The tiny town of Kindred, N.D., just southwest of Fargo, has a population of about 1,000 people.

When a few high-profile visitors rolled through Kindred Public School District 2 on Jan. 26, it was not a surprise that the middle schoolers sharing a building with Kindred High School could hardly contain their excitement.

“Hey, Michigan is here!” young students squealed to their teachers.

“Notre Dame’s here!”

Indeed, football coaches from both staffs had made the trip to Kindred on the same day. Stanford came, too.

It’s not often that college football coaches flock to North Dakota for recruits, but it’s also not often that North Dakota — a state that, as recently as last year, didn’t have a player ranked among the top 2,000 prospects in the country — is pumping out blue-chippers.

This year, the state has two four-stars in the same class for the first time in the modern recruiting era, which dates back to 2002. And it just so happens that tight end Brooks Bakko, the nation’s No. 120 prospect, and athlete Luke Starcevic, No. 216, attend the same high school — a school with just over 400 students in grades 7-12.

“It’d be hard to put a number on it,” Kindred head coach and middle school principal Eric Burgad said of the number of college teams that have come through his program to visit the star-studded duo. “It was crazy, though. It got to a point where I had to ask myself, ‘OK, do I need some help with this?’ because I’m our middle school principal and I’ve got a job to do during the day, and the number of coaches that reach out and just want to be in Kindred … is a lot.

“We’re happy when the dead period comes around, and these guys can catch a breath.”

Bakko, who received his first Division I offer from Minnesota around this time last year, committed to the Gophers late Monday night, waking his parents up around midnight to tell them the good news once he got off the phone with tight ends coach Eric Koehler.

#AGTG COMMITTED❗️❗️
I am blessed to announce my commitment to the University of Minnesota 〽️〽️ I would like to thank my Family, Coaches, and teammates for this opportunity! ROW THE BOAT! @CoachKoehler @Coach_Fleck @CoachHarbaugh @nick20lee @kindredfootball #skiumah pic.twitter.com/bSguMs0rjf

— Brooks Bakko (@BakkoBrooks) April 7, 2026

Starcevic has upcoming official visits planned to Notre Dame, Kansas State and Oregon, and is hoping to issue a commitment within the next month or so.

The two pals have known each other since fifth grade, dating back to their days playing grassroots basketball together.

Now they’re putting North Dakota high school football on the map.

“Going through it together has been unique, obviously, and we’ve both had a lot of fun, and it’s been a really cool opportunity for us,” Starcevic said. “Maybe we’ll look back in a little bit and realize how special it is. It’s been cool to be, I guess, the face of football recruiting in the state, and it’s just been a fun journey. We’ve both worked hard for this, and we’re happy it’s all paying off.”

Burad has been a high school coach for a dozen years and a head coach for three. He’s aware that North Dakota isn’t exactly the first (or most convenient) stop on the list for college recruiters who routinely flock to Georgia, Florida, California and Texas for talent.

Recently, however, Burad has noticed that North Dakota seems to be producing more FBS-caliber recruits. Riley Sunram, a former four-star defensive lineman out of Kindred, signed with Minnesota in the Class of 2024. Starcevic’s older brother, Jake, a former three-star linebacker, enrolled at Army in the Class of 2025 before transferring home to North Dakota in December.

Burgad has a theory for the shift.

“I honestly think social media has made the recruiting just really kind of open up,” he said. “It’s easy for these kids to take their highlights from a Friday night game or the first four games of a season and put them on their X (account) and that stuff, coaches are very well connected.

“If a coach in Minnesota sees it, it might make its way to a coach in the South and a coach on the West Coast, and I just think those things circulate a lot better. We’ve always had really good players in our state — maybe it’s just a little bit easier to access them now.”

Bakko and Starcevic have both received double-digit offers, many from schools in the Big Ten and Big 12. Because North Dakota is so cold, they play multiple sports year-round and don’t just focus on football — another advantage from Burgad’s perspective that makes his recruits more well-rounded athletically in this era of hyper-specialization. It helps that both players are comfortable playing in the snow, too.

Starcevic’s recruitment has been particularly interesting because some schools are recruiting him as a defensive end, others project him as an offensive lineman and Oregon is pursuing him as a tight end.

He played tight end and defensive end as a junior this past season, with Burgad and the school’s offensive coordinator jumping at the opportunity to put him on the field with Bakko in 12-personnel packages.

“He’s one of the best football players I’ve seen,” Bakko said. “So I’m proud of him, I’m going to support him wherever he goes.”

Kindred rolled through the 2025 regular season with a 10-0 record but was upset, in overtime, by Devils Lake in the Division AA semifinal.

In many ways, Bakko and Starcevic are the only two people in North Dakota who know exactly what the other is experiencing. Many times when a college coach would visit the school and the two friends would temporarily be excused from their respective classes, they’d walk through the hallways together, wondering about who might be waiting for them.

“Having Luke, one of my best friends, by my side through it and helping each other out, visiting places together, it’s been really fun,” Bakko said.

