August 1, 2025 • 13 mins
Tim and Paul visit with Grand Forks Herald Sports Editor Tom Miller about the first day of fall practice for University of North Dakota Football.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's welcome to the program from the Grand Prochs Herald
the sports editor Tom Miller. Morning, Tom, Good morning, guys.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I was just saying close circuit that you've really been
tapping things out just off of one preseat or one
preseason fall camp practice. You were hard at it right
from the get go. Your day must have flown by yesterday,
Tom Miller.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, everybody loves day one of fall camp. You know,
TV stations come out there, everybody's excited. I get a
little more excited for day two. And when all the
TV people go.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Away and it's just me again, you have it to yourself.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well, you got to be looking good just in case
the camera catches you at some point.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
That's the thing.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It's a lot of pressure. I shower today, okay, just
in case. That's good Tim. What do you got for
Tom today?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Well, I mean, I read your takeaways from day one,
But does it mean anything on day one? I guess
would be the question.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, not really. I always use the word theme, you know,
I'm not. I don't get too carried away in any
particular direction until I see something that I kind of
consider a theme. And you don't do that until you develop,
you know, across three, four or five practices. I was,
and I wrote about it. It was pretty obvious that
(01:25):
they were pitching and catching a lot better than they
were in the spring, and everything just looked cleaner, you know,
the springboll sometimes you know, Eric Schmidt says the skill
development process is ugly, and it sure was was kind
of ugly at moments. You know, you're giving everybody a shot.
You're you're trotting out plenty of fours and fives, and
(01:49):
six is on your death chart, and sometimes that makes
four kind of a lack of continuity. And I just
thought it was it was pretty evident and almost a
little stunning that that they were as crisp as they
were on day one, just because they looked a little
lot of swords in springball.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I thought, sure I would agree with that. You want
to know the funniest takeaway standing next to you briefly yesterday,
and I don't know, I think he's, you know, still
got to grow, and I don't know exactly how he
fits in this year, but you were you were startled,
(02:28):
startled to the extreme with just how big Carter Peterson
from Thompson North Dakota freshman is you were like, who
is that guy? And then they're You're like, well, that's
Carter Peterson, the kid from tom He's huge. That was
my biggest takeaway from you yesterday.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Well he's listened a sixty and I saw a tight
end fill out the uniform and a lot of times
in college football at this level, I mean, that's half
the battle sometimes is getting guys to the right height
and way. And I shaw that body type and I
thought that's got to be one of the FBS transfers
because you and he brought in two tight ends from
(03:08):
the FBS. And yeah, no true freshman from seven miles
down the road. I guess.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That's I mean, I just was your reaction was like
really it was like a tight end? Oh yeah, I
think so, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's well, and that's
a question here. Well let's talk about that group because
obviously they've gone and tried to find some pieces. But
I mean, maybe does the offense really want to utilize
(03:38):
the tight end other than maybe blocking. I know when
they had Adam Savalny in that in that realm, they
tried to utilize him, you know, Norby and Quincy Vaughn,
you know, periodically was kind of the way that offensively,
you know, it just kind of as a surprise, they're
there and we'll we'll find him when you're not really
thinking about it. What is the viewpoint of a tight
(04:00):
end for a North Dakota offense in the future, because
some teams don't really need to utilize the tight end,
They may use them as a blocking piece or whatever.
What's the philosophy here with the tight end?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, I think you know, you bring up a good
point with Zavalney, And obviously we've crossed over offensive coordinators
from Danny Freyn to Isaac Frichty, but I also think
Isaac Frickty, you know, maintained a lot of Danny Freyne's
basic system, and you know, I've seen you and to
(04:33):
utilize the tight end specifically, like you said with Savalney,
I thought we'd see it more last year with with
Quincy Vaughn and and and Norby just his experienced guys
who I thought could catch the ball. And we saw
it a little bit in fall camp, kind of dupe
me into believing we were going to see it more
during the year, and I didn't really come to fruition
and sometimes that's a reflection of a lot of different things.
