Notre Dame QB signs with Northern State
This is No. 19 in a month-long series of profiles of Arizona high school seniors that signed with four-year colleges. Here's the full list (currently totaling 291) of players from within the state moving on to the next level.
SPOTLIGHT: 3/5/22
Braden Wells waited, and eventually got the offer from the school he was most interested in.
The Notre Dame senior, who directed the Saints offense to score 28 or more points in games against Saguaro, Horizon, AND Salpointe, signed with Northern State in February. NSU is a Division II program in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
Wells first learned about the school in Aberdeen, South Dakota (which is located in the "northern" part of the "state") near the end of his junior year when he noticed the Wolves extending offers to players in the 2022 class.
He was being recruited by Northern State and took a visit to the campus in January. By the end of the weekend, he had an offer from the Wolves and three days later, gave his verbal commitment.
Wells had four other offers that he had received between June and November from Division III colleges (non-athletic scholarship programs).
"It was my first D-II opportunity," Wells said of the NSU offer in an e-mail interview. "I established an amazing relationship with the coaches right away. The coaches were always checking in and calling me. I felt like they took a really big interest in me as a player and person. Once I took a visit up there, I knew it was home."
Wells began his high school career at Chaparral and then transferred to Notre Dame after his freshman year. He played in half of the JV games for the Saints in his sophomore year (sitting out first half of year). Wells was the varsity backup in his junior year, but did get one start in.
Finally, in his senior season, he was the starter and a team captain. Wells made the most of it with 2,031 yards and 23 touchdown passes. The 6-2, 170-pounder completed 66 percent of his throws and got better as the year went along. His high-passing game came against the eventual state champs (Saguaro) with 341 yards and 4 TD passes. Against the team crowned 5A champions (Horizon), he was 23-of-30 for 235 yards and three TDs including the game-winner with 50 seconds remaining. Wells finished his high school career against the team Horizon beat in the final (Salpointe). In the 5A quarterfinals, Wells nearly brought the Saints back from a 31-7 deficit, before falling to the Lancers 45-42.
"I loved playing for such an amazing coaching staff and with these players," Wells said. "Everyone here is family and our senior year was so special, even though it didn't end the way we wanted it to. I think the whole state took notice of how dangerous we were as a squad, especially our seniors."
Football is the only sport Wells played at NDP. However, he is a dedicated Dog Pound member and supports all of the other Saints teams at their games. He plans to study business at NSU.
Wells is one of four players from Arizona to sign with Northern State for this class. In all, NSU announced the signing of 42 seniors. He is one of four quarterbacks coming into the program, so it will be a highly competitive atmosphere. The Wolves opened a new facility with Dacotah Bank Stadium last season and had four sellouts (capacity: 4,021). NSU ranked No. 1 in the NSIC in home attendance (with almost 5,000 per game). Northern State finished 7-4 last season and finished in a tie for third place in the North Division.
"I'm thankful to Notre Dame for putting me in a position to excel on and off the field," Wells said. "Transferring in was the best decision I ever made and I was glad I could make some noise this season."
