Five storylines to watch during Bison spring football

The Tim Polasek era officially begins Tuesday as North Dakota State opens the first of 15 spring practices to prepare for the 2024 season opener against Deion Sanders and Colorado.

The Bison return double-digit in starters, ranging from quarterback Cam Miller to stalwarts on the defense in the Mostaert twins to Cole Wisniewski. The NCAA transfer portal did not hit NDSU as hard as was anticipated when the season ended in mid-December in Missoula.

Here are five storylines to watch over the next month, when NDSU's spring will wrap back inside Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome with the annual Green and Gold game slated for April 20.

1) NEW COACHING STAFF

Spring football will not only see Tim Polasek return to the Bison coaching staff, but also the four new assistants he brought in. This will be an awfully important spring for Jake Landry, as he gets familiar with the offensive personnel that he will be in charge of this season.

Landry is joined by the new defensive backfield coaches; Will Johnson at cornerback and Devin Klieman at safeties and former Bison linebacker Carlton Littlejohn coaching the defensive line.

It sets up what should be a really intriguing month as these coaches try to acclimate themselves to a veteran team.

“It’s not what we know as coaches, it’s what the players can execute.” said NDSU associate head coach Randy Hedberg. “What we’re trying to do is put together what we’ve done in the past offensively and morph in some stuff that Tim wants to bring in from different places, and that’s where we’re operating right now.”

The questions aren't restricted to the new members of the staff. Grant Olson takes over as the defensive coordinator, with Nick Goeser joining as co-defensive coordinator. This will be the first time for each coach that they will be calling and designing gameplans.

2) WHEN OR WHERE WILL COLE PAYTON PLAY?

This is the third straight spring preview on NDSU football that I have written that Cole Payton has been a huge part of. The now junior quarterback will enter his fourth year at NDSU this fall. Payton had a dynamite end to the 2023 season, scoring seven touchdowns in the final five games of the season.

He will again backup Cam Miller this season, but the intriguing part with Polasek and Landry coming in is, how will they utilize Payton?

Every defense in the Missouri Valley knew that when number 9 came in the game, he was running the ball.

Hedberg hinted at some changes for this spring into the fall: “Cole is a guy that attracts a lot of eyes, because of his athleticism and explosiveness. You see him take a pass play and turn it into a 70-yard run, he has unbelievable athleticism.

You may see him lined up at different spots this year, that dude is one of the better players on our team.”

3) ANOTHER OMAHA STANDOUT TO HIT THE FIELD: CHARMAR BROWN

If there was one glaring thing missing about the Bison offense in 2023; it was a standout feature back. TaMerik Williams, TK Marshall and Barika Kpeenu all shared carries last fall, none had more than 15 carries in a game.

Williams has graduated, with Marshall and Kpeenu back.

Enter Charmar “Marty” Brown. Another Omaha standout, Brown redshirted last season as he took care of some academic requirements, or he would have dressed for the minimum four games last season.

Brown added six pounds of muscle in his first year in Fargo, now coming in at 5-foot-11, 213 pounds. He was an electric back at Creighton Prep, scoring 38 touchdowns in his high school career, the same school that produced Bison legends Easton Stick and RJ Urzendowski.

Brown had offers from South Dakota State, Northern Iowa and Miami of Ohio that he turned down to play at NDSU. The Bison may have found their feature back, he is certainly one to watch when he hits the field later this week.

4) LINEBACKER MOVEMENT

NDSU will return nearly its entire linebacker corp for the 2024 season, as Luke Weerts and Nick Kubitz each return for a sixth season of eligibility. Logan Kopp is off an all-Valley first team season on the outside, where he had 85 tackles, 3.5 sacks and 3 interceptions last season.

There may be a battle for the other outside linebacker spot. With Julian Wlodarczyk moving on, Oscar Benson may be ready to move into that spot. Benson seemed to make his mark there with a two-interception game against Northern Iowa to end the regular season.

But there could be some movement with new defensive coordinator Grant Olson, who also coaches the linebacker. Kubitz is down 12 pounds from 226 that he played at last year to 214. Does this portend a move to the outside for Kubitz?

It may, to get super talented middle linebacker and sophomore Nathaniel Staehling on the field. Staehling is 6-foot-2 and 232 pounds and has long been tabbed by Olson as a future star in the making. The Brainerd, Minnesota native was mainly a special teams player last season, but is there an opening for him to rotate with Weerts at that spot?

Something tells me middle linebacker is again a spot to watch this upcoming spring.

5) THE LINEUP UP FRONT

NDSU will have some major changes to the offensive line for the first time in a handful of seasons. Three starters are gone, Jalen Sundell, Jake Kubas and Brandon Westberg. They combined to start over 110 games and that’s experience you can’t just plug in and go.

The Bison do have two sixth-year offensive linemen returning in Jake Rock and Hunter Poncius. Rock has two career starts, while Poncius was the hero of the playoff overtime win at Montana State. They each will be given opportunities to be in the mix up front.

Marshall transfer Trent Fraley comes in with limited playing experience with the Thundering Herd, but with a potential opening at center, Fraley could be asked to fill that role this spring.

Grey Zabel and Mason Miller are the two returners, and ironically, they switched spots for each other last year. Zabel replaced Miller at the right tackle spot midway thru last year with Miller moving to left guard. There’s chatter that Zabel could take over the anchor position at left tackle as he returns for a fifth season.

There are some intriguing young players on the offensive line to watch this spring. Sophomore Devin Lockerby has bided his time and redshirt freshmen Beau Johnson, Griffin Empey and Jack Liewinski both will be given plenty of reps this spring to open some eyes. Each have impressed during their short time in Fargo and have an opportunity to get a leg up before fall camp begins.

BONUS QUESTION: WHO STARTS AT CORNERBACK?

For the first time since 2018, Jayden Price is no longer on the NDSU roster. Price became a mainstay in the Bison secondary over the last two seasons.

Youth may very well be served at that position this fall. Sophomore Jaquise Alexander had a solid ending to 2023, taking over the opposite corner starting spot with Price. Alexander started the final seven games of last year, finishing with nine tackles and a pass breakup.

Redshirt freshman Najee Nelson could be the other corner. Nelson registered his first career interception in the home regular season finale against Southern Illinois, and was one of a handful of true freshmen that played last year. He and Marcus Sheppard would likely be in the competition for the other starting spot.

For the first time in a while, spring football for the Bison this year has plenty to be interested and excited about.