RESOLVING THE LEDGER
This is one outlet's own report from Yahoo Sports — the article as it was filed. Other outlets are covering the same event; open the full story to compare every source side by side.
See the full story · 1 sourcesJul. 29—GRAND FORKS — For the first time in his UND career, Jerry Kaminski went through fall practice wearing jersey No. 1 on Wednesday.
It was a fitting number assignment for the junior, who went through fall camp last season as perhaps an underdog in a deep quarterback battle for the starting job.
Kaminski emerged a year ago as the starter, set the school's single-season regular season touchdown record and now has the Day 1 role at fall camp as the unquestioned QB1 and leader of the offense.
"Love it," Kaminski said of the number change from No. 11. "Feels like high school again."
Kaminski wore No. 1 as a prep in Sun Prairie, Wis.
"I felt honored to have the guys look at me in a way where I would be able to represent 701," Kaminski said. "It was a blessing to have this opportunity."
The No. 1 jersey change was a result of second-year head coach Eric Schmidt's emphasis on the Nos. 7, 0 and 1 being handed out to team leaders. Lance Rucker wears 0, while starting linebacker Michael Devereaux has 7.
"I think you can see it from Day 1," Schmidt said of his evaluation of Kaminski. "We talk about starting fast. There's a lot of confidence that he has in himself, a lot of confidence he has in the offense, and then I think the guys around him ... just the belief that they have. That's how you create belief ... the guys coming out here every single day and how you do anything is how you do everything. He's one of those guys that is not afraid to lead from the front. He's really confident in his own skin."
Although Kaminski returns most of his starting offensive line from last season, the Fighting Hawks will have many new faces at the skill positions on offense.
"It has been great," Kaminski said. "With the new rule where you only get one transfer portal window, we had all of spring and summer building those relationships with guys, staying after workouts, throwing extra, hanging out with the guys more. I think the guys we brought in are high-character guys and guys that you want to be around, so that makes it easy."
In addition to handing out 7, 0 and 1 jersey assignments, Schmidt also stresses any single-digit jersey should be earned.
On the opening day Wednesday, UND's single-digit wide receivers were some of the most productive during 11-on-11 situations.
Four Winds product Deng Deng returns wearing No. 2, while Bowling Green transfer Caleb Goodloe is wearing No. 3 and Korey Tai has changed from No. 15 to No. 5.
Tai had one of the longest plays of the opening day when he hauled in a long bomb from Kaminski.
"Offensively, a huge point of emphasis for us was to be able to be more explosive and skilled," Schmidt said. "I think we have the opportunity to be able to do that. A year ago, we ran the ball pretty effectively. Maybe not as well as we wanted to late in the season. That put a little bit more stress on Jerry and on our skill guys. I think (we needed) to go out and find some skill guys to open up some things in the box when teams are taking away the run game. We need to be dynamic enough to be able to make teams pay for doing that when we get one-on-one situations on the perimeter."
AIPROPX is an independent multi-source news index — we track, compare, and connect coverage from across the web into one place you won't find anywhere else.