BEARISH OR BULLISH....   (8/23/2006) Off My Office Floor.... Blazing a trail to glory... Hello all... long time; no write. As I finish this column there is 8 days, 1 hours, 55 minutes and 9 seconds left on the countdown clock and as SDBison put it on the message board.... "the clock seems to be moving slower as we approach game day". I've got all of the emotions... anxiety, nervousness, excitement, and fear to name a few. Why? The 2006 Bison football roster has a lot of knowns, but for each known there are probably two unknowns. For each Steffes... there is a Cabell & Blincoe. For each Craig Dahl... there is a Bowman and Colvin. The Bison don't have a gaggle of established superstars or returning depth at most positions, but have a surplus of raw young talent waiting in the wings hoping for a chance to shine on the Fargodome carpet. The injury bug has also thinned the roster to a degree... Shamen Washington (out for season-knee), Justin Buckwalter (persistent back problems), Tyler Roehl (hamstring), plus a handful of other returned starter and JUCO transfers. I'm excited to see the emergence of the Bohl recruiting classes, but I'm fearful that a lot of these fine young athletes will have to play before they are fully prepared for DI-AA college football. So I sit here on pins and needles.... edgy for the beginning of football season, but optimistic that the 2006 Bison football team will put another mark on the wall of tradition. The task begins with one of the top NCAA Division II programs in the Upper Midwest... the Concordia University-St. Paul Golden Bears. Last season, Concordia-St. Paul used a five-game winning streak to close the regular season to grab a share of the NSIC (Northern Sun) title. It was the school's second championship after the Golden Bears won their first league crown in 2003... Did they pass?... What's the start of a season column without a look at team you are covering... Kind of like lamb and tuna fish. Or would you prefer spaghetti and meatballs?... So let's take a look at the 2006 NDSU Bison football team... QB: Starting QB Steve Walker returns from a 2005 season-ending knee injury. Walker, if 100% healthy, has the talent and poise to challenge even the top-ranked defenses in DI-AA. Backups Ryan Parson, Mitch Brecke and Nick Mertens are indeed talented, but very inexperienced. Simply put... If Walker goes down with an injury the Bison are in trouble... Grade: B RB: Although the Bison have a true gem in Kyle Steffes, the remaining NDSU backs are quite raw... Symeon Cabell and Pete Blincoe have amazing potential, but are too young in the tooth to provide much help in 2006. Because of inexperience and lack of quantity at runningback, FB Tyler Roehl has been getting quite a few looks at halfback during fall camp. Expect for Roehl to get 1/4 to 1/5 of the carries from halfback this season. The possibilities and talent are intriguing... Grade: B+ FB: One of the few position with good talent and overall numbers. Sophomores Tyler Roehl (2004 starter) and Tyler Jangula (2005 starter) will split snaps atfullback this season. Walk-on Drew Hushka has the size and speed to be an outstanding fullback someday... This cupboard is stocked at this position for years to come... Grade: A- WR: Good numbers... Good Hands... Not so much speed. I think almost everyone could accept that analysis of the Bison "outside rams". Travis White and Kole Heckendorf return as starters this year (White-2004, Heckendorf-2005). Alex Belquist, Nick Jackson and John Majeski will be the backups. It appears last year's true freshman, Jamar Champ, will redshirt this year. Although 2006 recruit, Gary Williams might play as a true freshman to add some needed speed... Even though Travis White returns to the Bison from last year's knee injury, the Bison are no better than average at wide receiver... Grade: C TE: Young is a good way to describe the Bison at this position. After spending his freshman year primarily as the long-snapper, Jeremiah Wurzbacher appears ready to take over as the primary blocking/receiving tight end. Wurzbacher has the size (256 lbs.) to handle defensive ends and outside linebackers, while still being able to stretch the middle of the field with his 4.75-4.8 speed. Jared Hines and Thor Brown will backup Wurzbacher... Hines having the better hands, while Brown is the better straight-up blocker of the two. All are talented, but very inexperienced... Grade: C- OL: The Bison do return some experience along the offensive line in RG Justin Buckwalter, RT Adam Tadisch and LT Nate Safe... Don't get too