Spring Cleaning...   (4/23/2007) Off My Office Floor.... What up?... Hello everybody... It's been a long time since I've tickled the keys to write a column. My work has kept me quite busy since the end of last season and I just haven't had time to sit down in front of the computer screen to jot anything down. But I thought I would try to update you folks on somethings that are going on with the site. So you might say this will be more of an administration column than a Bison info column. Garage Sale... But first... In memory, I haven't seen a Bison team so polished during the Spring game as I saw last Saturday. Now this may be a “homer” opinion, but the Bison are going to create real problems for FCS or BCS opponents this year. The only question for me is at halfback. Don't get me wrong, I think Roehl, Blincoe, and Brower are fantastic, but I'm always looking for that Kyle Steffes/Tony Satter/Doug Lloyd-type back. But I definitely don't think the cupboard is empty come this fall. From chatting with several coaches and other individuals about DJ McNorton... I really believe this young man will not redshirt. Even though his LOI hasn't gotten an overwhelming amount of press, there were several southern BCS teams that would have loved to sign him. He's that good. With DJ and Patrick Paschall joining the mix at halfback at the end of the summer, the press about Travis Roehl starting at halfback this fall may be a bit premature. If nothing else... any tandem Bohl chooses to utilize will be BCS caliber. Secondly, the offensive line was far better than I thought coming into the game. If Nate Safe and Zach Harrington don't get some love from All-American voters after the season, All-American teams should cease to exist for eternity. If he keeps his head, Harrington will be the measuring stick for all future Bison centers. Before last season, I probably would have said Mike Favor. Not anymore, but we'll see... Thirdly, if there is a better set of starting linebackers in all of the FCS, I'd seriously like to know where. Mays continues to be unbelievable, while Mike Maresh and Ramon Humber continue to keep getting better and better. Tell me how did BCS teams not sign these young men. I know for a fact... collectively this crew, including backups, is clearly the best in Bison history. Lastly, the “best” part can be said about multiple facets of the Bison football program from athletic director Gene Taylor to head coach Craig Bohl and all the way down to the waterboy. Bison fans should feel awfully good about the current situation. The coaching is great, the players are fantastic and the recruiting is out of this world... Rah Rah Team... Go Team Go. I may be overly enthusiastic, but tell me when was the last time the vibe coming out of camp has felt this good. It's definitely good to be part of Bisonville. I'll be the first person to dig into my wallet if Coach Bohl ever decides to look for greener pastures. Let's start building that 20 foot high electric fence around Fargo right now... What goin' on... Okay onto the administration part.... The Bison Chatroom is now open again. Jerky has rebuilt and reworked the code, so don't be afraid to go in to the chatroom and test it out. Reason being... so I can find out what needs to be tweaked and/or fixed. You can either register for Bison Chat or go into the room as a guest. Doesn't really matter to us. We were planning on doing a color change to Bison Insider this winter, but frankly we ran out of time. Each of us has day jobs and Jerky has been quite busy taking care of websites for my wife's business, so I think the color change may have to wait until the next off-season. Also, you may have noticed that we have added some different advertising on Bison Insider. It's definitely not about raising money to line our pockets. We wouldn't be running this site if that was the case. Bandwidth cost money, Louie... Domains cost money, disk-space cost money... so we decided to recoup some of our investment from a little advertising (plus our wives are getting a little testy). So don't be afraid... it won't cost you any money to visit our sponsors. If we do make any money over expenses... you can be rest assured that the extra cash will wind up as a donation to Bison Teammakers or NDSU Development Foundation. One last time... So for time being, that's all I've got... but first, I did come across a Bison Insider license plate frame in my computer desk drawer. So I thought why not give it away... if you're interested, drop me a note at trainer@bisoninsider.com. Please include your name and mailing address. I'll draw for the winner on May 31st. Until next time take care and GO BISON. And if you're ever in the Watertown, South Dakota area and feel like playing some golf or having a cup of java... let me know. I'm always ready to chat some Bison football... JD