(04:54):
You know, sometimes they could be quarterback skill set, but
you and these t group is pretty thin right now,
and that's an area they need to get better. I
think in a perfect world they would utilize the tight
end more, but I'm not sure that they've got the
right pieces there quite yet. That's definitely an area that
(05:15):
I'd like to watch a little more. Even today is
just kind of get a sense for. You know, they
brought in the two transfers, but both of those guys
are really young in their college careers too, so it's
not like they brought in a fifth year guy who's
a plug and play kid. But I'll be curious to
see if they look like they're Division one ready, even
(05:35):
just from a physical body type standpoint.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Well, this also is one of the things. And granted
I don't know what his timeline will be, he's only
a true freshman out of the Twin Cities. But it
is always interesting to me when I look at a
roster and I see the last name Klein Saucer on
the roster makes me a feel old. Be we have
(06:02):
a client Saucer on the roster again.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, I'm just looking at the roster right before you
called me today, and that stuck out to me too.
I didn't have a roster yesterday at practice, and so
I didn't. I didn't. I didn't notice Client Saucer out
there off to make a point of taking a look
at him. You know, I think he's certainly a kid
who's viewed as a little bit of a project for
for Division one level. But but he's got the last name,
(06:27):
Client Saucer, and uh, you know, I think you're you're
probably going to lean towards, uh, betting on his future,
you know, more than more than others. You know, I
think a lot of his offers out of high school
were we're of the Division two variety, and maybe there
was questions about his true position at the college level.
(06:50):
And I think it's smart for you, indeed to get
him into the fold and get him a year or
two here lifting weights and see what develops from that
body type, because you can do all those strength and
conditioning and ramp up that area of your world. But
sometimes it's a nice, nice situation to just have good genetics,
(07:13):
right Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah, I can't. I mean, Jim came in as a
D two player.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Right, Yeah, in a different era, he also was a
world class track athlete. And you know, I think if
if Jim Kleinsasser comes through Carrington in twenty twenty five,
North Dakota doesn't squirrel him away in Grand Forks would
(07:39):
be my thought.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
So the one thing I tried to just get a
glance of, and it maybe it was weird for others
that I would look there because it seems to be
the position group that is kind of the foundation and
kind of the one that has the most pieces returning
that have seen meaningful time, and that's the offensive line.
But I kind of wanted to get a sense of
the depth of the offensive line yesterday, just kind of
(08:03):
who they were running out to run with some live action.
Uh and and boy, it looks like they've got a
lot of good choices there. They've already they've got their
usual suspects who you think, you know, are the reliable,
the guys that have been in the trenches and the battles.
But I actually think there's some other guys that will
we'll factor in and allow them to have some depth,
which you always need up front.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, I think there's a couple of guys who aren't
too far away from the area. Here isak Caravou out
of Detroit. Lake says he was kind of an afterthought
and recruiting, and since he's been on campus, you know,
only heard positive reviews there.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
I know.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
At Missouri Valley Media Day, Ben Buksa was there and
mentioned Cavo as a kid who who was impressing him.
Same with Grant Fork's lotus. I escape which lotus is
which that he was he was getting some good run yesterday.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, I mean as lotus, I mean just another one
there where he can you know, hopefully, you know, have
a good runout and the pressure isn't on because he's
still a red shirt freshman and still growing or whatever.
But he's got a great frame and and stuff like that.
So I was like, well, you know, they people have
talked about the five and the guys that have seen
a lot of action, but there there might be some
(09:20):
others in the pipeline that can help support that group already.
And that's the one that was the other thing I
kind of left thinking yesterday when I walked away, I
was like, Wow, that group continues to be encouraging, at
least to me. But but that's kind of what what
these early days of fall camp and you mentioned the
schedule to me offline, Tom is that you know they're
going here and it's going to be today and tomorrow
(09:42):
and Sunday. There they're on a on a run of
successive practices. There's it's unrelenting with very few breaks here
in the in the coming days.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah. Yeah, yesterday they were on the grass field there
to the south of the Pollard and Open New Uh.
You know, once they do a little I think they
were letting, letting the sun beat down on that track
that they just resurfaced a memorial field. Yeah, and hopefully
they can get out there pretty soon. That's a nice
setup and it's got a couple more raised viewing opportunities.
(10:13):
Not many out there, but you can see practice a
little bit better on that field, I think. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I was gonna say, like people say what they want,
I was right up next to the grass of the field.
It's good grass that they've worked hard on that grass surface.
So when they're out on it, I don't mind it.
