COVID-19 and the record book: Two Bison players didn’t need extra year
Kicker Griffin Crosa, QB Cam Miller would still be Bison record holders without the pandemic
BY JEFF KOLPACK The Forum FARGO
The hair doesn’t show a tinge of gray and Braylon Henderson doesn’t walk around the North Dakota State locker room complex like he’s 72 years old. There’s still a youthful vibrancy about him.
Saturday’s NCAA Division I FCS semifinal game against South Dakota State will be his 72nd career game, which for many years the thought of that would have been unfathomable. That was before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“That would be an NFL career in most cases,” said NDSU head coach Tim Polasek.
Former Bison defensive end Phil Hansen played in 156 games over 11 years, just over half of what Henderson has played. Henderson has played in more games than another former NDSU defensive end, Kyle Emanuel, did in his five-year NFL career with the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans.
Henderson’s 72nd game will tie the NCAA active leader in that category in all divisions. Iowa linebacker Nick Jackson has also played in 72. Henderson broke the NDSU record of 71 held by cornerback Jayden Price, who finished his career last year. Offensive lineman Nash Jensen played in 70 from 2018-22, with the 10 games played in spring 2021 not counting toward eligibility.
There was a time when a player returning for a sixth year of school was
almost unheard of, with a couple of notable Bison players being tight end Kevin Vaadeland and receiver Zach Vraa. Both of those players not only redshirted but had a medical hardship due to injuries. The NCAA declaring 2020 a noncounter year has brought a whole new segment to career records.
At one time, Christian Dudzik playing in 61 games for NDSU, all starts, seemed like an unbreakable record, with the safety doing that from 2011-14.
“We thought that was like some great feat,” Polasek said.
But whether the pandemic year is vastly affecting career records is debatable.
NDSU kicker Griffin Crosa became the school’s all-time scoring leader this season, but he played in only two games in the pandemic year. Of his 430 points, 12 were from that extra season.
In other words, take that away and he would still be the all-time leading scorer doing it in four seasons. Kicker Cam Pedersen held the mark with 399 points from 2015-18.
On Saturday, Jackrabbits quarterback Mark Gronowski will be shooting for his 50th career victory, which would break the FCS record as the all-time winningest quarterback of 49 set by former Bison QB Easton Stick, who was 49-3 from 2015-18.
Ironically, Gronowski hasn’t needed a pandemic year of eligibility to tie Stick and does have one year remaining, but has already declared his intent to leave college
and seek an NFL job. He’s 49-5. Stick didn’t start until halfway through his freshman year when Carson Wentz got hurt.
In the same vein, Bison quarterback Cam Miller didn’t exactly use his pandemic year to the fullest in becoming the NDSU career leader in total offense and passing yards. He started only two games in the spring 2021 season completing 30 of 59 passes for 363 yards and two touchdowns.
Take away those 363 yards and he’s still the passing yards leader over Stick but slightly behind Stick in total offense.
It’s doubtful schools will throw some sort of asterisk at career records, since the NCAA has historically had inconsistencies. Craig Haley, who covers FCS for Stats Perform, points out the NCAA didn’t recognize playoff games in its record book prior to 2003, which penalized Georgia Southern running back Adrian Peterson (not the Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson) in a big way. In 57 career games, he had over 9,000 yards rushing but the record book doesn’t reflect all of his playoff appearances.
In a way, guys like that get double penalized in the record book with the NCAA not recognizing his postseason accomplishments and current players getting a COVID year that does count.
“It’s not really fair,” Haley said.
But Haley said schools are just letting the current career records ride and he hasn’t heard one that is separating a
COVID record from the others.
Records aside, there were more important reasons Henderson returned this year. He said he didn’t have to think too hard about it.
“This place has done so much for me and my family and my teammates,” he said. “I love them to death, some of these guys will be at my wedding for sure. I wanted to come back and finish the right way.”
That would mean a trip back to his hometown area. Henderson is from Plano, Texas, located a suburb away from Frisco, the site of the FCS national championship game.
He knew about the games-played record when Price broke it last year. At the time, Price told Henderson he would have a chance to break his mark.
“I mean, it’s cool, it’s an awesome thing to have in the back of your mind playing so many games,” Henderson said. “It doesn’t feel like I’ve played that many games but it’s insane for how long I’ve been here.”
He gives a big assist to the NDSU training staff, which has helped Henderson deal with the
usual assortment of football ailments. At times that includes two to three treatments a day to go along with a healthy diet. And with some players still retaining that pandemic year, Henderson may not have his record for long. NDSU receiver RaJa Nelson has played in 60 career games and is coming back next year. Nelson played in 10 games as a true freshman in the spring 2021 season, which doesn’t count, and redshirted this season. He still played in the maximum NCAA fourgame rule stipulation with postseason games not counting toward that.
“I wouldn’t mind him breaking it so I’m not the oldest guy in the history of the school,” Henderson said. Henderson has not missed one game in his career, although he came close in the spring 2021 season. He did not make the trip to the University of South Dakota after he tested positive for COVID-19, but that game was canceled a few hours before kickoff because of positive tests. As Miller and Crosa can attest, that pandemic season doesn’t mean career records are getting smashed in the last five years.
David Samson/The Forum
North Dakota State’s Cam Miller greets fans after the win over Abilene Christian at the Fargodome on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024.
David Samson/The Forum
North Dakota State kicker Griffin Crosa is mobbed by his teammates after breaking the Bison scoring record on a kick against Missouri State at the Fargodome on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024.
David Samson / The Forum
North Dakota State’s Braylon Henderson makes a reception between Murray State’s Jamari Dailey and Amari Wansley on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, at Roy Stewart Stadium in Murray, Kentucky.
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