McFeely's Tip Sheet: Spring football transfer portal opens and, so far, all quiet on the Bison front

It was January 2023 when the Football Championship Subdivision was breathlessly asking: "What is going on at North Dakota State?" A dozen players had entered the transfer portal since the end of the regular season and great football minds from Brookings to Grand Forks were gleefully speculating that things were going haywire in Fargo.

Today, a little more than a year later, losing 12 players in the transfer portal seems quaint for most FCS squads.

The spring football window officially opened for the portal Tuesday and activity was busy. Actually, it's been busy since the end of last season for most schools. Of the 11 Missouri Valley Football Conference football programs, just two NDSU and South Dakota State have fewer than 10 players that have entered the portal.*

(* - That's as of now. Like, right this second. The portal stays open until May 1, so it's likely both the Bison and Jackrabbits will have more players enter. The key is whether those players are starters, key contributors or fourth-stringers.)

As of mid-afternoon Tuesday, NDSU hasn't had any new players enter the portal. The Bison still have a handful of spring practices remaining before their "showcase" event Saturday at the Fargodome. You can never say never. You'll recall last year starting defensive end Tony Pierce went portaling late in spring practice.

In Brookings, the potential transfer everybody in FCS is watching quarterback Mark Gronowski hasn't yet put his name in the hat for Northwestern to pluck. And at this point it seems unlikely he will. Looks like the Valley has to contend with the Walter Payton Award winner again.

Nobody else has been as lucky.

North Dakota lost two more offensive linemen starters to the portal Tuesday, guard Sam Hagen and center Cade Borud. They join two other Fighting Hawks offensive linemen who entered after last season: tackle Easton Kilty and top backup Braden Bryant. With the graduation of Donny Ventrelli, UND will have to replace five of its top six o-linemen. The Hawks football program just isn't getting any puck luck.

But overall, UND has only 10 players in the portal from last season.

Compare that to Murray State, which has had a whopping 42 players go into the portal since last December. It's likely new Racers head coach Jody Wright saw his roster and invited a couple of dozen players to leave and will replace them with transfers he brings in ... but 42 is a Deion Sanders-like number when it comes to transfers.

Youngstown State has lost 26 players since the end of last season; Indiana State has lost 20; South Dakota has lost 15; Missouri State, Southern Illinois and Illinois State have lost 13 each; and Northern Iowa has lost an even 12.

We tried to tell all the other FCS programs that were gloating when the Bison had a dozen players in the portal that your day is coming, too. It's here. Told you so.

And it could yet happen for NDSU this spring. The spring window just opened. You'd be naive to think the Bison will go unscathed for the next two weeks.

Something that probably won't happen, but if it does I'll look like a genius:

The Monday Night Football edition of the Football Championship Subdivision title game next January will be the most-viewed FCS championship game ever. Great move to get the game as a stand-alone on Monday night.

The Tip Sheet was surprised to learn this week that Bismarck State College, a two-year school in North Dakota's capital city that was once called Bismarck Junior College, has been accepted into the NAIA and is in the midst of transitioning to a four-year school. This was the first the Sheet had heard of it.

He needs to pay closer attention.

Apparently the Mystics have had a long-range plan to become a four-year school and, in 2019, the State Board of Higher Education gave the OK for Bismarck State to change its mission and become a four-year polytechnic school.

A polytechnic offers bachelor of applied science (BAS) degrees in technical fields in programs like those already offered by BSC. As a polytechnic, BSC also could provide BAS degrees.

So the school re-branded itself as a polytechnic some years ago and has been adding four-year degrees to meet the needed criteria.

Moving athletics to the NAIA is part of the transition. Bismarck State is headed for the Frontier Conference, it appears, joining Dickinson State in that league. There's a chance Valley City State and Mayville State, too, could join the Frontier.

Bismarck State does not have a football program and a source said it's unlikely to add one at this time.

The Bison football team has offered University of Albany (N.Y) transfer defensive back Aamir Hall a scholarship, Hall said on his social media account. He's also been offered by the likes of James Madison, Temple, Ball State and Arkansas State. ... Former UND running back Otis Weah was listed among Pro Football Focus' 10 most elusive running backs in this year's NFL Draft. After leaving UND and having a scholarship offer rescinded by Missouri State after sexual assault allegations against Weah became public, the Moorhead High School graduate played his last college years at Division II Lincoln University in Oakland, Calif. ... Fargo bowler Jon Matter rolled a perfect 300 game in a Monday night league at Sunset Lanes in Moorhead this week. ... Former Bison catcher Logan Williams signed with the Lincoln Salt Dogs of the American Association. ... NDSU men's basketball recruit Isaia Howard asked for his release from his national letter of intent and has re-opened his recruitment. Howard was the 2023 Missouri Class 2 player of the year. ... On3 has West Fargo Sheyenne lineman Kade Pietrzak ranked as the No. 178 overall high school recruit in the country and the No. 15 defensive lineman. He is the No. 1 recruit in North Dakota. Oklahoma, Miami, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Florida State, Auburn, USC, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Kansas are among the many FBS schools to offer him a scholarship. NDSU and other Missouri Valley Football Conference schools have offered, too. ... Former NDSU men's basketball assistant Josh Sash has joined new coach Ben McCollum's staff at Drake. Sash spent last year as the head coach at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa. ... The Bison men have shown interest in Alabama-Huntsville transfer Jack Kostel, according to social media sources. ... Coach Dave Richman's team has also shown interest in Holy Family (Division II) transfer Ethan Pires and Niagra guard Malik Edwards, according to The Portal Report. ... West Virginia Wesleyan (Division II) guard Alex Mirhosseini has also received interest from the Bison. ... Former Fargo Shanley basketball standout Conner Kraft will transfer from South Dakota State to Augustana and join new coach Cody Schilling's team.