2023 NSU Wolves Football

[TJE_]

I truly believe that it is a tough location to recruit and retain. Schmidt's strongest recruiting ties are to Wisconsin which is still a 7-hour trip at the shortest (Using La Crosse for this example). A lot of guys found it hard to want to stay when they could transfer to a place closer to home. Which is why you don't see a ton of NSIC schools like Mary, Minot, and Wayne recruiting a ton of Wisconsin because of the closer NSIC and WIAC options for guys to play at.

Again this is all my personal opinion, but I have seen schools with much worse culture, support, facilities, funding, and overall success have fewer transfers just because they are in a good location.

I do agree it can be a tough place to recruit to. Facilities certainly help but the program needs more than that to get kids there.

I do hear there are some kids that have left because they just didn’t like Aberdeen but that appears to be the minority. They may not want to live there the rest of their lives but seem to enjoy being in the community while there and enjoy most of their teammates.

[TJE_]

Bemidji is small community, (15.000) that's way up north in an isolated area, plus they play in an archaic stadium built in the 1930's. The Beavers seem to be able to attract and retain talent. NSU with great facilities and resources is a place that should be doing better than 5-6.

Exactly. I went to Bemidji. Outside of the lake, I would argue Aberdeen has more to offer than the town of Bemidji.

[#WolvesNation]

Exactly. I went to Bemidji. Outside of the lake, I would argue Aberdeen has more to offer than the town of Bemidji.

I'd personally love to hear the argument for Aberdeen having more to do than Bemidji. Having lived in Aberdeen and gone to school there, I'd be curious what awesome things in Aberdeen there is to do over Bemidji. Bars and alcohol are fun, but I think Bemidji has those as well.

It's absolutely a very tough location to recruit to and when I was going to school length from home for some kids, as well as once the winters set in has a real impact on kids from far away leaving. Throw in a lack of playing time that a kid (or parent) feels they should be getting and it isn't really that hard to see why kids would want to leave Aberdeen, even though we aren't "Power 5 recruiting NFL wanna-be's."

We are now 10 days removed from the season and I'd like to think most of the kids who were upset about the program have put in their notice to leave for greener pastures via the transfer portal. Hughes is one that hurts as he's seen many offers come from top NSIC teams (UMD, Mankato, Wayne, etc) as well as playoff teams from other regions (Lenoir Rhyne, UT Permian). A couple rotational players in Berry & Kante hurts the DL depth; however, the other few we've lost appear to be practice players as they had practice highlights posted on twitter posts (LOL).

For the amount of talk about a terrible culture, I'd like to think more than a few kids would be leaving the program. That leads me to believe there must be something positive keeping 70 something kids from leaving. My hope is we don't see any more kids enter the portal and we'll start seeing some commitments coming soon as we head into recruiting. Hoping for a few veteran transfers to fill needs on OL, DL and DB to help next year. Otherwise, build from within and hope for a strong spring from the young bucks!

[TJE_]

I'd personally love to hear the argument for Aberdeen having more to do than Bemidji. Having lived in Aberdeen and gone to school there, I'd be curious what awesome things in Aberdeen there is to do over Bemidji. Bars and alcohol are fun, but I think Bemidji has those as well.

It's absolutely a very tough location to recruit to and when I was going to school length from home for some kids, as well as once the winters set in has a real impact on kids from far away leaving. Throw in a lack of playing time that a kid (or parent) feels they should be getting and it isn't really that hard to see why kids would want to leave Aberdeen, even though we aren't "Power 5 recruiting NFL wanna-be's."

We are now 10 days removed from the season and I'd like to think most of the kids who were upset about the program have put in their notice to leave for greener pastures via the transfer portal. Hughes is one that hurts as he's seen many offers come from top NSIC teams (UMD, Mankato, Wayne, etc) as well as playoff teams from other regions (Lenoir Rhyne, UT Permian). A couple rotational players in Berry & Kante hurts the DL depth; however, the other few we've lost appear to be practice players as they had practice highlights posted on twitter posts (LOL).

For the amount of talk about a terrible culture, I'd like to think more than a few kids would be leaving the program. That leads me to believe there must be something positive keeping 70 something kids from leaving. My hope is we don't see any more kids enter the portal and we'll start seeing some commitments coming soon as we head into recruiting. Hoping for a few veteran transfers to fill needs on OL, DL and DB to help next year. Otherwise, build from within and hope for a strong spring from the young bucks!

My point was Bemidji doesn’t have anything over Aberdeen so when comparing the two can’t use that as an excuse.