I mean it well because it's up against the railroad
tracks or whatever, But honestly, I actually like when we
practice on natural grass. I think it's better on the
body sometimes, But yeah, I don't worry about too much
(10:41):
about that. But yeah, we're roaring anything else for Tom there, Tim.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
No, I mean, he's out there every day, so he
gives us all the information we know. Maybe he's got
an opinion on what happened with the twins yesterday time.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Oh man, isn't that a bumber?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Just a full on fire.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Sale as a whole squad and you know, owner ownership
questions just hanging over your head and oh, you know,
as somebody who would casually care about the twins. Uh,
they're making it awful hard to uh even care to
catch some games. At this point, Byron Boxer's got to
(11:21):
be looking around going kind of collection of stiffs? Did
you stick me with here? Like, what's what's his future
look like?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I don't know. I was trying to tell Tim that
they need to get a statue of aj Prizinski because
follow me around. I've told this before. So back in
two thousand and two, they Joe Mahwers coming up, they
trade a J. Prazinski. One of the guys they get
back in that trade is Francisco Liriano. Joe Nathan's another.
Then ten years later, you know what you remember bout Bondser,
(11:50):
that's crazy. I forgot about boot Bonser. You're a great
baseball mind, but I so so. But ten years later,
they trade Leriano to Chicago and they get a Duardo
Escobar who plays a handful of years for the Twins.
But then they trade him to the Diamondbacks and get Duran,
and Duran they trade Duran to the Phillies and then
(12:11):
they get that Tit or Tight or whatever his name is,
who's like a top catching prospect or whatever. Now if
he turns into something, think about all the branches that
in value that the Twins got over to the Prasinski trade.
That for me, is statue worthy.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Any who did he connect on that punch with at
home play.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
That exactly. Hey, I can stretch anything into just complete absurdity.
You just went around the horn with Tim has to
deal with every day with me. So anyway, Tom, appreciate it.
Have fun out at practice yet again today, and I
know we'll be continuing to follow. I know so many
people enjoy your write ups, enjoy what you have to
(12:56):
put out there on social media. I do encourage everyone
to get a subscription, find stuff about you and d football.
If you enjoy that, get it with the Grand Forks HEROLD.
You'll really enjoy it. Tom, We appreciate it. Will continue
to touch base with you and thanks for this. Have
a great weekend.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Okay, absolutely take care guys.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
All right, there we go. Tom Miller, Sports editor of
the Grand Forks Herald. Appreciate his insight and we really
appreciate him going out and watching practice
Let's welcome to the program from the Grand Prochs Herald
the sports editor Tom Miller. Morning, Tom, Good morning, guys.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I was just saying close circuit that you've really been
tapping things out just off of one preseat or one
preseason fall camp practice. You were hard at it right
from the get go. Your day must have flown by yesterday,
Tom Miller.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah, everybody loves day one of fall camp. You know,
TV stations come out there, everybody's excited. I get a
little more excited for day two. And when all the
TV people go.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Away and it's just me again, you have it to yourself.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
I get it.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Well, you got to be looking good just in case
the camera catches you at some point.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
That's the thing.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
It's a lot of pressure. I shower today, okay, just
in case. That's good Tim. What do you got for
Tom today?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Well, I mean, I read your takeaways from day one,
But does it mean anything on day one? I guess
would be the question.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, not really. I always use the word theme, you know,
I'm not. I don't get too carried away in any
particular direction until I see something that I kind of
consider a theme. And you don't do that until you develop,
you know, across three, four or five practices. I was,
and I wrote about it. It was pretty obvious that
(01:25):
they were pitching and catching a lot better than they
were in the spring, and everything just looked cleaner, you know,
the springboll sometimes you know, Eric Schmidt says the skill
development process is ugly, and it sure was was kind
of ugly at moments. You know, you're giving everybody a shot.