cozy. Buckwalter (back) and Tadisch (also back) have been dinged up most of fall camp. So starting Jerrod Wagner has been working at Buckwalter's RG position, while Freshmen Gerry Ebel and Sam Laudner have split time at Tadisch's RT spot. At this time it appears Jake Erickson will start at LG, while super-sophomore Zack Harrington gets the nod at center even though redshirt freshman Ryan Foster has pushed for the starting spot during spring and fall camp. The offensive line has good size (the Royal Fork staff must cringe when these folk enter the restaurant), but speed/quickness and experience are concerns... Until further notice... Grade: C DL: What would I give to have Isaac Lavant, Alvin Robinson and Rodney Thompson back for another season? The lone returning starter for the Bison is All-American candidate Justin Frick. As of this writing, Joe Lardinois and Brian Dahl are starters at defensive end, while redshirt freshman Michael Fairbairn appears to have grabbed the nose guard position... Depth is provided by JUCO transfers DT Mike Brown, DT Thomas Campbell and DE Christon Dallas. My gut feeling is that at least two of the transfers will be starting by the third game of the season... size and speed being the main factors. This is one area in which the Bison coaching staff MUST put more emphasis on during the 2007 recruiting season... Grade: C- LB: Holy cow, we've struck gold here!! By the end of the season the Bison may very well have the best linebacker core in the country in Joe Mays, Ramon Humber and Mike Maresh.... These men are like lightning in a bottle and pack a little thunder too. Either my eye's have deceived me, but I can't figure out why Joe Mays hasn't received more preseason kudos. Depth is also not a question mark... the Bison have a talented mixture of youth and experience. Senior Brett Itterman, Sophomore Mike Brower and Freshman Tyler Henry would make up a pretty good starting DI-AA linebacking crew. This position is definitely the strength of the Bison defense... Grade: A S: The Bison return both of their reliable starting safties... SS Craig Dahl and FS Nick Schommer. Experience follows with backups Barry Quickstad and Ryan Olson. Safety, along with linebacker, is a position of strength for the 2006 Bison football team... Grade: A- CB: As experienced as the Bison are at safety, the Bison are inexperienced at cornerback... But it's not for lack of potential, because potentially this group has a chance to be the best set of Bison cornerbacks ever. If you are looking for talent and speed; this group of young men definitely has a surplus. The starters appear to be Richard Bowman and David Earl with Sophomore Nate Agbetola, redshirt freshman Courtney Mitchell and true freshman Derrius Colvin providing backup. Only concern is size... today's receivers are getting taller every year. The quicker these young men get schooled, the sooner the Bison defense can enter the next level. Grade: C+ Special Teams: All-American candidate Mike Dragosavich will again handle the punting duties, while a new face will handle the long-snapping chores in redshirt freshman Jeff Curtis. A battle is raging for the kicking position between sophomore Kyle Wilcox and true freshman Shawn Bibeau. Wilcox has the better accuracy and Bibeau has the bigger leg. My sources tell me that Bohl really likes the strength of Bibeau's leg... if he can improve his accuracy the starting job will be his. If not... the more reliable Wilcox will earn the job out of camp. Are there any kick returners out there? The Bison sure could use one... or at least one player to step up and take the job. The inside track for the kick return job has to go to either Craig Dahl, Travis White, or Kyle Steffes. My choice... Symeon Cabell. Grade: B- Coaching: I'll be the first one to tell you I was a bit skeptical when Craig Bohl was hired to be the head of the Bison. I, myself, would have rather have seen current Concordia-St. Paul head man Mark Mauer get the job. No offense to Mauer, but my feeling was "better the evil you know". Any person had to be better than Bob Babich to lead this team into the realm of DI-AA football (my last shot at B.B. - probably not)... But in meeting the Mr. Bohl, the guy just has a presence about him. Whatever "it" is? He has "it". And he also brings "it" out in his players. Respectfully, the Bison offense and defense are in good hands with coordinators Patrick Perles and Willie Mack Garza, who takes over the Bison defense from long-time NDSU assistant coach, Casey Bradley. If you remember Patrick