As far as transfers, wouldn’t be surprised if you see more hit the portal once they start classes in the spring and their tuition cant be revoked.

[vikingfaithful]

You can't beat the hunting opportunities that the Aberdeen area offers. I did that often in college.

[#WolvesNation]

You can't beat the hunting opportunities that the Aberdeen area offers. I did that often in college.

That is very true, but only attracts a niche of players.

[Former.Husky]

My point was Bemidji doesn’t have anything over Aberdeen so when comparing the two can’t use that as an excuse.

As far as transfers, wouldn’t be surprised if you see more hit the portal once they start classes in the spring and their tuition cant be revoked.

I agree with you there. But even Bemidji is still 3 hours closer than Aberdeen (From Wisconsin), and is much closer to other NSIC schools around it compared to Aberdeen and any other near college. I know of a current recruit who is taking a visit to Bemidji over Northern just because the drive is closer and works better for this schedule and visits. While I am sure there are other factors this is just an example of the location being a tough one to work through.

Reminds me somewhat of Western Illinois, which should be successful due to many factors but I think the location makes those jobs hard ones to be successful in terms of recruiting just like at Northern.

[TJE_]

I agree with you there. But even Bemidji is still 3 hours closer than Aberdeen (From Wisconsin), and is much closer to other NSIC schools around it compared to Aberdeen and any other near college. I know of a current recruit who is taking a visit to Bemidji over Northern just because the drive is closer and works better for this schedule and visits. While I am sure there are other factors this is just an example of the location being a tough one to work through.

Reminds me somewhat of Western Illinois, which should be successful due to many factors but I think the location makes those jobs hard ones to be successful in terms of recruiting just like at Northern.

Early on, Schmidt ruffled some feathers when he admitted to be successful they will have to recruit heavily outside of South Dakota. Some locals took offense to that but he’s right. It’s a numbers thing. There are 800k people total in SD. Most major cities are larger than that much less the whole state. Plus, the quality of high school football there is just not that good. I have been to a handful of them. Compare those to the Southeast and it’s like Northern against Ohio State. Struggle is how to get them there. It’s hard to get to Aberdeen and not cheap for families to come see their kids. I do think the could pull from the sourtheast as it’s all about D1 down there. So if kids want a shot they need to play far away from home if they aren’t D1 guys.

[Former.Husky]

Early on, Schmidt ruffled some feathers when he admitted to be successful they will have to recruit heavily outside of South Dakota. Some locals took offense to that but he’s right. It’s a numbers thing. There are 800k people total in SD. Most major cities are larger than that much less the whole state. Plus, the quality of high school football there is just not that good. I have been to a handful of them. Compare those to the Southeast and it’s like Northern against Ohio State. Struggle is how to get them there. It’s hard to get to Aberdeen and not cheap for families to come see their kids. I do think the could pull from the sourtheast as it’s all about D1 down there. So if kids want a shot they need to play far away from home if they aren’t D1 guys.

Bingo, I think you really hit the nail on the head there. I obviously don't know what goes on in the 4 walls but from the outside looking in I always thought that was what made NSU, Mary, and Minot such tough jobs, hard to get kids that want to live there, and get family to travel there.

I think jobs like Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan are just as hard in their respective ways, without having reciprocity the UP schools that recruit their "home" state have kids making 6-hour car rides or kids from Wisconsin paying full price for out-of-state tuition.. surprised they have done something about that yet. And as the holidays are around the corner, a reminder that any time you sit in a car for that long it is not fun haha.

[NSU4LIFE]

For how many guys we have heading to the NFL draft, maybe the staff should be fired for that record 😉 haha

[TJE_]

For how many guys we have heading to the NFL draft, maybe the staff should be fired for that record 😉 haha

I mean you want these guys to reach for their dreams but at some point you just have to face reality. If you really weren’t very good at the D2 level what makes you think the NFL is coming for you.

Northern had one legit prospect in Ingram but even he will probably go undrafted. Oliphant may have a shot.

[NSU4LIFE]

I mean you want these guys to reach for their dreams but at some point you just have to face reality. If you really weren’t very good at the D2 level what makes you think the NFL is coming for you.

Northern had one legit prospect in Ingram but even he will probably go undrafted. Oliphant may have a shot.

Yeah, it's a different world and I don't fault them for doing whatever they think they need to do. It can't hurt anything in chasing a dream. I at minimum hope we can get a few in some other leagues. I feel Ingram and maybe some others could play in the CFL but we'll just have to see what happens

[NSU4LIFE]

From recruiting standpoint, what I've seen, we have once again got some seemingly decent transfers/offers out. They are getting after it.