Perham's Finn Diggins commits to NDSU football

Perham senior to be Finn Diggins announced on May 27 via his Twitter account that he will join the North Dakota State University Bison football team when his high school career is over.

"It feels great. I called my grandparents right after I made the decision and they were thrilled," Diggins said. "My Twitter is blowing up like crazy right now. I never actually tweeted anything before, so it feels weird that my first tweet is getting 100 likes, but it feels great."

Diggins is a dual threat and multi-purpose player for the Yellowjackets. During his three-years with the Yellowjackets, he has rushed for 633 yards and eight touchdowns.

Along with his ability to run, he provided a wide-body target for Colton Hackel in the passing game. Diggins finished the 2019 campaign with 39 receptions for 575 yards and seven touchdowns. For his career, Diggins has 61 receptions for 844 yards and eight touchdowns.

Diggins has the ability to throw the football as well. He is listed as a quarterback on the Perham roster, but played a variety of offensive positions, including starting a pair of games under center with Hackel out due to an injury. He was 25 of 47 for 359 yards with two touchdowns during the 2019 season. For his career he is 32 of 58 for 504 yards with five touchdowns.

Diggins was a key member to a pair of Section 8AAA Championship winning defenses as well. For his career, Diggins has 18 sacks, 116 total tackles, 29 of them for a loss and one interception. He holds the school record for sacks in a season with 10, which he set during the 2019 season. Diggins holds the school record for sacks in a career with his 18 total sacks.

Diggins said one of the things that he liked about NDSU was its location. He said it was hard to pass up a program as dominant as the Bison.

According to Diggins, the Bison plan on using him as a tight end. He will redshirt his first year and will go from there, he said.

Diggins said he had a lot of interest from Division II schools and other Football Championship Subdivision programs, along with a few Football Bowl Subdivision teams.

"I went to a game last fall and their atmosphere was like no other campus I have been on for a game," Diggins said. "It's crazy how involved their fans are and it's crazy how everyone buys into the NDSU football program."

Diggins will join the Bison, who have won 15 National Championships, seven of them as a member of Division I FCS. He said it will be surreal to help continue on their tradition.

"It's the best FCS program ever and they reached out to me and now I'm going there," Diggins said. "It's just crazy to think about. It feels like a dream almost."

Diggins will follow the footsteps of another local star at NDSU. Hawley's Ben Ellefson, who played tight end with the Bison, recently signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League. Diggins said it's surreal.

"It's just crazy to think that he came from just as a small of a town as I am," Diggins said. "He is in the big leagues now. It's every little kid's dream growing up playing football at recess."

Diggins will have another season of football with the Yellowjackets and they have high hopes for the 2020 season. The Yellowjackets are the two-time defending Section 8AAA Champions.

"We just want to do as best as our team can do," Diggins said. "We are returning a lot of skilled players and we have a lot of potential to win the section again and hopefully, we can make a better run at state."