Cole Payton will become the fifth quarterback drafted from North Dakota State in a matter of weeks, and that puts the Bison in rare company among college football programs.
The Bison will have the most quarterbacks drafted since 2016, which will tie FBS titans Alabama and Ohio State. Payton, who only had one season starting for the Bison, isn’t surprised as he anticipates his name being called during the NFL Draft on April 23-25 in Pittsburgh.
“The way we operate is so much like an NFL offense that I feel like I’m ahead,” Payton told the New York Post’s Ryan Dunleavy in an in-depth March 28 article about NDSU’s quarterback pipeline. “Pressure is a privilege. You want to leave the program in a better spot than when you came in.”
NDSU is expected to win the national championship every year in the FCS and has produced 10 titles in 15 years. Quarterbacks in the program run a pro-style offense that requires advanced knowledge of Xs and Os in addition to making adjustments in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage. They also don’t start right away and, generally, five years in the program while learning the offense and the position in-depth.
NDSU is headed off to the FBS for the 2026 season, where expectations remain high with hopes for a College Football Playoff appearance. The Bison’s quarterback pipeline could grow all the more with the move to college football’s highest level.
NFL Expertise Helps Bison
It didn’t hurt that quarterbacks worked with former NFL quarterback Randy Hedberg as the team’s position coach, no retired, for many years.
Hedberg played in the NFL from 1977 to 1978, and he got into coaching in Minota State, where he played in college. He became the quarterbacks coach for NDSU in 2014, and he developed NFL quarterbacks Carson Wentz, Easton Stick, Trey Lance, Cam Miller, and Payton while with the Bison.
“You think you know football when you are in high school and then you are like, ‘I had no idea,’ ” Payton said. “Coach Hedberg was really the one to teach me how to read a defense, how to command a huddle, how to lead people — all pieces so valuable in the position other than just throwing the ball. And it was his ability to keep harmony, because every year we’d sit down as a group and he’d say, ‘You know how it goes: Only one of you can play.’ ”
Payton is projected to go in the later rounds of the draft, and he’s seen as a physical runner who also has some arm talent. He completed 70.3% of his passes for 3,190 yards and 21 touchdowns versus six interceptions in five seasons with the Bison.
“I was getting that play call and spitting it back without looking at a wristband,” Payton said. “And making protection adjustments at the line of scrimmage and getting us into the best run play. There is so much preparation that goes into it and so many things that translate to the next level. I think we definitely have a leg up, and that’s why NDSU keeps pumping out these guys.”
Cole Payton: ‘A Huge Chip on Our Shoulder’
Payton was a two-star recruit from Omaha, Nebraska, where he played at Creighton Prep — the same school Stick came from as a two-star recruit.
Only Miller and Lance had more stars as recruits with three, and Wentz didn’t have any. Most of them had to wait a year or more to start, for NDSU.
“You have these guys who are under-recruited out of high school, and there’s a huge chip on our shoulder,” Payton said. “There’s this process where you never see a true freshman starting at NDSU. There are these high-character guys that maybe got overlooked and need time develop. You have to learn how to wait your turn and how to work.”
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