Jul. 10—GRAND FORKS — UND sophomore wide receiver Deng Deng spent the last week hosting one-day football camps for youth players — both in Grand Forks and in Devils Lake.
Deng helped work with more than 100 kids at UND's camp put on by Sanford Health and Greater Grand Forks Youth Football in the Pollard Center, then teamed with quarterback Jerry Kaminski to put on a camp for more than 200 in Devils Lake.
Earlier this week, Deng said his offseason has been a mix of giving back to the community through camps and personal development.
"The focus of the summer has really just been training mainly," the 6-foot-4 Deng said. "Having fun coaching some of these camps and seeing all the little kids out here in the community. It's always great to see the kids.
"I feel like I'm just focused on being a more well-rounded receiver, someone that could be put out there in every situation, run every route in the playbook that you need. I'm focusing on the body, speed, strength, more agility."
Later this month, UND will begin fall camp, where Deng will be looked at to expand his role in the offense as the team graduated wide receiver Nate DeMontagnac (now in the CFL) and lost B.J. Fleming through the transfer portal to Tarleton State.
"I feel there's a lot of hype around the season," Deng said. "I really feel like I'm confident in our offense, defense, coaches. We've all been clicking and getting better throughout the summer and spring ball. I'm really just excited to go out there and showcase what we can do."
As a freshman a year ago, Deng began to make his mark on the offense. He caught one pass in each of the first five weeks of the year, primarily excelling in the red zone.
Four of those first five passes went for touchdowns, while a 21-yarder against Kansas State in the opener set up UND on the goal line.
Deng, a three-sport star in high school at Four Winds, then went five weeks without a catch before his role expanded late in the year. Against South Dakota State, Deng had five catches for 56 yards. The following week, in an FCS Playoff road win at Tennessee Tech, Deng had his best game of the season with five catches for 73 yards and a touchdown.
His season-long ups and downs continued the following week in a loss at Tarleton State, where he finished without a catch.
Deng's chemistry with Kaminski has grown over the summer as Kaminski enters Year 2 as the starting quarterback with the Fighting Hawks.
Kaminski's offseason was highlighted last month when he won a skills competition among the best FBS quarterbacks in the country at the Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana.
"I was hyped to see that because he was going against the best competition in the country," Deng said. "We all knew — and were making jokes — saying we got (Kaminski) because for us and UND we really would take him over any quarterback in the country.
"Then that really shows that there's a reason why we would. It was great to see that for him to prove what we already know in the community. But for him to show the rest of the world, that's great to see, because that is our QB1 at the end of the day."
