Moody accepts preferred walk-on offer from NDSU

• Nate Moody

Dickinson High receiver Nate Moody agreed Monday to a preferred walk-on offer from the North Dakota State football team.

Talk about it

Dickinson High senior Nate Moody wanted to play Division I football.

North Dakota State is giving him that chance.

Moody, a 6-foot-3 wide receiver, committed Monday morning to be a preferred walk-on for Bison next fall.

“After the season, I had some time to think about it,” Moody said. “I wanted to play at the highest level I could and NDSU is that chance for me.”

A preferred walk-on is a player who is recruited by a team and offered a non-scholarship roster spot. Moody said he will likely redshirt his first year.

“They went to great extremes to tell him that there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be scholarshipped next year,” said Dave Moody, Nate’s father.

Moody turned down Dickinson State, where his father teaches after retiring as the school’s volleyball coach in 2007. He said South Dakota State had been talking with him during the football season and that the University of Mary and Bemidji State had shown interest.

“I kind of knew all along since the end of the season that I wanted to go play D-I,” Moody said.

As a senior, Moody gained 1,189 yards and scored 13 touchdowns en route to a Class AAA all-state first team selection. He caught 42 passes for 654 yards and 11 TD.

He has a 4.75-second time in the 40-yard dash and finished fifth in the Class A 300-meter hurdles as a junior.

In basketball this season, Moody is averaging 15 points and 5.9 rebounds per game as the Midgets’ starting center.

He will become the first Dickinson High player to play for the Bison since their move to the NCAA Division I’s Football Championship Subdivision.

However, he is not the first area athlete to be a preferred walk-on for the team since they made the jump from Division II. Brock Gion, a safety from Mott-Regent High School, will enter his junior season with the Bison next fall.

National Letter of Intent signing day is Wednesday.

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