catdaddyp

Thanks. Looks like Yarmo was added back on after not being listed during the spring. Also, Emmett Hanna is no longer listed at LB.

Just a note about how things have changed around the program. I’m seeing a lot of excitement from prospects attending camps at Akron hoping to gain an offer. Didn’t see nearly as much of this last offseason.

Good luck to Bubba.

Did a little more digging on Hocker. This is from one of the Rivals sites last summer when talking about 2024 prospects the particular P5 team was showing heavy interest to. "He's 6'1 1/2 to be exact and he's 235," said Hawkins, who noted that most schools like him as a MIKE "thumper" type in the middle of the field. "But he's actually long and fast enough to probably play outside. Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, most of these guys have liked him inside."

Did a little more digging. He’s one that BC wanted. They just had him on campus during their spring game. Excerpt from his trip to BC “Applebaum likes the way Mitchell moves at his size as an interior line prospect.” He clearly didn’t play against great competition all the time, but can’t deny his physical ability.

Another one in the fold. Roosevelt Mitchell. He’ll probably be an OG despite playing OT in HS, but watch this big boy move.

While I do think it’s only a matter of time that Akron is a top level team in the MAC under Moorhead (or even the top team ), I wouldn’t go as far as saying Illinois doesn’t have as much of a chance in the Big10. Ignore history and take a look at what is currently happening. Illinois went from 2 wins in the COVID year (granted not as many games played, but I honestly don’t know if they would have won more than 2 anyway) under Lovie Smith, to 5 wins in Bielema’s first year (including an upset over Penn State) and 8 wins in Bielema’s second year (did not lose a game by more than 8 points until the bowl game where they lost to Miss State by 9 - not a single blowout loss.) Recruiting, culture, and development/coaching is what sets programs apart. I don’t have an inside connection to either Akron or Illinois, but both seem to now have the culture part in order, development of players is clearly taking place, we’ve witnessed some excellent coaching, and recruiting (where I can really vouch) has picked up tremendously. One of the biggest downfalls for the Illinois football teams in the past was losing top instate talent to their competitors. For the most part, Bielema has walled off the state and is now keeping the best talent home. Illinois has the 2nd highest retention rate when it comes to the portal under Bielema and have used the portal selectively when improving the roster. Wining 8 games last year and barely losing to Michigan was not a fluke. Illinois, as hard as it is to believe, is on the doorstep of being a Big10 challenger. Bielema has assembled a phenomenal coaching staff (only whiff was at OC in his first year, which he quickly corrected) and has now put together 2 very strong recruiting classes with a 3rd shaping up nicely. Akron is a year behind Illinois in recruiting, but Moorhead has accelerated the process by stringing together two strong portal classes. Zips played like a P5 team the last two games of the season in the terms of physicality. That, in and of itself, has me excited about this year. While the offense will certainly be strong again, I think the defense is really going to surprise, especially if we have a pass rush. If I’m wrong, I’ll certainly admit it. Although, I rarely am when it comes to turnarounds. That being said, I was wrong in the amount of games we would win last year. Not sure if anyone could have foreseen the way we lost a few of them. 2023 season can’t get here soon enough.

Phil Steele’s Preseason All-MAC: 1st Team = Alex Adams (WR) & Bubba Arslanian (LB) 2nd Team = TJ Banks (TE) 3rd Team = DJ Irons (QB) & Daniel George (WR) 4th Team = Lorenzo Lingard (RB), Ryan Johnson (DE), Nate Thompson (S), Blake Hester (KR)

The funny thing is, hardly any of the media outlets were talking about Illinois and their defense before the season began last year and now most are acting like they won’t be able to recover from their losses. I am a big Bielema fan (didn’t used to be) because I appreciate when a coach recognizes his previous mistakes, is open about them, and makes corrections to better himself. His stance is “we’ll play anyone, anywhere” and I think viewers can see that mindset by how physically Illinois plays. They were one of my picks to surprise last year and I think they will take the next step and challenge for Big10 top tier status this year. They had Michigan on the ropes last season, so they aren’t far off. Similar to us, they still needed to learn how to win consistently as evidenced by dropping games to Indiana and Michigan State.

Good read. Out of all those matchups I’d actually say Akron is the best bet. I think there’s a snowballs chance of Toledo beating Illinois. The writer focuses on what Illinois lost and not what they return (and have added the past two offseasons). One of the best front sevens in the Big10 and potentially all of college football. Good luck to Toledo running the ball against that crew. Fat chance Toledo does much defensively against an OL that is likely to have 3 players drafted, a stout RB room, and some extremely talented WRs. I feel like this is another instance where the writer is more focused on the name on the jersey vs what’s actually happening. Props to him for recognizing Akron as an up-and-comer though.

Here’s the link to the finals. I didn’t see any information on the rest of the competition outside of what was tweeted out. Pro Day and Athletic Ratings.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mac-college-football-preview-picks-predictions-win/id927810876?i=1000615027171 Hopefully this link works. I thought this was a good listen and these guys seem to have a better handle on the MAC offseason than most I’ve heard/read. (Not posting this for betting advice.)