Perles' dad, George, the long-time head coach of the Michigan State Spartans, you'll see quite a striking similarity between the Michigan State offense of the 80's and the current Bison offense. So boys and girls... the Bison football team is under good leadership. Grade: A- Overall Grade: In taking a look at the 2006 roster and depth chart; two things are obvious right away. First, youth... and with that comes inexperience. Second, lack of good depth. So the questions I must ask myself are... Will old-fashioned talent overcome inexperience? What are the chances none of the experienced starters will be injured this season? Is the coaching staff capable of overcoming these lack of experience and depth factors? Tough schedule... wrong year? Honestly, what can I expect from the Bison football team this year? And my answers were this... Yes, talent can sometimes overcome experience... The chances are virtually nil, that the Bison will escape the injury bug... I believe the coaching staff can get the job done... Definitely a tough schedule, but the Bison have never backed away from a worthy opponent... Honestly, the Bison football team is capable of a plus .500 season. The conservative in me says "6 wins", the optimist in me says "7 wins". Final Grade: B- Player Spotlight... Which young player will step up this season for the Bison? A football team always looks for leaders among each position group and as young players assume roles... "someone has to step up". As for the offensive line, that one person is sophomore center Zach Harrington. The center position must provide the cohesion and direction for a successful offensive line. More than not, the best offensive line is not the most athletic, the quickest or the strongest, but the one that develops trust between line mates, works as a functional machine and pushes fellow members to become better (competition). And again... a successful offensive line begins and ends with the center position. Need I mention the names... Greg Hagfors, Mike Favor, Brad Servais, Rob Hunt, etc... Do you get the feel? So Zach Harrington, a 6'2 294 pounder from Carrington, North Dakota get his shot at become a Bison great. The 2006 offensive line is his to lead into a full-fledged DI-AA playoff unit. He's had/has the coaching to succeed... Marty Hochhalter (Carrington H.S.) and Pat Perles (NDSU). So it's up to him to step up and take charge. One time... Keith Heckendorf, the former All-American QB from St. Cloud State and the brother of current Bison WR Kole Heckendorf, is a Graduate Coaching Assistant at the University of Nebraska this season. Makes me wonder if Coach Bohl didn't have a little input into his selection... Probably not, but as we all know... it doesn't hurt to know somebody. One more time... Some familiar faces will be strolling into the Fargodome next Thursday night. Not only is former Bison offensive coordinator and current Concordia-St. Paul head coach Mark Mauer returning the "Home of the Herd", but a couple of former Bison football players are currently on the C-SP coaching staff. Former NDSU linebacker Wade Kittelson is the Defensive Line/Strength & Conditioning coach... One last time... If you are a knowledgeable Bison fan, you may be wondering, "Geez, didn't he forget somebody?" You're right another former Bison player is offensive coordinator for the Golden Bears... And his name is Ryan Williams. Ryan Williams?? Here's his bio directly from the C-SP athletic site. "Ryan Williams, a 2001 graduate of North Dakota State University, begins his first season as the offensive coordinator of the Golden Bears. Williams earned his degree from NDSU in speech communications and also had a minor in business. His prior collegiate coaching experience was with Wisconsin-Stout in the 2003 season where he was the quarterbacks and receivers coach. He began his coaching career at the high school level at Wayzata where he coached the quarterbacks and receivers from 2001-03. During his college days, Williams was the starting quarterback for the Bison in 1999 and 2000 and was named co-captain for the 2000 season. He also interned with the Minnesota Vikings? public relations department where he assisted in draft and mini-camp preparation and was responsible for updating player bios. As a player he had two stints in the Canadian Football League with the Calgary Stampeders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and played for the Sioux Falls Storm in the National Indoor Football League." My first thought after reading the bio was, "Who the &#*#% is this?" So I sent Bob Holiday