If you're reading this then you likely saw all the draft reactions.
What you haven't seen is the super-special grade for the class.
Before dropping the letter here are a couple more thoughts: Buoyed by Kellen Mond & Wyatt Davis they reinforced several of the weak areas Friday & Saturday. Zach Davidson has one of the most interesting journeys to the League that you will find while Janarius Robinson has a great chance to be next mid-round steal at DE for the Purple.
The speed twins (Kene Kwangwu & Ihmir Smith-Marsette) are already being pegged as returners. If that's the extent of their impact they won't be bad picks but they both may be able to do more for the team than just handle the punts & kicks. I remain skeptical that a fourth round pick needed to be used on a running back who may primarily be P/K but there is an upside to the selection.
If Darrisaw isn't a day 1 starter then the whole group will rightfully get dinged. Because there are more positives than negatives they get an above-average grade: B
In addition to that, here are the undrafted players that the Purple came to terms with:
WR Blake Proehl (East Carolina)
RB A.J. Rose (Kentucky)
WR Myron Mitchell (Alabama - Birmingham)
K Riley Patterson (Memphis)
WR Whop Philyor (Indiana)
LB Tuf Borland (Ohio State)
DE Zeandae Johnson (California)
DE/LB Christian Elliss (Idaho)
LS Turner Bernard (San Diego State)
DT Jordon Scott (Oregon)
That leaves several spots open for other signings before training camp. It's quite a roster turnover in little more than a year!
The women's ⛳️ began the week at the League championship, they left Kansas in 6th place.
Prior to the start of their game action Parker Harm was name League Pitcher of the week. Then the team was pushed to the 11th inning against Valley City State but pulled out the W 5-3 thanks to a 2-run Jake Malec homer. Just before the month could end they were back on the diamond against Kansas and got another extra-innings victory, 5-3 in 10. This time the winning runs came from Jack Simonsen's batting.
The track teams also got back to competition on the 30th, also in Lawrence. Both days for the men & women were as successful as they have ever been. Along with that, the men's ⛳️ was top three with one day left at the league championship in Kansas.
⚾️ back out against Kansas but this time lost 10-2 on Saturday. They managed to take the series this afternoon with a 5-3 W in which the Hawks didn't threaten until the 7th. Softball opened a four-game set against UND with a 3-2 win in 11th as a Cameryn Maykut doubled in Nicole Licea. It was the longest game for NDSU since a 12-inning game against Georgia Tech in 2017 & it had been nearly a decade since they had played a conference game nearly that long, KC in 2012. The second game also finished in favor of Fargo's team, 5-3. That one was decided by a four-run fifth inning. The Birds got one back, 1-0 on Sunday but weren't able to split the series. Paige Vargas threw all six innings of three-hit ball on the way to a 8-0 victory.
Which only leaves the 🏈. They're monumental week began with Randy Hedberg being named assistant coach of the year. Then came the expected: Trey Lance, Dillon Radunz & Jabril Cox being drafted. Each of them ended up in locations where flourishing is not only possible but has a high probability! Not every player taken during the three days of the draft can say that. One specific nugget that came through shortly after #3 was chosen is that "big brother" Minnesota has not had a single quarterback selected since 1972. The 10 league isn't everything!
Then came today's loss.
Getting two return touchdowns and losing does not happen very often but NDSU didn't really deserve to win, even with those highlights. They weren't able to run or pass nearly enough to win against most teams, let alone a playoff squad. The defense did a fair job but they also showed some cracks that will need to be patched before the Fall. The special teams plays by Christian Watson & Braylon Henderson are the only positive takeaways and that somehow was still almost enough!
Appreciate that.
One more thing. In the wake of the defeat the question was posed whether this Spring was a success or not. Purely on the basis of player health & gained experience I think it definitely was. Would UND (I know they lost), JMU & SDSU have been enticing options to go against for another championship? Absolutely and the trophy is still the goal every season but they're playing games in flipping May and are still supposed to restart as usual. That was garbage when it was announced and still is so a couple extra weeks of offseason is a benefit!
Moorhead State had as succinct of a non-holiday, school-year week as there will be. Friday/Saturday they hosted the Ron Masanz Classic with athletes from across the heartland.
Sunday they hosted Concordia-St. Paul for a pair of Softball games. The first finished as a 9-0 loss but then they bounced back with a 5-4 win thanks in large-part to a 4 run fifth inning.
