GRAND FORKS, N.D.--University of North Dakota head football coach Chris Mussman announced today the signing of Montreal, Quebec, native Ismael Bamba to a national letter of intent to join the Fighting Sioux in 2008-09.

Bamba, a 6-foot, 186-pound wide receiver, spent the 2007 season with the St. Leonard Cougars of the Canadian Junior Football League's Ontario Football Conference (OFC) and was named an All-Canadian as a return specialist. He was named the OFC Special Teams Player of the Year and earned all-conference honors as a return specialist and wide receiver.

In 2007, Bamba averaged 28 yards per punt return with two touchdowns and averaged 31.4 yards per kick return and returned one for a touchdown. He also averaged 19.3 yards on his 20 receptions and caught a pair of touchdown passes.

Bamba also played for the Team Canada squad the captured the 2007 Global Junior Championship in Miami, Florida, where he was a teammate of fellow Sioux signee Filipe Fonseca da Silva. He is a 2008 graduate of Montmorency College prep school in Laval, Que.

Bamba is the 18th recruit to sign an NLI with the Fighting Sioux in 2008.

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