an email asking him the same question. Well, of course, I sent the email before I even thought about who was quarterback.... they screwed up. It's got to be former Bison starting quarterback Ryan Johnson. It's very possible 'cause there were three spelling errors in the bio that I corrected... spell checker is great. The Concordia-St. Paul Offense.... Base Offense: Pro-set... A new sheriff is in town... the Golden Bears will enter a new season with a new quarterback after sensational signal caller James McNear has departed after becoming one of the most electrifying players in league history. All McNear did in his final season was run for 1,249 yards and 12 touchdowns, while adding another 2,440 yards and 18 TDs through the air. He accounted for 3,689 yards of total offense... Junior Kole Goodchild, a transfer from Iowa Central Community College, appears to be the heir apparent to McNear at quarterback for the Golden Bears. Goodchild, 6-4, 210-pounds West Bend, Iowa, was Triton team captain and earned JUCO All-Region honors last season. Also competing for playing time at quarterback is senior Jay Schauder, a 6-1, 185-pound Rochester, Minnesota, who saw limited action last season for the Golden Bears and completed just four of nine passes for 28 yards. Runningback Aaron Cawthorn (5-9, 206 lbs., Des Moines, Iowa) figures to become the feature player in the Golden Bear offensive attack. Cawthorn, a senior this season, is the top rusher returning for C-SP. He rushed for 1,014 yards on 172 carries (5.6 ypc) last season and scored 15 times for the Golden Bears. Antwon Williams (5-7, 185 lbs., Key West, Florida) returns at one wide receiver slot for the Golden Bears. Williams hauled in 38 passes for 453 yards, but just one score last season. The James McNear Golden Bears attack racked up an average of 447.9 yards of total offense per game last season, including 238.9 yards by land and 209 yards through the air... *Note: With loss of QB James McNear to graduation, the Bears offense will definitely be more run oriented at the beginning of the upcoming season, due to lack of experience at the the quarterback position. But... This is a big but... If I know Mark Mauer he's going to test his passing game against non-NSIC competition. Unfortunately for the Bears, the Bison corners are quite a bit better than the normal NSIC corner... Should be a good test for Mauer. The Concordia-St. Paul.... Base Defense: 4-3 Variable... On the defensive side of the ball, the Golden Bears return six starters. Travis Mellor (6-3, 235 lbs., West Salem, Wisconsin), Senior Eric Power (6-5, 268 lbs., Farmington, Minnesota) and Senior Brandon Sullivan (6-2, 275 lbs., Bethel, Minnesota) all return up front for the Golden Bears, while Brad Scherer (5-9, 205 lbs., St. Joseph, Minnesota) is the lone linebacker returning for C-SP. Despite his small stature, Scherer is the top tackler returning for the Golden Bears, racking up 72 (41 solo) tackles as a junior a year ago. DT Eric Power is the sparkplug of the defensive line, collecting 9.5 sacks last season. But, the strength of the Golden Bear defense this season just might be in the secondary where they return a pair of outstanding cover men in Antonio Brown (6-0, 170 lbs., St. Paul, Minnesota) and Chuck Miesbauer (6-0, 180 lbs., St. Paul, Minnesota). The duo combined for 97 tackles last season. Miesbauer led the way with 52 (39 solo) tackles, while Brown chipped in with 45 (32 solo) stops of his own; each hauling in four interceptions. In 2005, the C-SP defense surrendered 284.8 total yards per game, including a stingy 87.1 rushing yards and 197.8 yards through the air... *Note: The Golden Bears defense ran rough-shot over the NSIC last year, but the NSIC is not DI-AA football... C-SP does return some good experience including former Bison recruit, DT Brandon Sullivan, but again the NSIC is NOT the Great West Football Conference. Though I must say it will be interesting to see how the young Bison offensive line performs against some "gray-haired" defensive linemen... History.... Next Thursday's game will mark just the second meeting between the Concordia University-St. Paul Golden Bears and the North Dakota State University Bison. NDSU holds a 1-0 edge in the series which began with a 58-24 Bison win at the Fargodome in 2003. Show Me the Keys.... * Especially if Buckwalter is a no go, The Bison offensive line must establish themselves early. The Bison hogs MUST do a better job then last season of establishing/maintaining their blocks (w/o holding). * I'll keep saying this until I'm