Great height at 6’4”, solid arm strength, and a sneaky good runner. Similar to Wasel in several ways - throwing motion needs some refinement, throws well on the run, has a surprising amount of mobility, and is faster than he seems. He’s working with Brad Maendler, so his throwing motion could look different by the time he arrives on campus. Roggow competed in the Ohio regional Elite 11 QB competition and apparently did well, landing top 10 in two different categories. Honestly, I wasn’t sure which QB we were going to land as the QBs we offered earlier in the cycle saw their recruitment take off.

2024 QB Brayden Roggow.

Unfortunately I don’t. His DF hudl film is just from 2022, so it may have only been for his senior season.

PWO WR out of Dutch Fork HS (Columbia, SC). Powerhouse football program in South Carolina. Same school DiMarco Johnson attended.

By my count there are only 31 players remaining from the Arth years, including walk-ons. 16 players (also including walk-ons) JoeMo’s staff recruited have either moved on (in some fashion) or graduated.

Good question. There are a number of reasons I’m high on him. The first thing that stands out is his size. He is already a mature player physically and has length. Watching his film (which is the only thing I have to go off of) he has the ability to rush the passer and also hold the edge in the run game. He moves well enough to where he could be slotted at DE in a 4 man front or OLB in a 3-4 alignment. On many DE tapes all that is shown is the ability to rush the passer. There are multiple highlights of Kabbash denting, taking on the pulling blocker, and making the tackle. It takes an extremely physical player to consistently do that and usually the “denter” is not the one to make the tackle. I also like the way he often swipes across the football as he makes a tackle. As you alluded to, his eligibility is limited and I’m sure he knows his time to make an impact is running out. That can motivate players to give their best effort and finish with a strong season to close out their careers. We saw it to an extent last year with LB Tim Terry. By no means was Terry an exceptional player, but the last 4 games of the season he was playing at a high level. Hopefully, Kabbash starts out more quickly than Terry. I’m not too concerned about the JUCO stats. It’s the JUCO coaches’ job to not only win games but get their players recruited, so there can be a high rotation depending on the school. Looking at that roster (and off the top of my head) I see 5 DL that signed with FBS schools. Out of all the JUCO DEs we offered, Kabbash was the one I was most high on. Maybe he doesn’t live up to expectations? Not everyone will pan out. We need develop players and hit at a higher recruiting rate than our opponents and that seems to be happening under this staff.

These JUCO DEs definitely have size and length. Antonio Smith = 6’5” 240lbs CJ Nunnally = 6’4” 245lbs LaJoshua Jackson = 6’4” 250lbs Kabbash Richards = 6’5” 245lbs

Now the question is if his OL teammate Karsten Upchurch is next? 🤔

Yep! He’s the JUCO DE I really wanted us to land. I thought that ship had sailed, but glad to see I was wrong.

And just when I thought this class couldn’t get any better. Welcome Kabbash!

Interesting article on UCONN - Jim Mora on the Huskies winning a national championship and a potential move to the BIG12.

MACC isn’t out of the realm of possibility, but I doubt we are at that point. We aren’t elite on either side of line of scrimmage (OL & DL). Certainly headed in the right direction, but not there yet. We’ll probably drop a game or two we shouldn’t as the team learns how to win consistently. I think overall we rival any other MAC team in terms of overall talent in JoeMo’s second year. Most pundits consider Ohio, EMU, and Toledo as the top dogs this season. 247 gives easy access, which I appreciate, but some omissions immediately jump out. 1 - Ahmad Rabah is a transfer, not an HS prospect, and doesn’t have a rating. He’s a 3 star transfer on Rivals. 2 - Transfer Terence Thomas is not listed. 3 - Transfer Judah Tallandier is not listed. 4 - Transfer Terray Jones is not listed and is a 3 star on Rivals. 5 - Transfer Ben Frank is not listed. 6 - Joshua Bowen and Maurice Long are no longer in this class. 7 - David Jester and Clarence Nunnally are signed. 8 - Paul Davis is a 3 star on Rivals and is not listed. 9 - Delvin Morris is not listed. 10 - Gage Summers is not listed. 11 - Antonio Smith is not listed. 12 - LaJoshua Jackson is not listed. 13 - Dante Jackson is not listed. 14 - Transfer Lama Lavea is not listed. 15 - Tyler Carter is not listed. 16 - Transfer Drake Anderson is not listed. 17 - Transfer Keon Kindred is a 3 star on Rivals and is not listed. 18 - Transfer Joshua Blanchard is not listed. 19 - Transfer Shammond Cooper is not listed. 20 - Transfer Phaizon Wilson is not listed. 21 - Transfer Jacob Newell is not listed. 22 - Transfer AJ George is not listed. Im probably missing some more, but that’s certainly enough for now. Needless to say, the 247 rankings aren’t quite accurate.