You're you're trotting out plenty of fours and fives, and
(01:49):
six is on your death chart, and sometimes that makes
four kind of a lack of continuity. And I just
thought it was it was pretty evident and almost a
little stunning that that they were as crisp as they
were on day one, just because they looked a little
lot of swords in springball.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I thought, sure I would agree with that. You want
to know the funniest takeaway standing next to you briefly yesterday,
and I don't know, I think he's, you know, still
got to grow, and I don't know exactly how he
fits in this year, but you were you were startled,
(02:28):
startled to the extreme with just how big Carter Peterson
from Thompson North Dakota freshman is you were like, who
is that guy? And then they're You're like, well, that's
Carter Peterson, the kid from tom He's huge. That was
my biggest takeaway from you yesterday.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Well he's listened a sixty and I saw a tight
end fill out the uniform and a lot of times
in college football at this level, I mean, that's half
the battle sometimes is getting guys to the right height
and way. And I shaw that body type and I
thought that's got to be one of the FBS transfers
because you and he brought in two tight ends from
(03:08):
the FBS. And yeah, no true freshman from seven miles
down the road. I guess.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
That's I mean, I just was your reaction was like
really it was like a tight end? Oh yeah, I
think so, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's well, and that's
a question here. Well let's talk about that group because
obviously they've gone and tried to find some pieces. But
I mean, maybe does the offense really want to utilize
(03:38):
the tight end other than maybe blocking. I know when
they had Adam Savalny in that in that realm, they
tried to utilize him, you know, Norby and Quincy Vaughn,
you know, periodically was kind of the way that offensively,
you know, it just kind of as a surprise, they're
there and we'll we'll find him when you're not really
thinking about it. What is the viewpoint of a tight
(04:00):
end for a North Dakota offense in the future, because
some teams don't really need to utilize the tight end,
They may use them as a blocking piece or whatever.
What's the philosophy here with the tight end?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, I think you know, you bring up a good
point with Zavalney, And obviously we've crossed over offensive coordinators
from Danny Freyn to Isaac Frichty, but I also think
Isaac Frickty, you know, maintained a lot of Danny Freyne's
basic system, and you know, I've seen you and to
(04:33):
utilize the tight end specifically, like you said with Savalney,
I thought we'd see it more last year with with
Quincy Vaughn and and and Norby just his experienced guys
who I thought could catch the ball. And we saw
it a little bit in fall camp, kind of dupe
me into believing we were going to see it more
during the year, and I didn't really come to fruition
and sometimes that's a reflection of a lot of different things.
(04:54):
You know, sometimes they could be quarterback skill set, but
you and these t group is pretty thin right now,
and that's an area they need to get better. I
think in a perfect world they would utilize the tight
end more, but I'm not sure that they've got the
right pieces there quite yet. That's definitely an area that
(05:15):
I'd like to watch a little more. Even today is
just kind of get a sense for. You know, they
brought in the two transfers, but both of those guys
are really young in their college careers too, so it's
not like they brought in a fifth year guy who's
a plug and play kid. But I'll be curious to
see if they look like they're Division one ready, even
(05:35):
just from a physical body type standpoint.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Well, this also is one of the things. And granted
I don't know what his timeline will be, he's only
a true freshman out of the Twin Cities. But it
is always interesting to me when I look at a
roster and I see the last name Klein Saucer on
the roster makes me a feel old. Be we have
(06:02):
a client Saucer on the roster again.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Yeah, I'm just looking at the roster right before you
called me today, and that stuck out to me too.
I didn't have a roster yesterday at practice, and so
I didn't. I didn't. I didn't notice Client Saucer out
there off to make a point of taking a look
at him. You know, I think he's certainly a kid
who's viewed as a little bit of a project for
for Division one level. But but he's got the last name,
(06:27):
Client Saucer, and uh, you know, I think you're you're
probably going to lean towards, uh, betting on his future,
you know, more than more than others. You know, I
think a lot of his offers out of high school
were we're of the Division two variety, and maybe there
was questions about his true position at the college level.
(06:50):
And I think it's smart for you, indeed to get
him into the fold and get him a year or
two here lifting weights and see what develops from that
body type, because you can do all those strength and
conditioning and ramp up that area of your world. But
sometimes it's a nice, nice situation to just have good genetics,
(07:13):
right Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah, I can't. I mean, Jim came in as a
D two player.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Right, Yeah, in a different era, he also was a
world class track athlete. And you know, I think if
if Jim Kleinsasser comes through Carrington in twenty twenty five,
North Dakota doesn't squirrel him away in Grand Forks would
(07:39):
be my thought.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
So the one thing I tried to just get a
glance of, and it maybe it was weird for others
that I would look there because it seems to be
the position group that is kind of the foundation and
kind of the one that has the most pieces returning
that have seen meaningful time, and that's the offensive line.
But I kind of wanted to get a sense of
the depth of the offensive line yesterday, just kind of
(08:03):
who they were running out to run with some live action.
Uh and and boy, it looks like they've got a
lot of good choices there. They've already they've got their
usual suspects who you think, you know, are the reliable,
the guys that have been in the trenches and the battles.
