Jul. 30—GRAND FORKS — The UND football program went through the second day of fall practices on Thursday morning, primarily at Memorial Field.Here are five takeaways from Day 2.One theme gaining traction across the first two days of fall camp is UND’s wide receivers are winning 50-50 balls.Deng Deng (6-foot-4, 224 pounds) and Caleb Goodloe (6-1, 202) rose up over defenders during drills and pulled in passes from quarterbacks Jerry Kaminski and Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson.UND may lack a proven speedster after the transfer of B.J. Fleming to Tarleton State, but the Fighting Hawks appear to have strengths in a different skill-set this season. Kaminski’s back-shoulder throws are hitting at a high completion percentage so far this fall.Deng is entering his sophomore season after showing flashes of standout play as a freshman, while Goodloe is a first-year transfer from Bowling Green.There isn’t a competition for the starting quarterback role in 2026 like there was in 2025.Tupou’ata-Johnson was sharp during team drills Thursday, as he makes his case to be the primary backup behind Kaminski.Tupou’ata-Johnson was also helped with his completion percentage thanks to a diving catch from Winona State transfer Maurice Densmore, who hauled in a pair of passes from Tupo’ata-Johnson.Tupou’ata-Johnson also completed balls in teams drills to tight ends Nathan Hromadka, Tray Kuntz and Hadyn Stay. He also found tight end Watson Hafer in 7-on-7 work.UND offensive coordinator Danny Freund has a history of making use of UND’s backup quarterbacks, such as Quincy Vaughn and Brock Boltmann.UND’s punt and kick returners will be mostly new in 2026.Zach Lewis handled 22 of 24 punt return chances in 2025 and is now graduated, while the bulk of the kick return opportunities went to Sawyer Seidl and Avery Scott in 2025.Seidl transferred to Wake Forest in the offseason, while Scott is awaiting a court date in hopes of landing an extra year of eligibility. He and Jonnie Wiltshire have not practiced yet.As UND went through special teams drills Thursday, lots of different candidates took turns handling some returner looks including newer options in cornerback Evan Kludt and nickel Henry Theobald.The players back this season with returning experience from last year include wide receivers Korey Tai and Kristen Hoskins and running back Charles Langama.Evaluating a running back competition in non-contact practice drills is always difficult but redshirt freshman Charles Langama showcased some of his burst through the line of scrimmage on Day 2.Langama, who played high school in a strong program at Maple Grove, is expected to be in a tight competition with Illinois State transfer Matt Lawson and sophomore Colton Brunell.It’s expected that all three of the top backs will receive workloads, as UND had five players with more than 50 carries last season, including Kaminski with 133. Seidl led the way with 188 attempts, while Gaven Ziebarth, who was in attendance Thursday on the sidelines,
Content Source: Yahoo News
Image Credit: Getty Images
All rights to the news content and images belong to their respective copyright owners.