Brady Lee commits to North Dakota, chosen over Missouri Valley powers

Brady Lee brought a rare combination of size, production and versatility to North Dakota’s 2027 class, and the Fighting Hawks think that profile fits their roster better than a bigger-brand pitch from Missouri Valley neighbors North Dakota State and South Dakota State.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound athlete from Aquinas High School announced on April 17 that he planned to join UND in the summer of 2027, choosing a program that made him feel like a priority from the start. Lee said head coach Eric Schmidt and safeties coach Keaton Wilkerson were persistent throughout the process, and that repeated contact mattered as much as the offer sheet. He made the seven-hour drive to Grand Forks about five times while being recruited, a sign of how seriously both sides treated the fit.

Lee’s junior season showed why the Hawks moved early. For an 11-1 Aquinas team that won the Coulee Conference and advanced to the third round of the WIAA Division 4 playoffs, he was a factor on offense, defense and special teams. He caught 18 passes for 392 yards and five touchdowns, ran 17 times for 9.8 yards a carry and scored once on the ground, intercepted a pass, returned a punt 57 yards for a touchdown, made 52 tackles, and added six extra points and three two-point conversions. In a recruitment built around safety, those numbers show a player with field vision, ball skills and the kind of versatility FCS staffs love to uncover.

North Dakota’s edge went beyond the role on paper. Former UND offensive coordinator Isaac Fruechte was the first to connect with Lee, and the relationship deepened because Lee’s strength coach is a childhood friend of Fruechte. UND coaches also spoke with Lee’s father, who is Aquinas’s head football coach, giving the staff another layer of trust in a process that often comes down to family as much as football. Lee said the school “made it a great decision,” and that the staff and community made it an easy one. He also described the relationship as one of “mutual respect.”

That matters for the Fighting Hawks, who were looking for a defensive back with room to grow into a safety role but enough athletic juice to help sooner on special teams. Lee said safety is where he is most comfortable, and that is the spot where his instincts and ball production should translate best. He was already on the state radar, too, after the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association named him to its 2025 Small School all-state team as a junior defensive back.

UND was the third commitment in its 2027 class when Lee pledged, and the class grew again soon after with Texas cornerback Carson Wilson. For North Dakota, landing Lee over two other Missouri Valley powers reinforced a familiar recruiting truth: the right fit can still beat the flashier name when the player already looks built for the next level.