Jul. 29—GRAND FORKS — The first season for UND head football coach Eric Schmidt begins this week.
Fall camp practices begin Thursday morning in lead up to the Fighting Hawks’ season opener Aug. 30 at Kansas State in Manhattan.
With a coaching staff changeover and plenty of roster movement, the Hawks were pegged seventh in the preseason Missouri Valley Football Conference media poll.
Yet there’s plenty of different directions this 2025 season could take. For a program with many questions, those answers will start to be answered during fall camp.
Here are five storylines to watch as fall camp plays out at Memorial.
The senior from Calvin, N.D., made all but six of UND’s 307 pass attempts last season in starting all 12 games at quarterback for the Fighting Hawks.
Romfo threw for 2,051 yards last year but never more than 287 (Idaho State) in a game.
After a surprise rise last fall to the starting role, his up-and-down play during the season opened the door for another quarterback battle this fall.
Romfo sat out all of spring ball recovering from an injury. He’s expected back for fall camp, but he’ll have to battle up-and-coming talent Jerry Kaminski and Jack Sulik, as well as San Diego State transfer Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson.
Kaminski appeared to have the slight upper-hand on Sulik and Tupou’ata-Johnson through spring ball, although Tupou’ata-Johnson is expected to have an elusive skill set and now has a few more months of understanding with his receivers and playbook.
UND was a three-headed running attack last season with Isaiah Smith, Gaven Ziebarth and Sawyer Seidl.
Ziebarth and Seidl are back and expected to be big pieces of the 2025 Hawks but Smith graduated and played a major role in the setup. Smith led the team in rushing last year and was vital in the passing game, as well.
In May, after spring ball, UND added running back depth with FCS experience.
Xavier Leigh could fit in to the Isaiah Smith role with a strong showing at fall camp.
The 5-foot-10, 190-pound back has one season of eligibility remaining. He ran for 729 yards and six touchdowns during his career at Sacred Heart, running for 5.0 yards per carry.
Leigh is coming off his best season, with 93 carries for 517 yards and five touchdowns for an average of 5.6 yards per carry.
UND graduated its top two tight ends from a year ago in Quincy Vaughn and Jaden Norby — the only two tight ends in the team’s Top 12 receiving leaders in 2024.
Aidan Behymer, a transfer from Air Force, has the most experience in the returning position group in a pass-catching role, although he had just two grabs for 12 yards in 2024.
UND spent time in the offseason trying to address the need at tight end with a pair of FBS additions. However, both players come in with little proven in young careers.
Watson Hafer comes to UND from Missouri State. Hafer, a native of West Plains, Mo., played in five games across the last two seasons. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Hafer collected portal offers from Stephen F. Austin and Southern Utah.
The other tight end addition is Hunter Kallstrom, who spent one season at Wyoming and is a Kerkhoven, Minn., native.
Fall camp will be an important proving ground for a number of Grand Forks athletes hoping to carve out increased roles with UND.
At wide receiver, Grand Forks Central product Sam Strandell was selected to wear jersey No. 1 — an indication of his leadership importance to the Hawks.
Jerseys 7, 0 and 1 were handed out this summer to indicate the coaching staff feels these players epitomize the program values.
Strandell was one of UND’s most productive receivers during the spring, but he’ll be challenged by a large group of players at the position hoping for more time in the vacancy left by graduated senior Bo Belquist.
At linebacker, Grand Forks Red River product Paine Parks spent the spring running with the team’s top linebacker Malachi McNeal. Parks has played primarily special teams so far in Grand Forks.
At tight end, Grand Forks Central’s Tray Kuntz has drawn strong reviews for his potential to this point in his career. With little returning experience at tight end, Kuntz could push for a bigger role in 2025.
Grand Forks Central defensive end Erick Paye and Grand Forks Red River offensive lineman Lawson Lotysz enter a second season with the Hawks and have the potential to climb the depth chart.
As the transfer portal has become increasingly more common recruiting ground for every program, many roster holes are filled by more experienced players.
It’s made an already difficult task of playing as a true freshman even more challenging.
In 2024, wide receiver Deng Deng played in a few games but maintained his redshirt status.
With the 2025 class joining the fold officially later this week, it’ll serve as the first opportunity to judge whether a true freshman can be worth playing immediately.