Quarterback John Larson joins coach Vogler in UMD’s 5,000 passing yards club

Before last weekend only four Bulldog quarterbacks in the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) football history threw for over 5,000 career passing yards.

Then, on Saturday, fifth year quarterback John Larson joined the club to make it five.

In their 29-23 win over Winona State University, Larson went 13 for 23 with 206 passing yards and one touchdown. It was that one TD to Armani Carmickle that added him to the exclusive list, which includes his play caller in UMD offensive coordinator (OC) Chase Vogler.

Leading UMD to a national title in 2010, Vogler closed out his collegiate career with 7,583 total passing yards. Now a dynamic duo the Bulldogs are making for a dangerous offensive weapon.

"John throws the ball a lot better than I ever did and we use that to our advantage now in 2021," Vogler said. "I think john’s prepared at a level differently this year than he has in the past, and it shows on game days. He’s seeing things, he’s picking routes earlier, understanding what the defense is asking of him."

As for his OC, Larson said, "I always knew who Coach Vogler was since the day I got here, being that he put a banner up there. Every day I’ll have meetings with Coach Wiese and then I’ll go see Coach Vogler about play calling, and what he likes and what he saw when he was playing quarterback."

Larson, Vogler, and 11th ranked 3-0 UMD will return to Malosky Stadium on Saturday to host Wayne State University. Kickoff is set for 1pm.