see FCS coach’s poll)
I haven’t heard of this QB until tonight. He was on the Des Moines Register website, about how he gave a verbal commitment to UND, but if he gets an offer from Iowa, he would go there. I want to wish UND all the success in the world, but if this kid is a good QB, I hope the Hawks get him. In any case, tonight, I’ve seen how fierce the rivalry is between UND and NDSU, which I didn’t know about. It’s probably like the rivalry between Iowa and Iowa State, although I’m sure there are a lot of people in Iowa who like both teams and schools, and wish the best for both of them. Another angle for this QB is that he isn’t considering the U of Minnesota. They are in bad need of some blue chip athletes. They’re a program who can’t catch a break, losing another top athlete from their state.
He considered U of Minnesota. I don’t believe he has said if Iowa offers, he will go there. The Gophers could add the kids they have missed on from UND and NDSU and finish in the middle of the Big Ten. Then add the kids they missed on who have gone to USD and SDSU and they would be a bowl team year after year. Then add the Minnesota kids they lose to Big time programs and the can be a top 20 team many years.
Go Joe Go, I’ve been waiting for a long time for one or more of our grandchildren to be able to achieve at this level. I am now a football fan of North Dakota.