Bison begin spring football practice with a few hot questions, including quarterback

Carson Wentz and Trey Lance went No. 2 and No. 3 overall respectively in their NFL drafts. Easton Stick remains with the Los Angeles Chargers trying to move up the depth chart. Brock Jensen spent time in the NFL and CFL.

The Bison won their eighth Division I FCS national title in 10 years last season behind a couple of QBs who at this point are not considered NFL prospects in Cam Miller and Quincy Patterson. Spring football begins this week and the position will once again be in the spotlight, perhaps for a different reason other than a high NFL draft pick.

QBU has morphed from the highly celebrated signal caller to a riches of depth. It’s likely redshirt freshman Cole Payton will get his chance to see the field.

Last year was a rarity for NDSU when the Bison late in the season regularly alternated Miller and Patterson. In the title game against Montana State, Miller was 9 of 13 passing and one touchdown. Patterson was the second-leading rusher with 98 yards on 11 carries.

A possible hot stove question for this spring and leading into next fall is this: If NDSU was willing to go to two quarterbacks, would it be willing to use three?

The first practice begins at 7:05 a.m. on Wednesday with four other hot topics on the front burner:

It’s been a sizzling offseason for former receiver Christian Watson, who got rave reviews during the week of practice in the Senior Bowl. He opened more eyes running a 4.36-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

Watson has speed and the Bison used it. Last season he had four touchdown receptions of at least 65 yards. Starting with a 69-yard TD catch in the ninth game of the 2019 season against Youngstown State, Watson had nine touchdown receptions of at least 43 yards in a span of 30 games.

That’s essentially one scoring bomb every three games. He was injured and didn’t play in three games last year. His departure leaves the Bison looking for that home run threat.

NDSU has 11 receivers on the spring roster and of those only Phoenix Sproles and Braylon Henderson have shown the penchant to bust one deep.

This spring could be an important step for redshirt freshmen Eli Green, Bryce Lance and Chris Harris to show what they have.

When Brayden Thomas transferred from Minnesota State Mankato to NDSU, he wanted to prove he could play at the Division I level. He did so, and then some. The defensive end turned into the go-to pass rusher leading the team with 14.5 quarterback sacks and was the runnerup for the Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

His performance helped pick up the slack from losing defensive end Spencer Waege early in the year to a torn ACL. Now the question is who is going to pick up the slack for the graduated Thomas?

A healthy Waege is the top pick with Jake Kava and Tony Pierce a close second. Waege has 11.5 career sacks with a season high of 5.5 in 2019. For 2022 to be the edge enforcer on quarterbacks, those career numbers will probably have to double.

Pierce became a reliable defender last fall but he has just 6.5 career sacks in three seasons with 2.5 last year. Kava got better as last season progressed and finished with four sacks after missing the 2021 spring season with an injury.

At least NDSU doesn’t have to break any new players into the mix. Waege, Kava and Pierce are all seniors.

Sophomore Loshiaka Roques had some effective moments last season. The spring could be big for junior Reed Ryan in seeing the field next fall

Jackson Hankey leaving via graduation was expected. Jasir Cox leaving via the transfer portal was unexpected. Replacing two starters in the heart of the defense is an issue, but perhaps not as major on the inside looking out.

James Kaczor will return for his senior season. Kaczor was a second team all-American in the 2021 spring season, but battled injuries for a good chunk of last fall and missed six games. Junior Cole Wisniewski played like a starter and will return at one outside spot. That leaves the middle as a battle to look at in spring ball.

The primary hope is redshirt junior Luke Weerts sheds the injury bug to take Hankey’s spot with junior Nick Kubitz expected to be in the mix.

It’s doubtful Kaczor will play much in spring ball and without him or Wisniewski, there will be plenty of repetitions for younger players like sophomore Oscar Benson.

With Jake Reinholz graduating, so too is the calming presence he provided the Bison coaching staff with his reliability. He hit 16 of 21 field goals and made all 58 of his extra point attempts.

Who’s next? Redshirt junior Griffin Crosa is the lone kicker in spring ball, but the last time Crosa was the full-time kicker was in 2019 when he took over for the injured Reinholz. Crosa hit 11 of 15 field goals and was 60 of 61 on PAT kicks.

The Bison signed kicker Drew Klein from Hortonville, Wis., in the 2022 recruiting class but until he gets here, it will be Crosa who will have all spring to prove he can still be the regular guy.