Kolpack: Football portal quiet with Bison, not so much with Colorado – InForum

Fargo

As of Friday afternoon, there were exactly three days and 12 hours left in the spring transfer portal period. And since noon Friday, when the portal opened on April 16, it has been 10 days of peace and harmony with the North Dakota State football team.

The days of worrying about who made a difference or progressed in spring football have been replaced by questions about who left. As of midday Friday, things could change again in a minute, the Bison lost a backup cornerback who didn't play in a game after transferring from junior college.

In 2024 that seems almost remarkable.

If the Bison were to keep their serve until the season opener on August 29th at the University of Colorado, it would be doubly remarkable. As for NDSU's opponent, not so much.

Mike Farrell Sports, a website that tracks the transfer portal, reports that the Buffaloes have lost 24 players to the portal this spring, not including 12 players who left after last season.

Can you imagine the reaction in Fargo if 36 players left the Bison after their Division I FCS semifinal loss at the University of Montana?

Anarchy. Drop the sport.

Additionally, the passing nature of the CU team is pointed to a YouTube video posted by a freshman cornerback in which he takes aim at Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders. Cormani McClain, a former five-star recruit, titled his 15 minutes “Next Step.”

He begins by answering questions about his career, which he says come from the social media site Instagram.

“I want to change the narrative of what everyone thinks about my name,” he said. “Be part of a real and great program that will impact me and my abilities.”

Bam. There was shooting at the CU program and presumably at Sanders.

McClain dismisses obvious questions about his academic status, saying he gets A's and B's. He says he wants to go to a program that develops players. Bam, another shot was fired. The next 13+ minutes are videos of McClain training.

It's quite a production that following his question-and-answer session, there's a video of McClain stretching out in what looks like a high-end living quarters.

This is next level transfer portal stuff.

Say this about McClain: He looks very fast on a stationary bike. The video footage comes from all possible angles; This is not a cell phone lying on the floor. It morphs into a McClain squat, which seems like a decent amount of weight for a cornerback, to slow music that seems better suited to putting an insomniac to sleep at night.

I'm not sure what the point of lifting weights is for a school that wants to rehire him. The guy is in shape, we get that with the shirtless plank exercise.

NDSU had some drama with portal departures in 2022, with starting cornerback Courtney Eubanks and key safety backup Dom Jones departing before the start of the FCS playoffs. Running back Kobe Johnson, a team captain, left the team immediately after the season ended. There were others who reached the portal.

But they left quietly and didn't produce a YouTube video for everyone to see.

NDSU's biggest drama this spring was the offensive line being called out for illegal interference in the first two games of last Saturday's Spring Showcase event, prompting a less-than-kind reaction from head coach Tim Polasek, who was called out on the microphone Fargodome sound system.

In a radio interview on 740-The Fan not long ago, Mark Johnson, the play-by-play voice of CU football, admitted he had no idea what the Buffaloes' lineup will look like when the Bison are in come to the city. Maybe no one does, not even Coach Prime himself.

We're pretty sure there will be no shortage of talent at CU, starting with quarterback Shadeur Sanders and wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter. These two alone will be a burden on the bison.

But what about the other factors of football? Do you like teamwork? Communication? Team bonding? Playing for the man next to you?

Does it still matter? Will these intangibles play a role in the season opener on August 29th? Sanders said in an interview last week that he trusts his recruiters and said his team will be fine.

The Bison, meanwhile, have a reported offer for a defensive back from the University of Albany. Otherwise, their biggest problem right now is getting a few guys healthy, which will likely be the case at summer workouts. A big help in player retention goes to The Green and The Gold Collective.

Nobody seems to be about to post a YouTube video.

Jeff would like to dispel the idea that he was there when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is now in his third decade of reporting for Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, the Bismarck Tribune and, since 1990, the Forum, where he has covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU's Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough” and “Covid Kids.” He is the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” from April to August.