Fighting Hawks Ready To Fly Up MVFC Ranks This Season

North Dakota Football Comes into the 2023 Season With High Expectations

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — North Dakota football hosted media day Thursday morning in Grand Forks with the Fighting Hawks just nine days a away from kicking off their season at home against Drake. Fighting Hawks are coming off a 7-5 season that ended with a playoff loss in the first round of the FCS Playoffs. Coach Bubba Schweigert says the team got closer this offseason and feels confident in the Green Machine.

“I just feel like there is something different this year. Our guys are bringing a different energy, different focus, and we need to keep that going and I always say nothing is guaranteed but that gives you a great chance,” said Schweigert.

Senior quarterback, Tommy Schuster leads the offense and comes into the season on the Walter Payton Award Watchlist; an award honoring the best player in the FCS. Schuster ranked second in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, and 8th nationally in completion percentage, completing 68.8 percent of his passes. While there is plenty of hype around the 5th year senior, he recognizes the talent around him as the leader of the offense and expects the Hawks to have a dynamic attack.

“We have a very multiple offense, can do a lot of different things. Like I said we have a very good offensive line this year, a lot of playmakers, so a lot of the same stuff you’ve seen in the past, a lot of spreading the ball out, running down hill, picking our spots when we have ’em, take shots, I think just keeping the defense on their toes, really utilizing every weapon we have,” said Schuster.

As for the defense, the green machine features All Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Lineman, Ben McNaboe and all MVFC defensive back and return specialist, CJ Ciegel. Siegel is a 5th year senior and a team captain. He shared his expectations for the defense.

“Hoping for a lot of takeaways, I feel like our D-line is going to be well improved this year as well so hopefully that allows opportunity to play man and get these PBUs, takeaways, things of that nature. I think we will do a lot better. Obviously we did pretty well last year but eliminating big plays is gonna be the emphasis this year,” said Ciegel.

“This is a group that really enjoys being around each other and I’ve been saying this for months; this started with this group before they left for the holidays before they left in December, they decided they wanted to elevate this program and really put forth effort to do that,” said Schweigert.

The biggest theme of yesterday’s media day was team unity. Coaches and players alike feel that this team trusts each other and is poised for a big year.

“We all have the same goals and we all know what we want to accomplish and so just being together and continuing to be together on and off the field has just been something that we’ve been preaching so and just doing so far this year,” said Ciegel.

“The only goal is a National Championship so we can be whoever we want but at the end of the day you’re not playing for anything unless it’s for that so we’ve just been trying to keep that goal in mind through the offseason, spring ball, fall camp, and try to make it happen this year,” said Schweigert.

The 17th ranked Fighting Hawks open their season Saturday, September 2nd against the Drake Bulldogs at the Alerus Center with a 3 PM kickoff.