blue in the face... "As Bison QB Steve Walker plays, so does the Bison offense." He is THE KEY to starting the engine. His feel for the Bison medium-range passing game must improve this season or the Bison will continue to see 8 and 9 man defensive fronts. If I'm not mistaken, there were times last year UC Davis had all eleven of their defenders within 8-10 yards from the line of scrimmage... Meaning? Absolutely no running game... * It's time to see the Bison return game without All-World returner Shamen Washington. Who's going to step up? Special teams are such an important part of the total game package. As previously stated, Symeon Cabell is my return man!! Give me a S... Give me a Y... Okay enough. * Control... The Bison offense must finish what it starts... This season field goals are no longer good enough (especially with the unknowns at the placekicking position). Once in the red zone, the Bison offense needs to maintain the momentum and push the ball into the sacred land. No Penalties. This season once again, Bison offense just isn't good enough to overcome multiple penalties... * Score early! Slow starts really plague the Bison, especially on the road. Get prepared. Get some sleep. Get ready to fire out of the gate. A fast start for the Bison can only improve a confidence... * This is a very season for the Bison coaching staff. Inexperience... Tough Schedule... More than not leads to disaster. And as the playoff years approach it's not a good time to apply the brakes on this run-away train. Blue-chip high school recruits only want to know what have the Bison done lately? * One word -- 'Consistency'.... from play to play; from game to game. The maturation of young players such as CB Derrius Colvin, CB Courtney Mitchell, CB Richard Bowman, C Zach Harrington, DT Michael Fairbairn, LB Ramon Humber, OT Sam Laudner and others is so crucial to the success of the Bison program during the 2006 season. And help the Bison continue climbing to the top of the Division I-AA mountain.... * As for the C-SP game... If the Bison play hard and limit their physical and mental mistakes, the first game of the 2006 season should be well in hand by halftime... * Sacks, interceptions, fumbles... Goal for takeaways this week for the Bison defense? Three... Three turnovers from the Bison defense equals a lopsided win over the Bears... Five sacks is a reasonable goal. Bison defensive touchdown equals a moral booster heading into the Northeastern game... Jottings.... * The weight in the trenches: Offensive line: NDSU 302, Concordia-St. Paul 297 Defensive line: NDSU 271, Concordia-St. Paul 259 * Injuries this week: WR Shamen Washington - out; DE Nick Compton - out; OG Justin Buckwalter - questionable (back); OT Adam Tadisch - probable (back); FB Tyler Roehl - probable (hamstring)... among others. * The Concordia athletic department has announced that it will provide a fan bus to Fargo, ND, for the Bears season-opener against North Dakota State on Thursday, August 31. The cost, which will include a game ticket and a beverage on the bus, is $20. The Bus will depart from the Gangelhoff Center parking lot at 2:00 p.m.... * Former C-SP quarterback James McNear is the starting quarterback for the Tri-Cities Fever of the National Indoor Football League... * Golden Bear senior defensive tackle Eric Power was named to the 2006 Don Hansen's Football Gazette Preseason All-America Team and also to the d2football.com Preseason All-America second team... * Mark Mauer's younger brother, Jim coaches tight ends for Concordia-St. Paul... * Former Bison tight end A.J. Cooper is third string fullback for the Green Bay Packers... currently wears #40... * Former Bison All-American center Rob Hunt is third team offensive guard for the Denver Broncos... Hunt is a teammate of former Bismarck High School and University of Minnesota standout Greg Eslinger, who is the third team center... * Audio of Concordia-St. Paul football games is available on the internet free of charge. Click Here to listen... * Former Bison John Semchenko is an offensive lineman for the Sioux Falls Storm... the 2006 Champions of the United Indoor Football League... * Poll Watch: The Bison are currently ranked #19 by the Sports Network, #16 Football Gazette, #23 Sports Xchange, #11 Street & Smith's, and #11 in the Bison Insider Top 20. Concordia-St. Paul did not appear in any D-II polls, but did receive votes in the AFCA D-II poll. NSIC coaches picked the Bears to finish second this season in conference play... Southern Utah did not appear in any DI-AA polls this week....