Javen Butler, the 6’0" 185 pound safety from perrenial powerhouse Pittsburg, CA, has an offer on the table from UND. Javen is the younger brother of UND incoming freshman Breon Butler. He has received a lot of attention already from other bigger schools in the Pac-10 and his most notable verbal offer right now is from Washington State. It will be interesting to see who else comes along this year to offer him. He is very impressive on film as a standout playmaking defensive back. This would be a huge recruiting coup if UND could somehow land him. Javen will be on campus at the end of July for an unofficial visit.
Fresno, CA linebacker/d-linemen Aarin Smith was also offered by UND recently. Rivals.com erroneously has the 6-1 190 pounder as having an offer from NDSU instead of UND. We have received confirmation that UND indeed has offered Smith, who is a smaller, very athletic defensive end on film. He is most likely being recruited to play linebacker. UND will be playing at Fresno State in 2011.
It’s very likely that the bigger schools will come in later and offer both of these kids. It would be very tough for them to turn down the big dogs in the Pac-10, WAC and Mountain West if they come knocking. It would be huge if they could land one of these guys, much less both.
Conner McGovern, the OL recruit from Fargo Shanley, was one of many on campus today for a one day football camp at Memorial Stadium. Approximately 60 kids participated in non-contact football drills. McGovern is considered to be one of the top recruits in the state of North Dakota this year. While McGovern has stated that UND is still very much in the running, it will be tough to get him out of Fargo. This was the 2nd one day camp UND has hosted this summer. They also hosted their 3 day camp earlier this month.
Some other potential local recruits from the region to keep tabs on throughout the high school football season this fall and into full-tilt recruiting season:
- Brandon Chrest – Cavalier, ND athlete. At 6’3" 200 lbs, Chrest reportedly did very well in drills at multiple positions at the UND camp to impress the coaching staff. Could be a sleeper to watch.
- Lyle Norman – Roseau, MN FB/LB
- Chris Ostby – Grygla-Goodridge, MN OL/DL
- Matt Siebert – Coleraine, MN OL
- Jacob Lesar – Hermantown, MN OL
- Isaiah Steinwand – Minot, ND WR/DB
- Jonas Tengesdal – Minot, ND RB
Hopefully the staff does well out of region, because they have had no success in D1 within the region. Mussman either needs to change that or start getting out of region kids to come to Grand Forks. I do think they got a couple good ones last year. Just not enough.
We seem to have done well recently in North Dakota, will that continue this year?
The Sioux cleaned up in North Dakota recruiting this year. We landed Bismarck’s Jake Miller while the Bison picked up all the scraps.
Thanks for the info on recruiting. I like the kids we are bringing in from other regions. I had the opportunity to meet a few of them this summer from Cali and Arizona and they came across as very good kids who are excited to be here and have enjoyed being up here early in the summer. Welcome guys.