FARGO — In a few weeks, Griffin Klosa will begin his 13th semester at North Dakota State University, likely tying the team record for most months spent on campus. And he’s pretty darn good in the football classroom.
The Bisons began the day with a hot and muggy afternoon on their first day of practice, which was Klosa’s sixth opening day.
“I don’t know, I think I’m probably getting the best credits of my career here,” Klosa said with a laugh.
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Academically, Klosa has an advantage in that he finished his bachelor’s degree a few years ago and is currently working on his MBA, which he hasn’t been able to complete yet due to soccer commitments, but will likely finish this semester.
The timing couldn’t have been better.
First, he sits fifth on NDSU’s career scoring list with 329 points and has a great chance to leave as its all-time leading scorer. Cam Pedersen had 399 points from 2015-18. With 42 career field goals, Closa needs a good season and maybe a playoff run to catch Adam Keller’s career mark of 56 points.
“Our sixth-year kicker is solid, we know that,” Bisons head coach Tim Polasek said. “It’s good to have a sixth-year kicker and a sixth-year quarterback (Cam Miller) who has experience in big situations.”
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Klosa graduated early from Dublin Scioto High School (Ohio) and enrolled at NDSU in the spring semester of 2019. Leaving high school early may have paid off, as Klosa was thrust into a starting role after just one game of his freshman season after Jake Reinholtz was injured in the first quarter of the season opener against Butler University (Indiana) at Target Field in Minneapolis.
Reinholtz returned for the national title win against James Madison in Frisco, Texas, but Crosa finished the season making 60 of 61 extra point attempts and 11 of 15 field goals.
Klosa redshirted in 2021 and Reinholtz was named the starter, giving him an extra year of eligibility this year, which made sense to take advantage of.
“NDSU was the only school that gave me an opportunity coming out of high school,” Crosa said, “so I feel even more loyal to the team.”
“This fall practice is different in that it’s the last practice, but that’s it. Other than that, he’s just coming to practice every morning and putting in the work. Polasek emphasized that, along with the other two kickers, Klosa is a veteran, but he has some competition behind him.”
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“Every year that I’ve been here, I’ve had to compete,” Klosa said. “Being here means you always have to prove yourself. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been here or what you’ve done. That’s another reason I love it here. It only makes me better and it only makes other people better too.”
Klosa was one of eight Bisons players named to the first, second or third team on the Stats Performance FCS All-American team on Monday. Klosa was selected to the third team.
Defensive tackle Eli Mostert, long snapper Hunter Brosio and safety Cole Wisniewski were named to the first team, while quarterback Cam Miller, offensive lineman Gray Zabel, defensive end Dylan Hendrix and linebacker Logan Copp were named to the second team.
NDSU had the most selections with eight, followed by South Dakota State University and Montana State University with six each and Montana State University with five.
While the focus is on this year, Klosa said he plans to give the NFL a shot when the time is right.
“I’ve never wanted to quit early but I definitely will at the end of this season,” he said. “I might take a week or two off at the end of this season but then I’ll be back in training.”
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Though he’d like to dispel any misconception that he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, Jeff is in his 30th year as a reporter for Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the son of a reporter and an English teacher, Jeff has worked for the Jamestown Sun, the Bismarck Tribune and, since 1990, the Forum, and has covered sports at North Dakota State University 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.
