DULUTH — One of Brent Laing’s earliest memories of playing high school football was some wise words of advice from his coach, Lakeville (Minnesota) North’s Brian Vossen.
“He said, ‘On the field, you’ve got to be the meanest guy you can between the whistles, the meanest, nastiest player, but off the field, you’ve got to be the nicest guy ever,’” Laing said. “It was ninth or 10th grade, and I don’t know why, but that just stuck with me. Ever since I heard that, that’s how I try to live my life while I’m playing football.”
Laing, a 6-foot-4, 294-pound right tackle, certainly has done that in six years with the Minnesota Duluth football team. The captain and three-year starter will be one of 16 seniors honored at noon Saturday when the Bulldogs (5-3) host Minot State (0-8) in NSIC North Division football on Senior Day at Malosky Stadium.
“I really can’t believe it’s gone this fast, it’s kind of crazy,” Laing said. “Time has really flown ever since I’ve been up here.”
UMD, which has been riddled by injuries, especially on the defensive side of the football, is coming off a 41-16 loss at Bemidji State, a loss that likely extinguishes the Bulldogs’ playoff hopes with three games remaining on the regular season.
Last week’s loss was tough, but after about 24 hours or so of grousing, it was time to put on big-boy pants and get back to work.
“It was definitely a tough loss last week, but everyone is back up and excited,” Laing said. “We’re excited to get back to Malosky, for Senior Day, which has traditionally been a big game for us where we always play well, so let’s keep that tradition going. We want to go out on a high note here at UMD and win out.”
If you look at Laing’s bio and headshot
on the UMD website,
he looks like a young Mike McCarthy, a jolly giant, but once the game starts, and that ball is snapped, Laing is a mauler.
“Brent is a guy who just continues to get better every year,” UMD football coach Curt Wiese said. “He’s a very athletic offensive lineman, very serious about the game of football. He is as nice and as good of a teammate as we’ve had but between the whistles he is a vicious offensive lineman. He’s not a mean guy but we’ve had a lot of opposing coaches talk about just how tenacious Brent is as an offensive lineman, and he’s gotten better every fall.”
Those are the types of attributes that project well to the next level. It doesn’t hurt being big and stronger either, as Laing can bench press 385 pounds and squat lift 515.
Laing is among three UMD seniors who have been getting NFL interest including fullback/tight end Zach Ojile and wide receiver Armani Carmickle, who broke UMD’s single-season record with 1,315 receiving yards last season but dealt with an injury earlier this season.
Terry Norton / UMD Athletics
“I think we’ve had about every NFL team on campus at least once this fall,” Wiese said. “Brent will end up in an NFL camp somewhere, whether it’s drafted in April or a free-agent deal, we’ll see. We’re hoping all three of those guys end up in some sort of postseason bowl game and have an opportunity to put themselves on the radar.”
Wiese said Laing ranks up there with Duluth Central graduate Garth Heikkinen and Peter Bateman as the best offensive linemen the Bulldogs have had in Wiese’s UMD tenure, which began in 2008.
“We have a really good offensive line right now, and we’ve had some very good offensive lines since I’ve been here, but those three guys are another notch above,” Wiese said. “Their athleticism, their knowledge, they had qualities that could potentially project to the next level. Brent is right in there with those three.”
If the NFL doesn’t work out, Laing will have not one but two degrees to fall back on. He earned his business degree last December, and taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the coronavirus pandemic, came back to earn his finance degree this fall.
That feeling was mutual among his roommates: Ojile, running back Wade Sullivan and quarterback Garrett Olson, all seniors living at “the old-man house,” as Laing called it.
“We all pretty much knew right away that we were going to come back,” Laing said.
And that says a lot about their experience at UMD.
Coming out of Lakeville North, Laing had strong interest from fellow NSIC schools Augustana and Bemidji State but has no regrets about attending UMD, even if this year hasn’t gone exactly according to plan.
“I came up for my junior day and kind of fell in love with it, just the school, the guys on the team and then the city itself,” said Laing, who loves hunting and ice fishing. “It was better than any other school that I visited. It really didn’t take long to kind of pick out UMD.
“I’ve fallen in love with the city. If I could I would stay up here and live up here but you’ve got to move on eventually, but definitely, no regrets.”
MINOT STATE AT MINNESOTA DULUTH
What: NSIC North Division football game; Senior Day
When: noon Saturday
Where: Malosky Stadium
Records: Minot State 0-8, UMD 5-3
Forecast: sunny with a high of 61 and 9 mph wind
TV: My9
Internet: nsicnetwork.com/umdbulldogs
Radio: KDAL 610 AM & 103.9 FM
MINOT STATE AT MINNESOTA DULUTH
National rankings: Neither team is ranked.
Series: Minnesota Duluth leads 9-0, including a 34-21 victory last October in Minot, North Dakota, as running back Wade Sullivan rushed 13 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns as the Bulldogs broke from a 7-7 halftime tie with 17 unanswered points in the third quarter.
Coaches: Curt Wiese is 85-21 in nine seasons at UMD; Mike Aldrich is 9-43 in five seasons at Minot State.
Outlook: Minot State is coming off a 33-22 loss at Upper Iowa as the Peacocks used a 20-point second quarter to take a 20-10 halftime lead and then held off the Beavers in a matchup of winless teams. Dawson Macleary was 14-for-33 passing for 197 yards and an interception and Ali Mohamed carried 19 times for 75 yards and a touchdown for Minot State. Macleary, a 6-foot-1 sophomore, has averaged 175 passing yards per game but has nine interceptions to only five touchdown tosses.
UMD is coming off a 41-16 loss at Bemidji State as freshman quarterback Kyle Walljasper, making his first collegiate start for injured senior Garrett Olson, rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown and threw for another 106 yards but struggled with three interceptions. In addition to Olson, the Bulldogs have myriad injuries on defense, in particular at linebacker, where instead of asking who’s injured, you’re better off asking who isn’t injured?
UMD coach Curt Wiese was asked if he ever recalled having so many guys out on defense?
“Not in one position,” he said. “We’ve been banged up before but … I think we’re down five or six inside linebackers right now, and that makes it tough.”
So the Bulldogs have played younger guys and moved guys around to compensate. Junior Brady Herbst of Superior has played defensive end, outside linebacker and now inside linebacker. He led the Bulldogs with 12 tackles last week.
“Brady is a guy we’ve moved around a couple times here, and he’s played well,” Wiese said.
And that was enough talking about injuries and replacements for Wiese. Yeah, it’s been the proverbial broken record this season, certainly more than normal.
“I don’t want to make any excuses about injuries,” Wiese said. “Like I told our guys on Sunday, we have no idea about the health of Bemidji State’s roster right now. We always assume that they’re healthy but the reality is nobody at this point is, so we’ve got to figure out a way to rebound and make due with the guys who are healthy. We’ve got 100-some guys on the roster for a reason.”
Offensive tackle Brent Laing will be one of 16 UMD seniors who will be honored Saturday. If only he could play defense.
“Oh I know, it’s really tough to see,” he said. “We have so much great leadership on this team, so many good players but injuries are part of the game, and unfortunately, it’s the worst part of the game.”
— Jon Nowacki, Duluth News Tribune
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