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GRAND FORKS — The UND football program has made the transition from the Bubba Schweigert Era to the Eric Schmidt Era.
The first order of business has been to establish the assistant coaching staff, which has already started to be sorted out.
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As for the roster, now what?
The NCAA Transfer Portal opened last Monday. While few Fighting Hawks have entered the portal so far, Schmidt has been active in offering targets in the portal.
Here’s a look at UND’s biggest needs.
The 2024 UND defense finished ninth in the Missouri Valley Football Conference in rush defense.
UND’s top two nose guards were seniors but perhaps most importantly the Fighting Hawks will be shifting from a defense with a base of three defensive linemen to a base with four defensive linemen.
That makes the defensive line a top priority.
UND’s first transfer portal commitment is on the defensive line in Emmanuel Olagbaju of St. Thomas. The 6-foot-2, 301-pound Olagbaju only played in two games for St. Thomas last season as a redshirt freshman, registering six tackles against Sioux Falls and three against Northern Iowa.
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Olagbaju says he has four seasons of eligibility remaining.
UND also has an offer out to defensive lineman Kyjuan Vengrowsky on Winona State. The Wisconsin native had 12.5 career sacks as a two-time all-NSIC defensive end.
UND expects to return defensive end Braden Mohr, who started as a redshirt freshman in Week 1 at Iowa State, where he suffered a season-ending injury.
UND spent most of the season starting junior defensive end transfers from NCAA Division III in Myles Terry and Grady Kentch.
Redshirt freshman Kaden Vig and sophomore Jack Teiken were also key regulars at defensive end.
The top returning nose guard may be true freshman Brennen Blegen, who was impactful with a pair of tackles in the regular season finale at Illinois State.
UND will lose its clear-cut No. 1 wide receiver in all-Missouri Valley Football Conference pick Bo Belquist, who grew to one of the best in the FCS.
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The Hawks struggled to find a consistent No. 2 behind Belquist in 2024 with Nate DeMontagnac, Nick Kupfer, Caden Dennis each making cases for the role at different times.
Kupfer has one season of eligibility remaining but is graduating and moving on from football.
UND needs to be more dangerous at wide receiver.
So far, UND has offered Northern Arizona transfer B.J. Fleming, who had 333 yards receiving in his redshirt freshman season in 2024. He had 111 yards in the finale at Eastern Washington.
In house, UND will look for Dennis and DeMontagnac to continue to develop while hoping for a big jump from redshirt freshman Korey Tai and true freshman Deng Deng.
UND’s most active position in portal offers so far is at defensive back, where offers are out to Richmond’s Trae Tomlinson, Central Missouri’s Jevean Maurice Brown, Mount San Jacinto junior college’s Nate Frankfather and Anderson University’s Jerry Addo-Boateng (Division III).
UND graduated one starter at cornerback in Devin Hembry and loses a top reserve at corner in Jamal Dixon, who battled injuries in 2024 and will injury-retire.
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Similar to the situation at defensive line, defensive backs are even more in need with UND switching to a base defense with five defensive backs.
Starting safeties Tyler Erkman and Cole Sutton return, as does starting corner Antonio Bluiett.
Avery Scott has a year of eligibility remaining and picked off two passes as a reserve corner last season.
UND doesn’t have any active portal offers out to tight end but missed on one offer earlier in the window.
The Hawks are short at experience at tight end after losing to graduation regulars Quincy Vaughn and Jaden Norby.
Returners Haydn Stay and Aidan Behymer are the top returning in-house options as pass catchers, while Mason South and Jack Ihry have experience in the blocking game.
UND has yet to make a quarterback offer in the portal and it’s unclear if there’s desire from the coaching staff.
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Simon Romfo saw ups and downs in his first season as starter and one of his top backups, Trey Feeney, hit the transfer portal right after fall camp.
Jerry Kaminski, Jack Sulik and Cole Hentges each return from 2024 and Etienne Higgins joins the mix as an intriguing 2025 prospect out of Council Bluffs, Iowa.
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