Nebraska athlete Gavin McMillan commits to North Dakota after strong visit
McMillan chose North Dakota after a January offer, a March Junior Day visit and a staff bond that made UND feel like more than a stop on his recruiting map.
North Dakota turned an early January offer into a May commitment, landing Waverly High School standout Gavin McMillan after a recruiting push that started with film evaluation and ended with a campus visit that sold him on the Fighting Hawks’ setup.
McMillan announced his commitment Saturday, giving UND another regional win in a recruiting market where relationships matter as much as rankings. Head coach Eric Schmidt visited Waverly High School on Jan. 27, praised McMillan’s film and set the tone for a recruitment that picked up speed after McMillan made the trip to Grand Forks for Junior Day in March. That sequence matters: North Dakota did not just chase a prospect, it built one into a fit.
The reasons McMillan gave for choosing UND also say something about how the program is operating. He pointed first to the relationship with the staff, then to the brotherhood he felt on campus, then to the support system around the football program. The facilities, the general-manager setup, the nutrition staff and the strength staff all stood out to him. In other words, North Dakota is not selling a logo alone. It is selling structure, development and a place where a player can see a path from recruit to contributor.
That pitch has real weight in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, where contenders usually win by stacking smart, versatile pieces who can handle multiple roles. McMillan’s commitment fits that mold. North Dakota is not chasing flash for flash’s sake. It is building a roster with players who come from winning backgrounds and who can fit the Fighting Hawks’ multi-role culture. Waverly finished 13-0 and won the Nebraska Class B state title in 2025, so McMillan arrives with the habit of playing in a program that expected to win every week.
The connection to safeties coach Keaton Wilkerson and linebackers coach Ben Watkins also helped keep UND in front throughout the process. That kind of steady contact is often what separates a good visit from a commitment. For North Dakota, McMillan is more than another name on the board. He is another sign the Fighting Hawks can go into a regional recruiting battle, win it on trust and infrastructure, and come out looking like a program recruiting at a higher level than simple depth-chart shopping.
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