歪歪漫画

Josh Navratil calls himself a late bloomer.

Pine Island (Minn.) High 歪歪漫画 football coach John Stapleton echoes that.

But once Navratil bloomed, wow! He became the best player who Stapleton has ever coached. Six-feet-2, 215-pounds of quick-twitch muscle, together with a raging desire to excel.

Stapleton had a different kind of breed on his hands. So he did what he rarely does. He got on the telephone and started spreading the word, letting the college football world know that he had a budding star in his midst.

鈥淎fter his junior year, we determined as a football staff that Josh had the physical attributes and the ability in the classroom to play at the Division I level,鈥� Stapleton said. 鈥淗e鈥檇 busted onto the scene. So I reached out to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Iowa State. I was contacting schools on his behalf.鈥�

Nothing came of those calls, though Minnesota did make one late push to get Navratil to sign as a preferred walk-on. But by then, it was too late. That鈥檚 because another Division I school had jumped onto Navratil鈥檚 bandwagon much earlier and never left it.

Plus, that one was offering a full-ride scholarship. It was the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. The Fighting Hawks got wind of Navratil鈥檚 exploits and potential shortly after he鈥檇 completed his junior football season at Pine Island. UND coaches sent Navratil a message on Twitter, recruiter and assistant coach Carl Reinholz telling him he鈥檇 be in the neighborhood and would like to watch him work out and talk to him.

鈥淭hat first visit was only about 10 to 15 minutes,鈥� Navratil said.

No matter. A relationship had immediately been built.

Scholarship offers from Division II schools Minnesota State, Mankato, Minnesota Duluth and Southwest Minnesota State came later. And big interest was shown by Division I schools North Dakota State and South Dakota State.

But Reinholz won out. He did it by being a constant in Navratil鈥檚 life

鈥淭hat was the main reason I ended up choosing UND,鈥� Navratil said. 鈥�(Reinholz) contacted me about five times per month. And he wasn鈥檛 the only one doing it from (UND). The UND defensive line coach, the quarterbacks coach and the offensive coordinator were all sending me letters.鈥�

By July 13, 2018, just less than two months after he鈥檇 completed his junior year, Navratil was all theirs. It marked the day that he verbally committed to North Dakota.

UND had offered him on June 20 at one of its football camps in Grand Forks, where Navratil had been a participant. That camp solidified things for him. So did the fact that the Pine Island star had yearned to play Division I football and to do it in a place that wasn鈥檛 sprawling.

UND fit both of those bills, including Grand Forks being a manageable 55,000 people.

But it was that coaching staff that really won him over.

鈥淭hat (camp) had given me a chance to get coached by their staff,鈥� Navratil said. 鈥淭hey showed me then that they could push me to get to the level that I want to be at.鈥�

Navratil is now one year into his time at UND. The Fighting Hawks redshirted him this past season, getting him ready to be a Division I linebacker.

The former Pine Island star thinks he鈥檚 ready to make the jump now. He can鈥檛 wait to be playing this season, for real.

As motivated as he鈥檚 ever been, Navratil wants to build something special in Grand Forks.

鈥淢e and my teammates are very determined to turn this team into a national champion,鈥� Navratil said. 鈥淚 believe that we can grab a title in my years here. We鈥檙e changing the work ethic to get what we deserve.鈥�

The Recruiting Trail is a multi-part series exploring the state of collegiate athletic recruitment in the Upper Midwest.