Oct. 20—GRAND FORKS — With four games left in the regular season, the UND football program will be moving ahead without running back Colton Brunell and most likely without nickel Jonnie Wiltshire.
Brunell was injured in the second half of the Fighting Hawks' upset of No. 1 South Dakota State last Saturday in the Alerus Center. Wiltshire, meanwhile, was denied Oct. 15 by Grand Forks County District Court in his pursuit of a preliminary injunction against the NCAA as he was seeking a fifth season of eligibility.
Wiltshire was eligible for the first eight games of the season due to a temporary restraining order, which was in place until the court could hear arguments from both the NCAA and Wiltshire.
"It's frustrating," UND head coach Eric Schmidt said of Wiltshire. "I feel like it's really hard to follow what the NCAA is doing. From our point of view, I think you have all these court cases because part of the argument on what the NCAA is talking about is just as far as not creating chaos. All these spots they're worried about taking away from younger people. Well, sitting in my chair, you see all the waivers go through and see the kids from a year ago able to play, you start to think, hey, this thing's probably going to happen again ... you reserve some of those roster spots because it's happened before, and it'll happen again. We're so far along in the school year, there's not going to be a flood of kids coming in that have been going to school here for the last nine weeks. For me, it's one of those deals where I wish they would just open it up for the (2022) class and let those guys play. I'm hoping that somehow, some way ... there are things going on right now in Kentucky and Ohio, where guys couldn't play last week and now they can play the week after, so we'll see where it goes. It's too bad for those guys that don't get an opportunity to do what some of their peers have been able to do in the past."
Wiltshire had 26 tackles this season and 3.5 tackles for loss. He added 2.0 sacks and four quarterback hurries. In his last game against Northern Iowa, Wiltshire had four tackles and a sack.
UND defensive back Avery Scott was also denied a preliminary injunction in district court. The third UND defender seeking a fifth season, Jy Martin, has remained eligible on a temporary restraining order as he awaits a preliminary injunction hearing.
Brunell, a 6-foot junior, will have surgery Wednesday.
"He's a guy, that as the season goes along, he has the right mindset," Schmidt said. "He was starting to get into the offense a little bit more, and I just feel like he's a strong kid. As the season goes on and people wear down, he typically doesn't. He had his best games a year ago in late October, November and December. That's where you probably noticed him the most. I just feel for him, but we'll support him here."
Brunell had 27 carries for 121 yards this season, with his biggest game coming against St. Thomas. He had 1 carries for 65 yards against the Tommies.
UND true freshman wide receiver Delvin Cook Jr. suffered a season-ending knee injury during warm-ups against SDSU.