FARGO — Jackson Williams was a finalist for Nebraska’s Mr. Football when he was at Millard West High School, just outside Omaha. But in his pre-high school career, he was much more than that: He was a standout baseball player with a fastball that reached speeds of up to 92 miles per hour.

As a wide receiver at North Dakota State, he’s not as fast, but certainly fast enough to lose his redshirt. Head coach Tim Polasek confirmed this week that Williams will be part of the regular rotation as a receiver and kickoff returner.

NDSU was without starting receivers Braylon Henderson and RaJa Nelson last week, so Williams filled that role and Nelson served as kickoff returner. He nearly scored on a 55-yard kick against East Tennessee State.

“I think I’m one man short every time,” Williams said. “I get in a lot of trouble for getting pushed out of the field by the kicker, you know, 1,000 push-ups. Next time we’ll do it right.”

Williams also had a key pass reception in NDSU’s fourth-quarter comeback. On the first play after the Bison forced the Buccaneers to punt, he took a short pass from quarterback Cam Miller and turned it into a 20-yard gain to the ETSU 31-yard line.

The Bison scored five plays later and reduced the score to 35-30 with 1:59 minutes left.

“When I caught the ball, it was second nature to me to find my way and find space,” Williams said.

NDSU coaches first approached Williams about redshirting him at the start of practice in early August. At Millard West, he twice set a national record with a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

“I told them I’m willing to do whatever’s best for the team and that’s my main goal,” he said. “I just needed to keep learning as best as I could, learn the offense and keep up with the older guys. It feels a little more natural. College football is obviously a lot harder than high school football, but I’m getting used to it.”

Polasek said: “Here’s another guy who got the chance because someone went down. Now is the right time and he’s going to strike.”

Former NDSU head coach Craig Bohl, who was inducted into the Bison Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, said Polasek’s experience with other head coaches such as Kansas State’s Chris Klieman and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz will benefit him in his job at NDSU.

Also include Bohl in this mix.

“Simply his broad experience base,” said Bohl. “First of all, he is very passionate about what he does and this authenticity comes across. He knows the recipe for success and is really determined to put the Bisons on the path to the national championship.”

Polasek came to NDSU as an assistant in 2006 and worked his way up the ranks, serving as running backs coach from 2007 to 2009 and adding tight ends and fullbacks the next three years.

He went to FBS Northern Illinois for a year in 2013 and returned to Fargo as offensive coordinator in 2014 when Klieman was hired.

This is not the first trip to the Fargodome for Towson head coach Pete Shinnick. As an assistant at St. Cloud State from 1995 to 1997, he traveled to Fargo twice as offensive coordinator with the Huskies.

He also recruited during his time in St. Cloud, North Dakota.

“I was there in September, October and November and it snowed,” he joked. “I was there on a recruiting trip in December and it definitely snowed.”

Shinnick later moved to Azusa Pacific (California), where he became head coach at the age of 33. His breakthrough came when he led West Florida to the Division II championship in 2019. He is now in his 26th year as head coach.

“Come here. I feel like we have all the resources and the chance to be one of the top teams in the country,” he said.

Shinnick is the son of Don Shinnick, a former NFL linebacker who played with Baltimore Colts legend Johnny Unitas. Towson Stadium is named after Unitas. A picture of his father and Unitas hugging after a game has hung in Pete’s office for years.

“When this opportunity came up, I said, ‘Are you kidding me? I’m going to work at Johnny Unitas Stadium,'” he said.

Towson’s starting quarterback Carlos Davis was injured in a win over Morgan State two weeks ago and missed last week’s close 14-13 loss at Villanova. Shinnick said he was available on an emergency basis last week and is ready to play again this week.

Nathan Kent, who started last season, is also one of the quarterbacks. At the beginning of this week, it was still unclear who would start against the Bison.

“Sean just had a great week of practice,” Shinnick said. “I think that made us a better football team overall. When you have two quarterbacks that you feel comfortable with, you always feel like you’re in a position to attack people and match them up.”

In his two games, Davis completed 42 of 65 passes (65%) with three touchdowns and one interception. Last week, Brown completed 20 of 36 (56%) with one touchdown.

• The Missouri Valley and Big Sky Conferences dominated Stats Perform’s Top 25 media poll this week, with teams from both leagues combining to occupy 10 of the top 13 spots. That doesn’t include Valley teams Northern Illinois at No. 17 and Northern Iowa at No. 25.
• Towson has played in Fargo once before, in a 1983 Division II quarterfinal playoff game that the Bison won 24-17 at Dacotah Field. NDSU won 35-7 at Towson in 2021 and by the same score in the 2013 national title game in Frisco, Texas.
• The Tigers are currently playing three top-ranked teams. Last week it was No. 5 Villanova, this week No. 2 NDSU and, after an off week, No. 12 William & Mary.
• The Bisons’ 11-game home winning streak ended last year with a 24-19 loss to South Dakota.

Jeff would like to dispel the notion that he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he has been a reporter for Forum Communications for three decades. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked for the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and, since 1990, The Forum, where he has covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough” and “Covid Kids.” He is the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” from April through August.