The duo has one more season of high school football together before Bakko heads off to Minnesota and Starcevic is off to his school of choice. In addition to Kansas State, Notre Dame and Oregon, Starcevic said he might schedule a few more official visits.

If these two are successful at the next level, it will only help put the spotlight on one of only five states in the U.S. with fewer than 1 million people.

“I definitely think it’s growing and people are finding out more about the talent in our state, which is good,” Starcevic said. “Hopefully it continues to grow in the future and North Dakota keeps thriving.”

SUNDAY EVENING – MONDAY MORNING: A low-pressure system brought scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms to the northern areas Sunday morning and afternoon. Temperatures also reached the 40s and 50s in most areas, with only a few 60s and 70s in the southern Valley. By early evening, any leftover rain will be out of the northern areas. There is a chance of an isolated thunderstorm in the southern Valley Sunday evening, so we’ll keep an eye on the risk. Otherwise, expect increasing clouds and temperatures in the 40s and 50s during the evening hours. Overnight into Monday morning, overcast skies will settle across our region. Morning lows will be in the 30s to low-40s.

FIRST ALERT MONDAY: After a cool morning, Monday will start the workweek on an active note. A low-pressure system will lift moisture and instability into the Northern Plains. As a result, rain showers will lift into the northern Valley and international border. The northern areas will see rain during the late morning and afternoon timeline. Meanwhile, Lakes Country may see a few isolated showers and storms. There is a Level 1 risk for severe weather in Lakes Country and the southern Valley. That means there is a chance of isolated severe storms producing large hail, damaging winds, and a few downpours. The timeline of the threat is in the early afternoon to late evening. Therefore, keep the VNL Weather App handy for the storm threat. The first round of moisture moves out before midnight. By that time, expect about 0.2 – 0.4″ of rain in some areas.

Besides the showers, the workweek will start with mostly cloudy skies. Afternoon highs will “only” reach the mid-40s up north and the 50s down south.

TUESDAY: Another round of showers will lift into the northern Valley early overnight into Tuesday morning. The precipitation will come down as a rain/snow mix. The bulk of the mix will be in northeast ND and the international border. The rain and mix will push out of our region early afternoon, leaving between 0.25″ to over 0.5″ of moisture in some areas. Of that amount, up to 1″ of snow is expected on grassy surfaces.

After the showers move out, we’re looking at a mostly cloudy, mild day. Morning lows will be in the upper-30s and afternoon highs will be in the 50s.

WEDNESDAY – THURSDAY: Towards the middle of the week, an upper-level ridge and warm front will drag warm air into our region. As a result, morning lows will be in the 40s and afternoon highs will be in the mid-to-upper-60s. Additionally, we’re looking at mostly sunny skies. Overall, this coming midweek will feel like late spring. Thursday night, however, rain showers may push into our region, ahead of our next weather maker.

FRIDAY – WEEKEND: On Friday, a complex low-pressure system will sweep into our region. It’s likely to bring wintry mix at times, which may cause a few impacts. Therefore, we’ll keep an eye on the upcoming system. Heading into the weekend, any leftover moisture will move out of our region, leaving partly to mostly sunny skies over the weekend. As for temperatures, Friday and the weekend will be on the cool side. Morning lows will be near-freezing and afternoon highs will be in the 40s.

FARGO 7-DAY FORECAST:

Monday: Breezy and cooler. Showers north. Chance thunderstorms south. Low: 40 High: 56

Tuesday: Partly cloudy. AM rain/mix north. Low: 38 High: 57

Wednesday: Sunny skies. Low: 41 High: 68

Thursday: Mostly sunny. Late PM isolated shower chance Low: 45 High: 67

Friday: Cooler with chance showers/mix. Low: 32 High: 45

Saturday: Cold morning. AM chance mix. Mostly cloudy. Low: 26 High: 43

Sunday: Mostly sunny. Breezy. Low: 28 High: 51

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The Grand Rapids Griffins are adding another new face to the room at the end of their regular season. Dylan James is joining the team on an amateur tryout for after signing a two year entry level contract with the Red Wings beginning with the 2026-27 season.

The now 22-year-old forward was named rookie of the year in the USHL after a standout season in his draft year, and was taken by the Red Wings 40th overall in the 2022 draft. James joins a handful of other Red Wings second round picks in Grand Rapids, including Trey Augustine (42, 2023) and Eddie Genborg (44, 2025) as they make their Calder Cup Playoff run.

After being drafted by the Red Wings, James spent the next four years developing at the University of North Dakota, helping the Fighting Hawks to become the NCHC regular season champions twice in his college career, as well as reaching this year’s Frozen Four. James and the Fighting Hawks were knocked out by the Wisconsin Badgers in the quarterfinal, however.

The senior forward was named as one of the team’s alternate captains this year, and collected 32 points across 40 games with 21 goals and 11 assists, bringing his UND career totals to 89 points with 52 goals and 37 assists.

Standing at 6’1″ and 192lbs, James is known for his puck security and willingness to make the extra step as a defender in addition to his offensive capabilities. The Griffins, now with several Red Wings prospects on the roster, will look to get further than last year’s first round exit.