Sports

Braaten to move to slot receiver at MSUM

By Tyler Ohmann

01/28/2014

After a storied career as a quarterback and defensive back of the Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn Sioux the past four years Hunter Braaten will continue playing football, but he will be turning it on it’s head.

That’s because the Westhope senior recently decided to be a slot receiver for Minnesota State University-Moorhead.

“I’m looking forward to being a slot receiver, and that’s exciting because I’m pretty athletic, and they’ll give me the ball and I’ll be in the open field,” Braaten said.

Catching passes was about the only thing Braaten did not do during his high school career.

In the past four seasons in which the Sioux made the playoffs all four years, Braaten smashed school records for passing, rushing and scoring on offense and also tackling, pass deflections and tackles for a loss on defense.

However, the coaches for the MSUM Dragons must have seen something in his ability to be in the slot, and their persistence in recruiting him paid off.

“Their coaching staff, they got to me,” Braaten said. “They showed up to some of my basketball games, and they just talked me into it pretty much.”

Braaten knows he’ll have to step up his game at the next level, but he destroyed opponents at the nine-man and Class A levels in North Dakota.

“You have to play your best every day, and even in practice, because this is the best competition I’ll ever play against,” Braaten said.

Braaten will likely redshirt as is custom for Division II freshman, but he’s not worried about not being out on the field for game day.

“They’ll have me training the whole time, and they can always pull it if they think I’m ready to go,” Braaten said.

Braaten said the 4.5 hours or so distance from home won’t bother him, and he is just excited to play for a growing program.

Perennial cellar dwellers in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference the Dragons went 4-7 last season, and Braaten believes they’ll continue that trend.

“The last four years they’ve been building up their program, upgrading their practice facilities and the coaching is making them better and better,” Braaten said.

Braaten truly was the best in a bunch of great players for the Sioux.

For his senior season Braaten unofficially finished with 1,922 yards rushing on 238 carries for an average of more than eight yards a carry. He had 27 touchdowns and 11 two point conversions on the ground as well.

Through the air the quarterback had 1,187 yards and 10 touchdowns. He added a 90 yard kick return for a touchdown and two punt returns for touchdowns. He averaged more than 26 yards per punt return and 28 yards per kick return.

He wasn’t just an offensive threat, but a great defender as well. He made 136 total tackles, 96 of them solo and 16 of them for a loss. He forced and recovered four fumbles, defelected four passes and added two sacks, two defensive touchdowns and an interception.

Braaten also holds several school records including: tackles in a season (139 in 2012); career tackles (310); career tackles for a loss (30); pass deflections (18); career rushing yards (4,360); career touchdowns (83); career completions (273); passing yards (3,502); career carries (682); touchdowns in a season (39 in 2013); completions in a season (110 in 2012) and scoring in a season (284 points in 2013).