Grand Forks, N.D. – University of North Dakota head coach Bubba Schweigert announced on Thursday that James Johannesson has signed a grant-in-aid to continue his collegiate football career for the Fighting Hawks. Johannesson, a 6-foot-1, 230-pound running back, will join the program in January after spending his first two collegiate seasons at Minnesota. He will have three seasons of eligibility remaining at UND.

“James is a big, physical running back that possesses outstanding speed for his size. He was a great leader for his Fargo South High School team and arrives on campus with a tremendous work ethic,” Schweigert said. “We think he can really improve our football team and we are excited he can do that starting in January.”

Johannesson redshirted during his first season with the Gophers in 2015 and did not see any game action this past season. He originally signed with Minnesota in February of 2015 after a stellar prep career at Fargo South where he led the Bruins to the 2013 Class AAA state title as a junior and a semifinal appearance in the state playoffs as a senior.

The Fargo native wrapped up his high school career as South's all-time leader in career rushing yards with 6,158 and total touchdowns with 81. Johannesson became the first prep athlete from the Peace Garden State to be named the Gatorade North Dakota Player of the Year twice in a career. He was a two-time, all-state selection and notched five career 300-yard rushing games and had five career games with five touchdowns.

Johannesson bolsters a UND backfield that had a pair of All-Big Sky performers in 2016 after sophomore John Santiago racked up first-team honors for the second straight season and classmate Brady Oliveira collected third-team accolades.

-- UND --