Garman will play football at North Dakota

MARION -- Jer Garman fell in love in North Dakota.

With North Dakota.Garman, who helped steer the Linn-Mar football program back to prosperity, has orally committed to play at the Division I-AA University of North Dakota."My official visit, I just fell in love with it," he said. "It's just like Iowa. People say it's cold up there, but it's not much colder than it is here."Garman will be a running back and a kick returner for the Fighting Sioux, who went 3-8 last season. But Garman knows something about turnarounds.Linn-Mar was winless before Bob Forsyth arrived. In his first year, which coincided with Garman's sophomore season, the Lions were 3-6. Then they went 9-2 and won a Mississippi Valley Conference divisional title in 2009 and finished 8-3 in 2010.Garman rushed for 1,601 yards and 26 touchdowns in his senior season. For his career, he finished with 4,474 rushing yards on 536 carries with 63 touchdowns, and added 52 catches for 689 yards and seven TDs.He picked North Dakota over Northern Iowa."I was going to go up to UNI on the 22nd, but I felt like I needed to make a decision sooner rather than later," he said. "I really liked it, and I'm comfortable with my decision."Garman plans to major in business and become a teacher and coach.UND is located in Grand Forks, N.D., and is a member of the Great West Conference. The university will move to the Big Sky Conference in 2012.