devilslakejournal
DEVILS LAKE After Deng Deng blew his whistle, a rush of young kids sprinted giddily over to him.
It was time to rotate groups.
The squeals of Deng Deng! Deng Deng! echoed through the crowd as the kids approached him.
At one point, a full chorus of Deng Deng! chants broke out.
In between reps, kids asked Deng to autograph their shirts.
There were more than 100 kids in the morning session, which was held for grades one through five.
At the end of the day, I was really just a kid just like them, coming to camps, just hoping to be a college player one day, said Deng, a former star football and basketball player for Four Winds High School.
It was great overall to see them coming out, showing support and being close to their hometown.
The camp was spearheaded by Devils Lake Youth Activities, one of 24 sponsors of the event.
They reached out to UND, and head football coach Eric Schmidt relayed the request to Deng and quarterback Jerry Kaminski.
Me and Jerry were more than down, because its a great blessing, Deng said.
They kind of set it up, and we just helped finalize a few things.
And it was just great that they gave us the opportunity to come here and do this.
One thing that quickly became apparent was that they needed help.
With the number of campers in the triple digits, Deng and Kaminski consulted on some of their teammates to join them.
It couldnt just be me and Jerry the only adults, because there wasnt gonna be no coaches, Deng said.
We just had some of the guys on the team.
Tried to get one of every position, so when we break up the skills, it was able to [be] like O-line, edges, [etc].
That was great that some of the guys came out here at Devils Lake, spent all day with us, taught some of the kids.
The camp, held Wednesday in the practice area next to Roller Field, was split into three sessions.
Sixth-through-eighth graders followed the younger kids in the early afternoon, and high schoolers had their session in the evening.
It started out hot and only got hotter, with the sun blazing down by the late afternoon.
All things considered, it was a pretty nice North Dakota day.
It was awesome, Kaminski said.
The energy was great all day.
The kids were awesome.
It was a lot of fun to be out here.
Perfect weather.
The guys really poured into it, and the guys who were here helping out did an amazing job.
For each session, they divided kids into smaller groups and had them rotate through various drills and exercises, with one or two UND football players leading each station.
A lot of guys did a great job of asking questions and taking the feedback of what guys were giving them, Kaminski said.
Those guys were eager to learn, so it was a lot of fun to help them try to reach their goals.
The youngest group worked out in simple shorts and T-shirts, while the other two brought helmets and pads.
Workouts for the older groups were more physical and more position-specific.
The youth guys, its all about having fun and just getting them out here, finding their passion for football.
Just trying to build that love for the game and kind of give back to what the game gave us when we were growing up, Kaminski said.
And then as the guys get older, they want to learn, and they want to be able to soak up the knowledge that we have to help them with their careers, going into high school, and hopefully on to college.
Plenty of the kids were from Devils Lake and Four Winds, but participation also extended to places like Lakota, New Rockford, Midway/Minto, Grafton and Rugby.
It was hype to see a bunch of kids around the community, all over North Dakota coming, Deng said.
It was great just teaching them.
Hopefully they took something in it.
Since his time in a Four Winds uniform, Deng has grown from a local legend into a recognizable fixture of the UND program.
After redshirting his first year, he came into his own last season with 16 receptions, including five touchdowns, and 208 total yards.
I just stayed working and just trying to get better in everything I do, whether thats practice, spring ball, fall camp or the games, Deng said.
Im just focused on being the best wide receiver I could be.
And I feel like I did a great thing at doing that last year, and Im building on it right now.
Kaminski has also blossomed over the last year.
After appearing in just three games as a redshirt freshman in 2024, the Sun Prairie, Wis., native became UNDs starting quarterback in 2025.
He threw for 2,570 yards and rushed for another 607 last fall, leading the Fighting Hawks to an 8-6 record.
I feel like I grew a ton, especially during that season, going through a lot of ups and downs, then into this offseason, really attacking it hard and building relationships with guys on the team on and off the field, Kaminski said.
I think theres a lot of room for improvement coming into this season, and Im excited to showcase what Ive built on.
About a week before the camp, Kaminski won the Air It Out Challenge at the Manning Passing Academy, an event held by NFL legends Peyton and Eli Manning.
Safe to say hes been working on his game.
That was unbelievable, Kaminski said.
It was awesome to go down to Louisiana with Hall of Fame quarterbacks, the top quarterbacks in the country and be able to compete and just put myself around the best of the best.
It was an awesome experience.
I learned a ton, and I felt like I grew a lot as a player.
Kaminski has helped out at camps before.
His dad is the coach of his high school football team back home.
He said he could see coaching being a part of his future.
Deng was less-experienced as a coach.
His loose camaraderie with the kids which included some family members and former teammates in the high school group helped him ease into it without issue.
I had fun, Deng said.
You could tell that it truly means something to them, being able to teach them a few things to take home.
With it being July already, the UND football team is gearing up for the season.
With a more established core which very much includes players like Kaminski and Deng the team has high hopes.
Super excited, Kaminski said.
We have a great group of guys, just a bunch of guys that want to put their head down and work.
And thats all you can ask for.
I mean, we had a really good team last year, and were excited to build off that this year and go win the Missouri Valley, and hopefully a national championship.
And there will be even more Four Winds representation on this years team.
Marial Deng, younger brother of Deng Deng, is joining the squad for his freshman season.
Im crazy excited, Deng said.
I felt like we had a great spring ball.
Were grinding the summer out.
Its been great so far.
All the guys feeling good with each other.
..
[Kaminski]s the best QB in the nation, in my opinion.
..
I feel like everyones feeling good around the program right now.
The younger Deng was not able to be at Wednesdays camp because he was playing in the Lions All-Star basketball series in Bismarck.
The older Deng said hes planning to go to Fargo on Thursday with his family to watch Marial in the second, and final, game of the series.
Deng himself played in that series two years ago.
We were just talking about, a little bit, like what to expect, Deng said.
Hes pretty excited for it.
Im pretty excited to see him play, and excited he gets a chance to play high school basketball again.
It will be the last taste of competitive basketball for either of the Deng brothers as they go full-steam-ahead on football in the coming fall.