UND cornerback Grant Noland drawing attention as FCS leader in pass break-ups

Oct. 20—GRAND FORKS — After the UND football team upset then-No. 1 South Dakota State last Saturday, Fighting Hawks linebacker Mike Devereaux gave a shoutout to cornerback Grant Noland.

"Grant Noland is one of the best corners in the nation," Devereaux said. "I feel like a lot of attention needs to be brought to him."

Noland was named this week's Missouri Valley Football Conference Defensive Player of the Week after registering a career-high six pass break-ups against SDSU. The six pass break-ups are the most by an FCS or FBS player in a game this season.

Noland and the defense limited the nation's second-highest scoring offense to a season-low 10 points and 326 yards of total offense.

Noland, a Kearney, Mo., native, took over the FCS lead in total pass break-ups, increasing his total to 13. UND's all-time single-season record, which includes postseason statistics, is 15 — set by Dustin Thornburg during UND's run to the NCAA Division II national championship in 2001.

Noland comes from a football family with some UND roots. His grandpa, Terry Noland, was UND's defensive coordinator for three seasons until 1983.

Terry Noland left UND for Central Missouri in 1983, bringing with him UND offensive coordinator Rob Bollinger, who would return to UND when Roger Thomas took over for Pat Behrns in 1986.

From 1983 to 1996, Terry Noland posted a 78-65-2 record at Central Missouri. He owns the school record for wins and conference titles. The football offices at Central Missouri are named after him.

Grant's dad, Erek Noland, was a defensive back at Wyoming from 1992-95.

"The only thing Grant does better than covering guys is hunting, and that's why he loves Grand Forks," UND head coach Eric Schmidt said. "He's a quiet assassin. I love that kid. He runs really, really well. Tackles well. Every single day we talk about being consistently good over occasionally great. He is consistently good. What you saw (Saturday) is the same thing we'll get on Tuesday. He's really honest with himself, too. He's a good self-assessor."

Noland was recruited to Grand Forks as a safety but moved to cornerback, partly due to injuries at the position in 2025. He made nine starts last season as a true freshman and earned Freshman All-America honors by Phil Steele and FCS Football Central. He ended the year with 48 tackles and one pass break-up.

Noland spent this fall camp battling 1-on-1 often with UND wide receiver Deng Deng, a physical 6-foot-4 wide receiver.

"It's huge when you have those opportunities in practice," Schmidt said. "That's how you get better. He never gets too high. He doesn't get too low. He's really humble. He wants to get better, and he doesn't panic when he's out there. You never see him really out of position all that much. He does a great job fitting routes with his eyes, and then fitting with his body, as well. He just has a really good feel and timing mechanism to be able to play the ball at the right time. I think what's impressive with all the pass break-ups is he doesn't have a lot of penalties against him. So to be able to play that way and play clean, I think says something about what an elite corner looks like."