Bemidji State Football Hauls in 29 Commits on 2025 National Signing Day

Wednesday was national signing day for football, and once again Bemidji State has hauled in a large group of signees. 29 recruits across 11 positions committed to play for the Beavers next season. Five different states are represented within the class, with 20 from Minnesota and five from the Lakeland viewing area.

Head Coach Brent Bolte was excited to introduce the 2025 class yesterday and how he expects them to build on the legacy the program – one that, for the past four years, has continually rewritten its postseason history.

It started with the team’s first NCAA tournament appearance in 2021 and then when they earned first and second round home games in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Finally, this past season, they played in the region final. But the foundation for which that success is built begins on the recruiting front.

“I want guys to stay here for four or five years, to be part of the development of themselves in our program and have it be a family-oriented affair,” said head coach Brent Bolte. “They know their expectation is to build it. We talk about, we’re eight quarters and about 10 seconds away from our ultimate goal last year, winning a national championship.”

Being that close has certainly helped recruiting in recent years, bringing more eyes to the program from further away.

“We weren’t able to probably recruit kids out of certain high schools as easy as we are now,” Bolte admitted. “Even the Illinois kids and Iowa kids know our program now, which, it’s culmination of continuing to win, yes, and doing things the right way as a staff and getting the right kids here.”

But this year, BSU didn’t have to go far to find some of the “right kids” for the program, with four coming from small towns within a 50-mile radius.

“You always start inside out, near to far,” explained Bolte. “Those kids, a lot of times, their family values and beliefs and everything else kind of structurally fit with what we sell here at BSU.”

That list includes:

• Eli Klimek – a linebacker out of Nevis who won a nine-player state title in 2023.
• Gavin Oelschlager – a tight end from Walker who played both ways in high school.
• Broden Benson – an offensive lineman from Clearbrook who led his team in pancake blocks.
• Ryan Carroll – a defensive end from Park Rapids who was an all-section and all-district selection and played in the state All-Star game.

“That might be the first time in a long time that we have that many guys from that close,” recalled Bolte. “You just got to know what you’re looking for and not bypass them and put them on a shelf.”

Hailing from just slightly further away is Brainerd defensive back Chad King. The senior captain had 67 tackles and an interception for a touchdown this season.

“They gave me a chance,” explained King on why he chose Bemidji State. “I know I might not look the biggest and I’m definitely not the strongest, but I know I can play football at the next level and I’m just glad BSU gave me a chance to show that.”

He joins five other defensive backs that will don the green and white next year. It’s a group that has lost some talent and volume over the last few seasons and was very young in 2024, but they aren’t the only group in need of volume.

“If you’ve paid attention to BSU football, we’ve had a pretty good run of defensive line guys over the last 10 years,” said Bolte. “But we did certainly lose a lot of great depth. Number one, a lot of great players. Number two, great humans. So we knew we’re gonna have to reload at this position. So we took three [defensive] ends, we took two [defensive] tackles.”

They won’t necessarily replace the seven defensive linemen lost to graduation or the transfer portal right away, but Coach Bolte is hopeful they will fit the winning mold built by the others that came before.

“We can get it done here,” Bolte said, referring to chasing a national title with an old school football mentality. “We found a way to win here at Bemidji State at a high level and keep our kids here and doing it in a unique way that the kids enjoy being in, and their parents, too. And that’s the fun part of it.”