catdaddyp

The 2025 spring roster is up. It does not have any newcomers listed, but it does still list Bullock, Adams, Cooper, and Summers. Getting Cooper and Summers back at LB would be huge.

LS commit.

OFFENSE QB: Finley Bullock - We are one of the few teams (maybe the only team) in the MAC returning their starting quarterback. Bullock will be the backup if he returns. If not, Roggow should be QB2. RB: Gant (Portal) Gee (Portal) - Transfers Gant and Gee should be the top backs initially. Redshirt freshman Patrick is the dark horse and may push for starting snaps sooner than later WR: Granger Mason WR: Polk Davis WR: Walker Hills (Portal) - The development of Granger and Polk in the back half of the season gives reason for optimism. Those two seem primed for a big year. If Adams returns (and is healthy) he’d be a nice boost. I really like the pickup of Hills from the portal. He’s the type of receiver who can excel in this offense and I think he’ll quickly work his way into the rotation. Redshirt freshman Mason is another one to keep an eye on. TE: Newell Cravaack - Newell was on pace to be 3rd team All-MAC before injuries sidelined him for a few games. However, Newell’s absence allowed Cravaack to gain substantial snaps. Cravaack became a fixture in the rotation once he had an opportunity. This duo should be one of the best in the conference. LT: Shor Johnson (Portal) LG: Archer (Portal) Fox C Morris McManus RG: Davis Mitchell RT: Jones (Portal) Mann - It’s really anyone’s guess who will be starting come kickoff. We lost some key players to the portal, but this group still has the potential to be solid. Coach JRod has had the OL on an upward projection regardless of who has been slotted along the line. We have some talented young players and a number of this year’s linemen will have previously spent time at JUCO. DEFENSE DE: Durham (Portal) Cheatom DE: Dall Frazier - Replacing Nunnally won’t be easy. That said, Durham ought to immediately be able to pick up some of the workload. The young players that are expected to play heavily into the rotation have high ceilings. DT: Murphy Hull DT: Brockington Madden - This position should have produced more than it did in 2024. Moore and Kapongo ended up being the only truly productive DTs once Lavea went down and we really didn’t have much of a pass rush from the interior. The DTs collected only 3.5 sacks as a group. The best talent here is the younger players. This position still needs addressing and 3-4 more interior linemen will be added. LB: Hollobaugh (Portal) Benenge LB: Spriggs Boswell - Similar to DE, this is a talented group, but most of the talent is younger and lacking experience. Hollobaugh should be an immediate starter and if Summers returns, that would help. I think Spriggs is in line for a breakout year. He has the physical tools and seems close to putting it all together. NB: Lewis Greenwood - Lewis and Greenwood return and will rotate at safety when needed. CB: Reed Branch (Portal) CB: Kamara (Portal) DeWalt - Reed was our best CB besides Golden-Nelson. Kamara should immediately slot in as the CB opposite Reed. If DeWalt can become more consistent, that would give us an incredibly long and athletic group to match up against opposing wide receivers. S: David Hunter S: Anderson D. Johnson - This group was inconsistent, at times, due to lack of experienced depth. David and Anderson will likely be the starters. Redshirt freshman Hunter may push his way into starting snaps. SPECIAL TEAMS K: Wiley Schramm P: Castle LS: Rhoades Special teams listed are returners and I’m assuming will step into starting roles. However, I imagine a few more specialists will be added.

Bump for update.

Bump for update. Cleaned up the first page and have also added JUCO offers since the portal opened.

Offer to JUCO OL Makai Sat.

Offer to LS Dan Rosenberg of Michigan.

We’ve been hammered. No way around that. We’ve lost as much production as any other MAC school and also the same amount of transfers to P4 schools as any other MAC school. I think this is probably our weakest portal class, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t landed some players with potential. I say that more in comparison to the strong portal classes we’ve had in the past. It’s also not surprising due to our lack of NIL funds. All that said, we can still have a strong season next year. We are actually in a place where young players - with a high amount of potential - may be ready to step into bigger roles (wasn’t the case in the past) and perhaps we don’t need every transfer to be a standout. We’ll have a returning starter at QB with a full off-season in the same system and at least two WRs (Granger and Polk) who seem ready to breakout. Looking at the defense, we can’t realistically say they played up to their potential until the final few games. Pass defense, run defense, and pass rush still finished 8th/9th in the conference. I don’t see why we can’t - at bare minimum - have the same production on that side of the ball if we get the right players in there. Here is the 2025 MAC movement. Other teams that have been hit hard are Ball State, Eastern Michigan, NIU, and Kent State (although Kent didn’t have a ton to lose in the first place).

https://x.com/thomasinge55/status/1878930587563720844?s=61&t=_TFqePY4lFXUo5BavIxA3w Looks like we’re not totally done with OL movement. Offer a few days ago to VMI OL Thomas Inge.

Not a commitment, but one to watch. Offer to 2025 WR Jeremiah Hoffman from the state of Colorado. Formerly a Charlotte commitment.

Bump for update. I believe classes have started, so unless there are commitments that have yet to be unveiled, this is what we are heading into the spring with. We still have a glaring hole at DT that will likely be partially filled by JUCOs. This probably isn’t going to be our strongest portal class, but the staff seems to have done a solid job considering the players we’ve lost and our NIL situation.

Offer to JUCO DT Tyson Toscano.

I’m sure South Florida, Memphis, and East Carolina are offering $. They supposedly have three of the bigger NIL presences in their conference. Unfortunately for us, AD has signed with an agent. So little to no chance of him returning.

South Florida, Memphis, Nevada, East Carolina, and North Texas so far.

Offer to JUCO DT Shefon Boyd. It’s looking like our new DL coach is leaning heavy towards JUCO DTs this cycle.

We’re at 7 scholarship LBs now, which is the number we usually have under this staff. Maybe one of the scholarships get shifted away from DL or DB? Unless someone else leaves, it seems we’ll be rolling out some combination of: Hollobaugh Spriggs Benenge Hocker I like all 3 of the freshmen but I’m not sure how soon they will be ready to contribute.

Offer and visit for JUCO DT Damien Burgueno. I’d guess a commitment is incoming.

I’ve updated this thread with what’s still needed. One more scholarship WR, unless the staff decides to shift the numbers elsewhere. Defense still needs work.

Former CBs coach Tre Bell’s stay at UMASS was short lived.

https://x.com/therealjgant/status/1876704262224286127?s=61&t=_TFqePY4lFXUo5BavIxA3w RB Jordan Gant from Tennessee State

Offer to JUCO DT Darien Jackson. Also, it looks like Anthony Leonard is our new DL coach.

May turn out to be a really nice pickup. Outside of his other offers, he was scheduled to visit JMU as well, but I don’t know if that visit happened. I think he has 2 years of eligibility remaining.

https://purdue.rivals.com/news/purdue-lands-akron-defensive-end-transfer-cj-nunnally-iv

Agreed. I imagine Mitchell and Fox will see some type of rotation this year.

We seem to mostly be targeting OTs at this point. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see further movement before the 2025 season kicks off.