UND football's scrimmage provides live action for rookies
Aug. 15—GRAND FORKS — The UND football program went through the team's only scrimmage of fall camp on Tuesday.
Not unlike a preseason NFL game, the Fighting Hawks' stars either didn't participate or played a limited role.
Instead, the scrimmage, which took place outdoors on the field to the south of the Fritz Pollard Jr. Athletic Center, was an opportunity for the program's youth to show off in a rare setting.
"For our returning guys, a lot of (the purpose of the scrimmage) was execution and ball security and eliminating penalties and little details," UND coach Bubba Schweigert said. "We have to be smart and take care of our guys, so we didn't go live with a lot of them. We wanted to test some young guys and give them an opportunity to play some live football."
UND didn't allow full tackling until late in the scrimmage when mostly first- and second-year players were on the field, which allowed a chance to see true freshmen and how they handle the physical part of the game.
Three of the true freshmen standouts from the scrimmage included quarterback Jerry Kaminski, running back Sawyer Seidl and linebacker Lance Rucker.
During the scrimmage, Kaminski connected on touchdown passes to wide receivers Sam Strandell and Korey Tai.
Kaminski, a 6-foot-2 Wisconsin native, came to Grand Forks with considerable recruiting hype after winning Wisconsin's Offensive Player of the Year honors a year ago at Sun Prairie East.
"He's getting better," Schweigert said. "We want to see him really make good decisions and that's what we're evaluating right now. That's a lot on a young guy to learn a new offense and something completely different. We recruited him because he has skills, and that'll show up on the tape."
Seidl, at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds from Hill-Murray High School in Minnesota, impressed with a mix of speed and power.
"Really good, tough runner for a guy who isn't real big ... he sure runs hard and goes downhill," Schweigert said. "He has some elusiveness. On his first carry, he showed good balance by keeping his feet."
Rucker, 6-3 and 210 pounds from Nebraska, would've had a pair of sacks during the scrimmage if the quarterbacks were able to be hit.
Rucker is a candidate to play as a true freshman at outside linebacker.
"He's made good progress," Schweigert said. "He has a lot on his plate at that outside linebacker position. We like what we're seeing from him early."
The scrimmage saw a number of former players and coaches in attendance including former head coach Roger Thomas. Former UND offensive lineman Greg Lotysz's funeral took place early Tuesday afternoon.
