Feb. 4—GRAND FORKS — College football's second signing period took place Wednesday, a day overshadowed in the recruiting calendar now by the early signing period in December.
For UND coach Eric Schmidt, the Fighting Hawks announced just two more high school prospects in the second signing period. The program also released the addition of 14 transfers to go along with the 26 prospects announced in December.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe prep additions in the second signing period might not be great in number but UND thinks it's a pair who will move the needle.
Both additions have drawn FBS interest. Prior Lake (Minn.) offensive lineman Ethan Beckman was once signed at Iowa State, while Iowa City safety Ethan Headings was once committed to Iowa.
Beckman, who's 6-foot-5 and 330 pounds, was released by Iowa State after the December signing period when former head coach Matt Campbell left Ames for the head job at Penn State.
Headings was a long commit for the Fighting Hawks. Around signing day in December, though, he flipped his commitment to the hometown Hawkeyes. As a walk-on at Iowa, he was able to change course and re-commit to UND after signing day when he started to have second thoughts.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"Those are both positions of need," Schmidt said. "Headings was our No. 1 safety on our board for a long time. We felt really strongly about his skill set. He has a lot of traits and pedigree there to what we look for in (defensive backs). It was a tough situation when you get an offer late from a school that was probably your dream school growing up.
"I knew he was torn there. But I think once you get away from the emotion of all those things and feel like, hey, these were the guys who poured in to me from Day 1. They believed in me. They see me the way my parents see me. I think that's really how he felt about our staff and the relationships that we made with him. Eventually, it was, like, this is the right decision for me to be able to become the best version of myself and to get him back was really important for us because we hadn't really replaced his spot yet as far as going and finding another safety that we really, really liked and felt like that we wanted to go invest in."
Headings, who's 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, led the Iowa 5A level with 1,202 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns. He was a first team all-state selection on offense.
Schmidt said UND's Director of Player Personnel Darnell Duckett and offensive line coach Trevor Olson were quick to recruit Beckman after learning of his Iowa State situation.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"No nonsense ... he's what you would think an offensive lineman would be," Schmidt said. "He fits really well in that room. He loves to play football and everything about the weight room. He has a goal of being able to throw the shot put 60 feet here this spring."
Beckman drew interest around the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
"(Beckman) did things the right way," Schmidt said. "He didn't try to make a quick decision. We got him up here last week and just really felt good about the brotherhood and the guys did a great job with him. He just felt like he fit in with the rest of the offensive lineman.
"I give a lot of credit to Trevor. There are a lot of guys in that (offensive lineman) room that are high, high level players that had opportunities to go other places for big time dollars and things like that thrown at them, yet thought this was the best place for them. I think that resonated with Ethan, and he felt like this was the best place for him."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementEthan Beckman — OL — 6-5 — 330 — Prior Lake, Minn. — Prior Lake HS
Maurice Densmore — WR — 6-0 — 185 — Chicago, Ill. — Winona State
Avery Dixon — DB — 6-2 — 195 — Milwaukee, Wis. — Upper Iowa
Marquis Edmond — DB — 6-2 — 195 — Baltimore, Md. — Virginia State
Caleb Goodloe — WR — 6-1 — 205 — St. Petersburg, Fla. — Bowling Green
Ethan Headings — DB — 6-2 — 200 — Iowa City, Iowa — Iowa City West HS
Travis Hines II — DB — 6-2 — 180 — Papillion, Neb. — Iowa Western
Ben Kamara — DB — 6-3 — 200 — Philadelphia, Pa. — Akron
Matt Lawson — RB — 5-10 — 225 — Hoffman Estates, Ill. — Illinois State
Kylyn Macklin — DL — 6-3 — 255 — Cincinnati, Ohio — UAlbany
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMason McFarland — DB — 5-10 — 195 — Elk Grove, Calif. — Sacramento City College
Mason Miller — LB — 6-3 — 235 — Colorado Springs, Colo. — Iowa State
Kefa Pereira — DL — 6-1 — 305 — San Antonio, Texas — Eastern Illinois
Madden Thorson — WR — 5-11 — 185 — Harvey, N.D. — Minnesota State Moorhead
Ty Vig — DL — 6-5 — 215 — Hallock, Minn.| Minnesota State Community and Technical College Fergus Falls
Cameron Weir — WR — 5-11 — 153 — Fort Lauderdale, Fla. — Washington State
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