UND football looking forward to a return to health during bye

Nov. 9—GRAND FORKS — At the start of the season, the UND football bye week didn't seem to time well as the second-to-last regular season week of the year.The late bye makes for a grueling stretch of games. Yet, now that it's arrived, the timing almost feels advantageous.After improving to 7-4 with a 49-21 win over Illinois State last Saturday, the Fighting Hawks don't play this week before finishing the regular season at home against Southern Illinois."Everyone kind of needs it right now ... let the bodies heal," said UND linebacker Mike Devereaux, who was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Player of the Week on Monday after a career-high 13 tackles against the Redbirds.Fighting Hawks head coach Eric Schmidt said the bye week is going to be important for players taking the field recently at less than 100 percent health."Obviously, the defensive line is hitting and banging every day, so it's good for them to take time here with shoulders and knees," Schmidt said. "There are probably four or five skill guys on either side of the ball that are probably at 65, 70, 80 percent. Adrenaline and toughness are getting them through on game day."Football and this team mean a lot to them. You can tell that by how they show up and find a way every Saturday. During the week is hard (to get players rest). The timing element is hard. You have to put in the work winning requires and manage as much as you can. A lot of the guys I'm talking about are second or third year players, so it's not fifth year players who don't need to work during the week."Offensively, quarterback Jerry Kaminski has played through injuries to an ankle and a toe, while wide receiver-returner Cam Weir and tight end Nathan Hromadka have been in and out of the lineup in recent weeks due to injury. Defensively, safeties Tyler Erkman and Avery Dixon have battled through injuries most of the year."If we can get these guys feeling better, their production will go up and they'll be more confident when their bodies are feeling better," Schmidt said. "It excites me to give those guys some time to recover and feel better. That's going to be a big piece of the week."UND has been able to work more of the true freshmen class into the game plan, particularly on special teams, in recent weeks, adding more workload to linebacker Nate Appleget, safety Ethan Headings and linebacker Jack Vyhnalek."To grow the 20 or 22 guys on each side of the ball we're counting on right now ... we want to try to expand that here throughout the bye week and then into the postseason," Schmidt said. "That's what it's about — great teams are built in practice. It's fundamentals, it's situational football, skills ... those are the things that we'll continue to work here this week."