Kale Boomer (16), a four-year starting quarterback for the Cook County Vikings, is having a standout season for the UMD Bulldogs.
Patience has its rewards, and Kale Boomer, a red shirt sophomore on the University of Minnesota’s (UMD) Bulldogs’ football team, has been very patient as he manned a spot on special teams while waiting to get more playing time as a safety on one of America’s top-ranked Division II football teams.
“He’s playing behind an All-American,” said his dad, former Cook County Assistant Football Coach Mike Boomer.
But Kale’s future might have changed when the Bulldogs lost their starting quarterback, Drew Bauer for the year in a game against Northern State three weeks ago.
Following that game the ‘Dog’s coach Curt Wies asked Kale to assume backup QB duty behind Kale’s roommate, Nate Ricci who took over the starting role for Bauer who is out for the season with concussion syndrome.
Boomer had less than a week to learn plays before he was called on to fill in for Ricci, who got the wind knocked out of him against Bemidji State.
Boomer, a four-year starting quarterback for Cook County, did a great job to help preserve the 14-9 record over the Bemidji State Beavers.
“I was proud of the way Kale played against Bemidji,” said Mike Boomer. “But I was also worried about Nate. He’s one of Kale’s closest friends. He’s a good kid and you hate to see him hurt.”
The Bulldogs have two freshmen quarterbacks who they aren’t playing to preserve their eligibility, so that means Kale will be preparing to play quarterback the rest of the way.
“He’s not playing special teams anymore,” said his mother, Lori Boomer. “The life of a second team quarterback means you can’t get injured. You’ve got to be ready to go in when called upon.”
The Bulldogs beat Minot State on November 14 and have earned a trip to the Mineral Water Bowl in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. Kale took some snaps in that game, too.
“The coaches have put in a ‘Kale package’ for him to learn. It’s a vanilla package but he’s trying to broaden it as much as possible,” said Mike Boomer. “He likes the change of pace on offense. He said he’s remembering how much he liked to play quarterback.”
When reached on November 18, Kale said he was enjoying playing quarterback. “It feels good. It feels normal. I feel like I’m back in the saddle again.
“I’m working with all new coaches and all new players. We’re sticking with most of our normal game plan, but they [coaches] are cutting out some of the more intricate passing schemes. It’s a lot of play action, short passes and zone option reads. We’re sticking with our normal running game even though we lost our top running back to injury. We’re not practicing this week so we can heal up. I’m going to call a receiver right now and go throw for a half an hour.”
The Mineral Water Bowl will be played December 5.
Until that decision is made, the former All- Conference quarterback for Cook County is immersed in learning the UMD offense, ready to go in if needed.
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