UMD Bulldogs "ALLETE" Moments: Competition
Throughout this year, UMD Athletics is partnering with Minnesota Power, ALLETE to highlight the Bulldogs accomplishments in the 3 C's: Classroom, Competition, Community.
The No. 17 University of Minnesota Duluth football team had 12 players named to 2023 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference All Conference Teams Wednesday, including nine that earned first team designations.
Senior tight end Sam Pitz, graduate offensive lineman Treyvon Cahalan and graduate offensive lineman Arik Johnson were named NSIC All Conference First Team Offense selections, while redshirt senior linebacker Andrew Klopp, senior defensive lineman Drew Hennessey, senior defensive lineman Ethan Beffert and fifth-year senior defensive back Marcus Glodowski all earned NSIC All Conference First Team Defense accolades. Both senior kicker Curtis Cox and junior punter Logan Kobus were named NSIC All Conference First Team Special Teams selections.
Three Bulldogs landed on NSIC All Conference Second Teams, including senior offensive lineman Aiden Williams and redshirt sophomore quarterback Kyle Walljasper, both Second Team Offense honorees, while graduate defensive back Tim Pokornowski picked up an NSIC All Conference Second Team Defense nod.
Cahalan, from Champlin, Minn., becomes a two-time NSIC First Team selection, who was also twice a NSIC Second Team nod, giving him a conference honor for all four seasons he competed for the Bulldogs. Birchwood, Wis. native Johnson now owns back-to-back-back NSIC First Team honors after pocketing the award last season. Williams, a product of Anchorage, Alaska, becomes a two-time all NSIC Second Team honoree after earning the accolades in 2022. All three lineman were pivotal in UMD's rushing offense that led the NSIC and ranked seventh in the nation over the regular season, averaging 243.8 yards a game. They also blocked for the NSIC's top rushing TD player, Walljasper, who put up 16 rushing touchdowns in 11 games.
Pitz is now a three-time NSIC All Conference selection -- including two-time First Team nods -- after posting the most offensive season of his career. The native of Appleton, Wis. caught nine touchdowns passes in 2023, dwarfing his TD output of his first three seasons combined.
Walljasper put up one of the most impressive seasons by a Bulldog quarterback in years, compiling 22 passing TDs to pair with 16 rushing touchdowns and one TD reception for a total of 39 on the year. His first NSIC season-long honor, the Fond du Lac, Wis.product ran for 1,073 yards this season and ranked first in NSIC in six different categories, including total points scored (102), scoring (9.3), rushing TDS (16, where he also ranked 7th in the NCAA), points responsible for (21.5, 4th in the NCAA), and points responsible for season (236, 3rd in the NCAA).
Cox makes his first NSIC All Conference Team after twice being named the league's Special Teams Player of the Week this season. Hailing from Dodgeville, Wis., Cox ranked third in the NSIC for total points scored a game (7.5) and led the NSIC with a 80. FG percentage. Cox also went 46-of-47 on PA and went 10-straight games without missing a PA attempt.
From Green Bay, Wis., Kobus averaged 39. 8 yards a punt this season and hit the second-longest punt in the conference, a 73 yard effort against Wayne State on Oct. 7.
On the defensive side of the ball, Hennessey, Beffert, Glodowski, Klopp and Pokornowski were all part of a defensive core that put up some of the best numbers in the conference all season long. Hennessey, out of Highland, Wis. was third in the NSIC in sacks per game, and posted nine on the season, while ranking fourth in the NSIC for 1.23 tackles per loss a game. Beffert finished fifth in the regular season with 1.18 tackles for loss, and the Hutchinson, Minn. product posted 33 tackles over the season, a huge career-best effort. Klopp, of Baldwin, Wis., had 43 tackles this season, including 29 solo efforts in addition to his first collegiate interception against Winona State on Sept. 30. Klopp, who hails from Baldwin, Wis., ranked second for the Bulldogs with 43 total tackles, including 29 solo efforts and averaged 5.5 tackles per loss a game for a total of 25 overall.
Glowdowski becomes a three-time NSIC All Conference selection, and back-to-back First Team honoree. From Stevens Point, Wis., the fifth-year senior had three interceptions this season, tying a career season best effort and recorded 55 tackles – a single-season career-high for the DB. Pokornowski earns a NSIC Second Team nod for a second consecutive season after turning in three interceptions. A Cloquet, Minn. native, Pokornowski registered 33 tackles and racked up 100 yards in punt return duties this season for an average return of 16.7 yards an attempt.
The Bulldogs finished the 2023 season 9-2 overall and 8-2 in NSIC play, and averaged an NSIC-best 37.7 points a game and league-high 54 touchdowns, all while holding opponents to an NSIC-low 293.9 yards a game. UMD also had the best rushing offense, averaging a whopping 243.6 yards a contest.
About Minnesota Power, ALLETE:
Our bold vision centers on our commitment to climate, customers and communities. We're a clean-energy leader under our EnergyForward strategy, already delivering 50% renewable energy ahead of all other Minnesota utilities. Now we're doubling down on that with a vision to deliver 100% carbon-free energy to customers reliably and affordably by 2050. Learn more at: https://www.mnpower.com/CarbonFreeEnergyVision
