Fargo
The marching orders were clear after the 3-8 season of 2009 for North Dakota State football, that recruiting had to take a different turn for a program that was more used to 8-3 seasons or better. Then head coach Craig Bohl took action.
The new philosophy: When you’re talking to a recruit at his high school, don’t just take the word of the high school coach that “he’s a good kid.” Bohl reasoned that most coaches want their player to be a Division I recruit and maybe they don’t reveal all that is needed to know.
Talk to the guy or gal who sweeps the floors. Talk to an assistant in the front office. Ask a teacher about him.
In other words, do more research than just the recruiting stars by the kid’s name on a website. If there are question marks of character, maybe it’s time to move on to somebody else. Bohl would later reveal that his program eliminated some prime looking recruits for that reason alone.
The result: an FCS quarterfinal playoff appearance in 2010 and in 2011 the first of what would become 10 national championships. The Craig Bohl Doctrine was followed by subsequent head coaches Chris Klieman, Matt Entz and now Tim Polasek.
Perhaps the Bohl Doctrine is starting to hit the NFL.
That was a clear message with the Grey Zabel introductory press conference last week in Seattle. Seahawks general manager John Schneider ripped one of the front pages right from the Bohl Doctrine: It’s not necessarily about recruiting (drafting) the best players, it’s about getting the right guys.
Sifting through Zabel’s offensive line videotape at NDSU is one thing. Seeing his body language at Senior Bowl all-star practice at the end of January was another.
Schneider said what sold him on Zabel as a first round pick was seeing the offensive lineman “steal” reps from other players, that if there was hesitancy from others that he hopped in and did the drill. And no matter what position, whether it was guard, tackle or center.
It wasn’t solely the fact that Zabel is 6-foot-6, 312 pounds who cranked out the third-best vertical jump in NFL Combine history for offensive linemen, it was that mentality in practice that Schneider saw in person.
It was the pedigree of offensive linemen at NDSU. The toughness stuff.
“These guys come out of there very well coached, they’re highly competitive, they’re smart and there’s a lot of want-to there,” Schneider said. “Those are great traits.”
That subject was brought up when I was a guest on the “Bump & Stacy Show” on Seattle ESPN radio station 710-AM the day after Zabel was drafted. The hosts wondered with so many players hopping from college to college through the transfer portal if they would make for good “team guys” at the NFL level. Are more NFL teams putting a bigger emphasis on character traits?
Zabel stayed at NDSU for his senior season, shunning six-figure Power Four offers. That only further sold Schneider on drafting Zabel.
As one Seattle media type named “Seaside Joe” penned it, “they find players who they know they can coach up rather than relying on first round 99th percentile athletes who sometimes peak in college.”
The Seahawks obviously believe Zabel didn’t peak in college.
That mindset is nothing new. Last year in the first round, the Seahawks took safety Devon Weatherspoon over defensive tackle Jalen Carter, who at Georgia had some off-the-field questions.
“The physicality is what stood out about Devon, we felt Devon was a better fit for us,” Schneider said on The Rich Eisen Show. “Obviously Jalen has a ton of natural talent, but it was just, hey, but there were a couple of players on our board who have the grit.”
Translation: the team believed Witherspoon was tougher than Carter. The same theory could be applied to quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Bison fans saw one talented quarterback when NDSU played at Colorado.
NFL front office brass saw other things, sending him to the fifth round. The Bohl Doctrine would have done the same.
North Dakota State head coach Craig Bohl, shown celebrating with his team after the win over South Dakota State, says senior leadership is one reason for this year’s turnaround.Dave Wallis/ The Forum
Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he’s 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” April through August.