Dec. 17—GRAND FORKS — Ty Vig is a UND football commit for the second time.
Vig, the younger brother of UND starting edge Kaden Vig, committed to UND in high school at Kittson County Central but changed course to play junior college basketball this fall as a true freshman at Minnesota State-Fergus Falls.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNow, he's heading back to the gridiron. Vig plans to take his physical Jan. 9 and start workouts Jan. 12 ahead of the Fighting Hawks' spring ball practices.
"Way back when I was committed here initially I was a walk-on and coming off a successful basketball season," Vig said Wednesday. "I wanted to keep the basketball thing rolling, so I went to M-State. We're having a good season, and I was playing 35 minutes and averaging 15 (points) and 11 (rebounds)."
Then earlier this week, Vig and UND head coach Eric Schmidt connected over the phone after Kaden and Schmidt had talked about the possibility of Ty joining the team during an exit interview following UND's loss to Tarleton State in the second round of the FCS Playoffs.
When Schmidt offered Ty a football scholarship, Ty jumped at the chance.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"It caught me off-guard a bit," Ty said. "I'm not going to say no to this, though. This is what I always wanted. I still love football but I wanted a scholarship in basketball. When (Schmidt) offered a scholarship, I was in right then."
Vig told his junior college coach, who Vig said understood the opportunity for his post player.
"It's an honor to go play (at UND) with Schmidt and what he's done with the team," Ty said.
Vig said he's going to start working at tight end but also learning the edge position.
"I'm really excited," Ty said. "I'm not going in in the fall. When I originally committed, I was going in during the fall and had to cram all that stuff in. Fall camp is super hard and a lot of stuff at once. Now I'm coming seven months early. I'll get in the workouts and study and learn my position."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLike his brother, Ty is 6-foot-5. Kaden went from 225 pounds to 260 pounds in one season at UND. The Hawks are likely banking on a big jump from Ty, as well.
Ty, who was a sophomore at KCC when Kaden was a senior, started the basketball season at 200 pounds and is up to 215. He's hoping to get up to 240.
Ty isn't worried about being away from football for a year.
"If you watch me play basketball, I play it like a football player," he said. "I think it'll be fine. I'll get a lot stronger."
Kaden was recently named to the all-Missouri Valley Football Conference second team. The Hallock, Minn., native had 5.5 sacks and 36 tackles. He had a 63-yard touchdown return against Northern Iowa after stripping the quarterback and picking up the fumble.
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