But I actually think there's some other guys that will
we'll factor in and allow them to have some depth,
which you always need up front.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, I think there's a couple of guys who aren't
too far away from the area. Here isak Caravou out
of Detroit. Lake says he was kind of an afterthought
and recruiting, and since he's been on campus, you know,
only heard positive reviews there.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
I know.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
At Missouri Valley Media Day, Ben Buksa was there and
mentioned Cavo as a kid who who was impressing him.
Same with Grant Fork's lotus. I escape which lotus is
which that he was he was getting some good run yesterday.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yeah, I mean as lotus, I mean just another one
there where he can you know, hopefully, you know, have
a good runout and the pressure isn't on because he's
still a red shirt freshman and still growing or whatever.
But he's got a great frame and and stuff like that.
So I was like, well, you know, they people have
talked about the five and the guys that have seen
a lot of action, but there there might be some
(09:20):
others in the pipeline that can help support that group already.
And that's the one that was the other thing I
kind of left thinking yesterday when I walked away, I
was like, Wow, that group continues to be encouraging, at
least to me. But but that's kind of what what
these early days of fall camp and you mentioned the
schedule to me offline, Tom is that you know they're
going here and it's going to be today and tomorrow
(09:42):
and Sunday. There they're on a on a run of
successive practices. There's it's unrelenting with very few breaks here
in the in the coming days.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Yeah. Yeah, yesterday they were on the grass field there
to the south of the Pollard and Open New Uh.
You know, once they do a little I think they
were letting, letting the sun beat down on that track
that they just resurfaced a memorial field. Yeah, and hopefully
they can get out there pretty soon. That's a nice
setup and it's got a couple more raised viewing opportunities.
(10:13):
Not many out there, but you can see practice a
little bit better on that field, I think. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I was gonna say, like people say what they want,
I was right up next to the grass of the field.
It's good grass that they've worked hard on that grass surface.
So when they're out on it, I don't mind it.
I mean it well because it's up against the railroad
tracks or whatever, But honestly, I actually like when we
practice on natural grass. I think it's better on the
body sometimes, But yeah, I don't worry about too much
(10:41):
about that. But yeah, we're roaring anything else for Tom there, Tim.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
No, I mean, he's out there every day, so he
gives us all the information we know. Maybe he's got
an opinion on what happened with the twins yesterday time.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Oh man, isn't that a bumber?
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Just a full on fire.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Sale as a whole squad and you know, owner ownership
questions just hanging over your head and oh, you know,
as somebody who would casually care about the twins. Uh,
they're making it awful hard to uh even care to
catch some games. At this point, Byron Boxer's got to
(11:21):
be looking around going kind of collection of stiffs? Did
you stick me with here? Like, what's what's his future
look like?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
I don't know. I was trying to tell Tim that
they need to get a statue of aj Prizinski because
follow me around. I've told this before. So back in
two thousand and two, they Joe Mahwers coming up, they
trade a J. Prazinski. One of the guys they get
back in that trade is Francisco Liriano. Joe Nathan's another.
Then ten years later, you know what you remember bout Bondser,
(11:50):
that's crazy. I forgot about boot Bonser. You're a great
baseball mind, but I so so. But ten years later,
they trade Leriano to Chicago and they get a Duardo
Escobar who plays a handful of years for the Twins.
But then they trade him to the Diamondbacks and get Duran,
and Duran they trade Duran to the Phillies and then
(12:11):
they get that Tit or Tight or whatever his name is,
who's like a top catching prospect or whatever. Now if
he turns into something, think about all the branches that
in value that the Twins got over to the Prasinski trade.
That for me, is statue worthy.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Any who did he connect on that punch with at
home play.
Speaker 3 (12:35):
That exactly. Hey, I can stretch anything into just complete absurdity.
You just went around the horn with Tim has to
deal with every day with me. So anyway, Tom, appreciate it.
Have fun out at practice yet again today, and I
know we'll be continuing to follow. I know so many
people enjoy your write ups, enjoy what you have to
(12:56):
put out there on social media. I do encourage everyone
to get a subscription, find stuff about you and d football.
If you enjoy that, get it with the Grand Forks HEROLD.
You'll really enjoy it. Tom, We appreciate it. Will continue
to touch base with you and thanks for this. Have
a great weekend.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Okay, absolutely take care guys.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
All right, there we go. Tom Miller, Sports editor of
the Grand Forks Herald. Appreciate his insight and we really
appreciate him going out and watching practice
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.