UMD Football welcomes 32 new faces to 2023 Bulldog roster

DULUTH, MN. (Northern News Now) - It’s that time of year when High School seniors solidify their new home away from home at the next level in college athletics. For Curt Wiese and the UMD football team, they signed 32 new faces to their 2023 roster.

In the group of 32 freshmen, 16 are from Minnesota, 11 are from Wisconsin, 3 are from Nevada and two are from Illinois. Positionally, the roster welcomes, 4 wide receivers, two tight ends, two running backs, and two quarterbacks as well as 10 d-backs and linemen, 6 o-lineman, 5 linebackers, and one kicker/punter.

This year also welcomes a new NCAA Division II redshirt rule. Any incoming freshman can compete in up to 3 games and still preserve their redshirt year, allowing players to get their feet wet. As exciting as that is, Wiese says signing these players is about as exciting as gamedays.

“Our staff worked very hard this past spring and this past summer to be able to not only have these guys on campus and their families on campus and do visits with these folks but us traveling, us having a chance to see these guys at camps and having them back at camps in the city of Duluth has played a very big role for us to have as much contact as we can with these young men through the month of March all the way up until today to make sure these are the right guys in the right fit for our program has been very important and our staff has done a tremendous job getting us to this point,” said Wiese.

The Bulldogs finished fourth in the league with an 8-3 record. Wiese enters his 11th year as the head coach this upcoming season.

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