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Sep. 27—GRAND FORKS — UND senior linebacker Josh Navratil was sitting on the fence about coming back for the 2024 season.
Already a business owner and the holder of a college degree, Navratil was unsure about his future — whether he wanted to embark on his professional career or give college football one final go-around.
He had a long conversation with outside linebackers coach Tom Dosch and head coach Bubba Schweigert.
“The thing I emphasized was you have the opportunity to be a top leader of 106 guys, and you’ll never have that opportunity again as an athlete,” Dosch said. “We knew if we would have him back with his experience, his leadership and play-making ability, it was going to be beneficial to our team and it certainly is.”
The ability for UND’s coaches to convince Navratil to return for a final season in Grand Forks is paying off.
Through four weeks, Navratil has 3.0 sacks, 5.0 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery.
“One thing he and I talked about quite a bit over the winter and spring was cutting loose and playing a little bit fearless at times,” Dosch said. “He’s a really smart kid in football terms and knows our assignments. He was maybe so concerned about doing everything right according to scheme. Sometimes at outside backer, you just have to cut loose and make plays.”
UND’s defense is giving up about 50 fewer yards per game of total offense this season than the nearly 390 yards per game it surrendered a year ago.
“He’s playing with confidence,” UND defensive coordinator Joel Schwenzfeier said. “He knows what he’s doing so he can anticipate better.”
With the outside linebackers starting to make more plays, Schwenzfeier said calling plays is easier.
“It allows you to be a little more simple,” he said. “You don’t have to scheme it up. They can just play football.”
Even more than the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/josh-navratils-decision-return-paying-003300782.html
Author : Grand Forks Herald
Publish date : 2024-09-28 00:33:00
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