Concordia got off to a good start with wins by ⚾️ & 🏐 Monday. On the court it was 3-0 over St. Kate's while Macalester lost 5-3 on the diamond.
They kept it going Tuesday when ⚾️ took care of Gustavus 5-4 in what was supposed to be a doubleheader but they joined the men's 🎾 with early-week cancellations. They finished the two wins with 13 total hits, but left 17 on the bases while stranding 28 for their opponents. So there was a deceptive amount of offense despite the low scores.
Softball also had a pair set for Tuesday, against Carleton and they got both of them in. The first game finished with the Corn down 2-1 while they took the lead in the first inning and never trailed again, 9-1 at the end.
The ⛳️ teams were the only ones in action until Saturday as they began the conference championship meets.
The week on the diamond ended against Bethel (⚾️) & St. Mary's (Softball). The former was torched 24-4 in game one but got their own comfortable victory, 12-5 in the second. They trailed 2-1 at the end of the third but that was the only half inning that they were behind. Thomas Horan finished it off with a 3-run homer in the 9th. The latter beat St. Mary's 7-5 & 10-6. Amy Quast had 3 hits & 3 RBI in the first while Riley Bergstrom only recorded one hit but got three ribs in the second.
The men's & women's ⚽️ & 🎾 weren't quite as fortunate. It was 4-0 & 9-0 and 4-1 & 8-1, all at St. Olaf. Meanwhile, the men & women of track & field competed in the Moorhead State Classic as they make final preparations for the conference showdowns.
The ⛳️ were the whole show Sunday. The men finished third, behind only St. Thomas & St. John's with Davies grad Mason Opheim finishing in a tie for fifth on the individuals leaderboard. The ladies didn't qualify for the team competition while Bailey Klause was the top finisher.
With only seven games left over the next two weeks Minnesota is bound & determined to keep trying to win. With the decades of losses that they've taken it's hard to be mad about it and even with their recent surge of wins they're still well within range of the bottom three while showing considerable improvement. Amongst the victories came a first of it's kind in the franchises history, a sweep of Utah. In 32 years they'd always been beaten at least once by the Band. That's about as concrete of a sign of progress as you will get. Considering that the roster won't change much between now and next season the improvement is good in the grand scheme. But giving themselves the best chance at Cade Cunningham or Jalen Suggs is the best way to make up for the long stretch of putrid play this season.
How the games go next Sunday against Orlando & Tuesday versus Detroit will very likely prove to be the deciding nights of the season. Will they win a couple of the other five games, possibly, but those two teams are right with Minnesota as the dregs of the association so the whole season kind of comes down to those nights... What could go wrong?
Minnesota's bats got hot on Wednesday in Cleveland (10-2) and again today against Kansas City (13-4) to give them two wins this week. The rest of the games were bad from the plate & the mound!
That's not a lot to buy them time or good will but it's still only May 2 so try to be patient.
After falling behind 1-0 in the best-of-3 series against Tri-City Fargo made a habit of coming back, but don't just take my word for it:
They'll go against Sioux City in the Western Conference finals with a home game as the second of the series on Saturday with an if-needed tie breaker set for SC a week from tomorrow.
The Birds made another small tweak to their roster with a claim of outfielder Javion Randle and releasing right-handed pitcher Bradin Hagens. We're a little more than a week ahead of the first action, a pair of games against the California Dogecoins. The mascot looks like a Corgi but apparently that's a form of crypto currency. The schedule doesn't have the games listed as exhibitions so they will count to the record. They'll head south for the six games that follow so if you have the itch to be at a ball park you'll either have to take in one of the two or wait a couple more weeks.
High school action took a backseat this week with the draft but of special note is that Moorhead 🏈 standout Jack Teiken got his tenth college offer, this time from Wyoming. It's the fifth FBS offer for the soon-to-be senior.
Fargo started a 10-0 first quarter with a safety and never trailed Minndak despite five total interceptions thrown, the second two from Dev Alger after Jamus Neal threw three. Each of the QBs had a pair of scores through the air with the top receiving being Nate Soto, 106 yards & a score while Jon Baune had 71 yards with 2 TDs & Constant Jackson had 73 & 1. With meager production on the ground it's all the more impressive that they could dominate that thoroughly.
At the end they were ahead 30-12.
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