Michael Veldman is the St. Cloud Times' all-area football player of the year. 

 

The Becker senior quarterback joins a 24-player squad selected by the Times' sports staff and taken from nominations from area coaches.

 

“It is a huge honor to be named St. Cloud Times’ Player of the Year,” said Michael. “There were many great candidates for it. I have to give so much credit to my team for going out and making the plays.”

 

He also tips his hat to the guys up front.

 

“My O-line protected me and gave me time to make my reads,” he said. “My receivers and running backs did an outstanding job of catching the ball then making things happen once they got it in their hands.”

 

Also on the all-area team from Becker are wide receiver Eric Blomgren, defensive back Dawson Brown and defensive tackle Dillon Radunz.

 

Others making the squad were running back Darek Stachowski, offensive lineman Anthone Thene and defensive end Nick Jensen from Sartell. Offensive specialist Alex Budde, defensive tackle Jack Feldhege and defensive back Sam Mackedanz from Rocori.

 

Linebacker/quarterback Ben Alvord and offensive lineman/linebacker Sean Zyvoloski from Apollo, guard/linebacker Nathan Brinker and running back/linebacker Matt Messman from Holdingford and Albany offensive lineman Tyler Birr and defensive back Nick Mergen.

 

Rounding out the squad are Pierz running back Robbie Skiba; St. Cloud Tech wide receiver Jake Martig; St. Cloud Cathedral receiver Andy Auger; Eden Valley-Watkins defensive end Jared Streit; Melrose linebacker Anthony Welle; Little Falls linebacker Bryce Zawatazke; Annandale defensive end Spencer Ogden and Paynesville defensive back/quarterback Matthew Quade.

 

Becker beat DeLaSalle in Prep Bowl XXXIII at TCF Bank Stadium to complete a 12-1 season. 

 

Their season opener was against Class 6A powerhouse Minnetonka. Becker played the Skippers competitively throughout and had taken a 24-22 lead on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Veldman to Matt Conzemius with only 14 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Facing seemingly impossible odds, two costly Becker penalties gave the Skippers field position at the Bulldogs’ 35 yard line. Quarterback Braden Sikes completed two passes along the sideline to put the ball in field-goal range. Then Perry Duff Smith kicked a 32-yard field  goal to give Minnetonka a 26-25 win.

 

Becker averaged 39.2 points per game. Veldman completed 171 of 282 passes, a 60.6 completion percentage good for 2,594 yards and 34 touchdowns and five interceptions.

 

Veldman is 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds. He has an excellent right arm and is also an excellent basketball player.

 

He's from a very athletic extended family. His brother Matt Veldman was a former Times player of the year and a star tight end at North Dakota State, getting NFL time with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions.

 

“It’s great to see him (Michael) receive the honors he’s been getting,” says Matt, who is waiting for another opportunity with an NFL team. “Michael’s had an impressive body of work throughout the season and the awards are well deserved.”

 

Michael surely was influenced by his big brother’s skills and looked up to him often as they grew up loving and playing just about every sport.

 

“We played every sport growing up,” said Matt. “Ryan, Michael and I and our friends. Michael was always the younger kid playing with us older kids.”

 

Michael’s father, Gregg Veldman, played tight end at Minnesota State-Moorhead and got a tryout with the Dallas Cowboys. He had uncles who were star football and basketball players in college.

 

“My wife, Stacy. and I are very proud of all our children,” said Gregg. “Matt, Ryan, Lauren and Michael are all really great kids and they have made Stacy and I very proud. It is a wonderful honor that Michael received the St. Cloud Times’ Player of the Year award but we are more proud the he, along with his brothers and sister, are growing up to be well respected and well thought of young adults.”

 

Michael’s grandfather, Pete Veldman, is a former standout wrestler at the University of Minnesota.

 

“Seeing and knowing the success of my family really helped me strive to be the best football player I could be,” said Michael. “I’m a really competitive person so I just wanted to be great like they are/were.”

 

Michael, who is now turning in his football cleats for some basketball sneakers, is going to be spending lots of time over the next few months figuring out where he'll play college football. North Dakota State is one of a number of schools that he has made unofficial visits to including Bemidji State and Minnesota State-Moorhead.

 

Veldman hopes to coordinate visits to Western Illinois and Winona State.

 

The NDSU connection is important. His older brother Ryan also is an NDSU graduate and in business. His sister Lauren is in her second year at the  school.

 

Veldman, playing at a position that is characteristically full of ego, humbly is thankful to his team of coaches and especially Head Coach Dwight Lundeen, who has mentored him and guided his career.

 

“Coach Lundeen has taught me so many things about football and has also taught me many life lessons too,” Veldman said. “He is the type of person I want to be when I grow up.”

He also had high praises for his other coaches.

 

“His son, Mike, has really helped me this past year in getting me into a bigger role in the offense,” Michael said. “The addition of Coach Meidt to our team helped me out a lot also. He knows so much about the game of football and the quarterback position. I would just try and soak up all I could from him everyday in practice.”

 

Dad Gregg agrees.

 

“Coach Meidt taught Michael many things like footwork, reading defenses, where to put his passes versus a certain defense or situation and going through his reads and progressions,” he said.

 

“Coach Mike Lundeen deserves a lot of credit too. Along with being a great offensive mind, he is a superb teacher of the game and he helped give Michael great confidence.”

 

Lundeen credits Veldman for much of this year’s team’s success. He credited Veldman for his outstanding play-calling during the playoffs. In the Stewartville state semifinal game, a 39-20 win, Veldman would audible depending how the Tigers would line up. It's something Lundeen said you rarely see in a high school quarterback.

 

Lundeen has been at the helm for 44 years and holds a record of 327-145-3.

 

This year’s assistant coaches were Hokan Bengtson, Troy Robinson, Tyler Niedfeldt, Shane Potter, Brent Scheideman, Jeff Zimmer, Dan Schlicht, Brady Cobb, Todd Brown, Mike Lundeen, Chris Meidt, Tony Vesledahl, Gregg Veldman and Todd Smith.

 

The Bulldogs have reached the state playoffs in 1985, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

 

State titles include 2005 (Class 3A) and 2014 (Class 4A). State runnerup finishes include 1990 (Class C), 1994 (Class B), 2004 (Class 3A) and 2006 (Class 3A).