Waege’s versatility vital with injuries along Bison defensive front

By Jeff Kolpack and Eric Peterson The Forum Fargo

North Dakota State senior Spencer Waege has done his best to be a leader on defense in the midst of his sixth season in the football program.

His experience and ability has become more critical for the Bison with injuries along the defensive line, including junior defensive tackle Eli Mostaert and senior defensive end Jake Kava. Waege’s versatility to play multiple positions is taking on an even bigger role.

“I’ve thought all year I’ve done my best to always try and lead guys along, whether it was the D-end room, the D-tackle room,” Waege said. “With guys getting hurt, my role where some of my snaps go changed a little bit, not a whole lot.”

The Bison play at noon Saturday, Oct. 8, at Indiana State in Missouri Valley Conference Football play. NDSU (4-1, 2-0 MFVC) is looking to remain undefeated in the conference.

The 6-foot-3, 280pound Mostaert had a season-ending, lowerleg injury in the second game of the season, while the 6-foot1, 243-pound Kava suffered an undisclosed upper body injury last weekend in a 27-14 home victory against Youngstown State.

“You hate seeing guys get hurt,” Waege said. “It’s the terrible thing about this sport and the sad thing is you know it’s just a part of it that happens.”

The 6-foot-5, 282pound Waege leads the team with 3 1/2 sacks through five games and also has 6 1/2 tackles for a loss. Bison head coach Matt Entz said redshirt freshman defensive end Kole Menz, a West Fargo Sheyenne graduate, and true freshman defensive end Kelton McCaslin, from St. Charles, Ill., could see game action in the coming weeks due to the injuries along the defensive front.

“There always seems like there’s a freshman every year that steps up in the defensive line room,” Entz said.

“It’s always cool with those young guys because you see them from right when they get on campus to as they develop through camp and stuff like that,” Waege added. “Kole has made a lot of strides.”

Bison junior defensive end Dylan Hendricks could also see his first game action this season against the Sycamores. He suffered a hamstring injury in the week leading up to the season opener against Drake that has prevented him from playing in the first five games.

“Dylan will be a huge help,” Waege said. “I’m really excited to see what he can do in a game.”

Entz: Fired Wisconsin coach Chryst won right way

Another week, another head coach from a Power Five conference getting fired. The latest last

Sunday was University of Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst, who was let go despite a 67-26 overall record.

Chryst was 6-1 in bowl games with the only defeat a one-point loss in the Rose Bowl. All of the movement has Entz wondering if the increased influx of millions of dollars of television revenue to Power Five programs is cause to quickly pull a change trigger.

Other coaches who have been let go are Karl Dorrell at Colorado, Herm Edwards at Arizona State, Scott Frost at Nebraska and Geoff Collins at Georgia Tech. NDSU plays at Colorado in 2024. Entz was asked earlier this week if the pressure to win is even more than it was two years ago.

“It would sure make you feel that way just by looking at some of the recent decisions,” he said.

Entz had nothing but praise of the job Chryst did, especially with recruiting. NDSU is a frequent visitor to Wisconsin high schools and routinely finds players who have made championship impacts to the program.

“He’s won 70% of his games and he’s done it the right away,” Entz said. “He’s recruited the state of Wisconsin and he’s recruited the state of Minnesota as good as anybody has. He’s won with probably a very similar recipe as NDSU has. They’ve gone out and hit their remote areas and you go back, that was ‘Running Back U’ for a long time while he was an assistant coach and as the head coach.”

Bison better, but need tackling to improve Entz said his team’s tackling was better against Youngstown State, but added improvement is still needed in that department.

Penguins running back Jaleel McLaughlin rushed for 150 yards in NDSU’s 27-14 victory last weekend. McLaughlin also added a 35-yard TD catch with less than five minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

The 5-foot-9, 183pound McLaughlin had a long run of 44 yards during the second quarter on a thirdand-long play. He broke a would-be NDSU tackle near the line of scrimmage on that big play, which set up a YSU field goal.

“I thought we improved tackling, but when I say better, better doesn’t mean good. It just was better,” Entz said.

“Overall, I think there were fewer missed tackles. I think there are areas that we can continue to work on, but I saw some of the things that we’ve been stressing happening on game day.”

The Bison missed 14 tackles against the Penguins, according to Pro Football Focus. Etc, etc, etc

► Bison kicker Griffin Crosa had a solid day against YSU, making field goals from 39 and 38 yards in the fourth quarter. The junior from Dublin, Ohio, was 2-for-2 on field goals for a second consecutive game: “(We’re) seeing more and more consistency out of him,” Entz said.

► Bison running back Kobe Johnson set the school record for longest touchdown run with his 97-yarder against Indiana State last year in Fargo.

► NDSU is making its first trip to Terre Haute, Ind., since 2017 when quarterback Easton Stick was a junior for a team that won 52-0.

► Bison senior Jayden Price is the FCS active career leader averaging 14.9 yards per punt return. It currently ranks second in school history behind Travis White, who averaged 16.0 per return from 2002-06.