8 things to know about UND’s Week 2 opponent Montana

Sep. 6—GRAND FORKS — The UND football program opens the 2024 home schedule Saturday at 6 p.m. against Montana at the Alerus Center.

Here are eight things to know about the opponent:

Former UND offensive line coach Joe Pawlak is now the offensive line coach at Montana.

Pawlak came to Missoula after five years at UND, mentoring Matt Waletzko of the Dallas Cowboys, Donny Ventrelli of the Montreal Alouettes, Easton Kilty of Kansas State and Cade Borud of Iowa.

In a strange twist, UND’s new offensive line coach, Trevor Olson, was college teammates with Pawlak.

Pawlak was a three-year starter and all-conference player at Northern Illinois as Olson and Pawlak helped the Huskies win the 2011 MAC championship.

Montana opened the 2024 season without one of the top playmakers in the FCS.

The status of All-American wide receiver and returner Junior Bergen is unknown for Week 2 in Grand Forks.

Last year, Bergen had 59 catches for 791 yards and five touchdowns, 434 kick return yards and 429 punt return yards with three touchdowns.

The Big Sky Conference pulled off a rare heist out of Minnesota when Montana netted a commitment from Eli Gillman, out of Dassel, Minn.

The running back was highly recruited by the Missouri Valley Football Conference. UND was his second Division I offer back in 2021.

Gillman is now the reigning FCS Freshman of the Year. He started his sophomore year with 89 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns against Missouri State.

For the second year in a row, Montana is using the non-conference portion of its schedule to shake out a quarterback battle.

Last week against Missouri State, the Griz rotated Logan Fife, a junior transfer from Fresno State, and Keali’i Ah Yat, a redshirt freshman.

Fife sparked the Montana surge late in the game against Missouri State, finishing 5-for-7 for 90 yards and a touchdown.

Former Montana…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/8-things-know-unds-week-143200756.html

Author : Grand Forks Herald

Publish date : 2024-09-06 14:32:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.