catdaddyp

That’s a good question. If there’s an P5 upset to be had, that would probably be the one. Even though they are lagging behind many of their Big 10 counterparts in talent, they are still further ahead than us (overall) in that department. I think it comes down to coaching for IU more than anything else. Maybe we catch them on a down day and pull one out. Would love to go into conference play potentially at 3-1.

I believe there is enough talent in place to win every game this year outside of Indiana and Kentucky. The caveat to that is I’m afraid this team will need to learn how to win consistently. I suspect we drop 1 or 2 that we should win in 2023.

Coach JRod wasn’t kidding! Here’s Newell’s profile and film. I don’t know anything about Oregon high school football, but it seems Newell wasn’t always playing against the best competition. Still, he’s definitely a talent and will likely prove to be another great pickup.

It'll be interesting to find out his story. The amount of talent that this staff is stock piling is getting ridiculous.

Looks like one more at least. I’ll have to do some digging to find out what made him choose Grambling, but check out his offer list out of high school. Here’s his HS hudl film.

I’ve been waiting to see what the other MAC teams bring in, but at this point I feel strongly we have the best overall class (HS/JUCO and Portal combined). Can’t wait to see who else is brought in, if that’s the case.

Still some good players left, but you’re right, the quality is quickly dwindling. Kent State is going to be rough. First year head coach that is going to have some growing pains. Might take him 3 or 4 off seasons to turn that ship around (even with the portal) as he figures out what does and doesn’t work as both a HC and at Kent.

List has been updated. I’m guessing the 5 HS prospects will not qualify for D1, with the exception of maybe Lemba who will probably play basketball somewhere. The 12 JUCO prospects have not committed and most of them are still receiving offers.

Grunkemeyer committed to Penn State. I imagine more P5 offers will come his way, so it’ll be interesting to see if he follows through on that commitment. Long is up to 15 offers, but none of them are P5 and he currently does not hold an offer from us.

Nice! We are really hitting the California JUCOs hard this cycle. Dante Jackson

Bump for update. Some of our outgoing transfers have found new homes.

I’ll keep up with this thread as much as possible. There has been so much movement with the 2023 MAC recruiting, I’ve had little free time to update anything else. QB: Chris Denson (FL) - (5.6) 3 ⭐️ Charlie Johnston (AL) - NR Samuel Willoughby (TN) - NR Jimmy Sullivan (IN) - NR Charlie LaMorte (NJ) - NR RB: Nino Hill (OH) - NR WR: Kenzy West (MS) - NR Jovanni Mcgee (GA) - NR Jamil Miller (OH) - NR Maurice Stephens (KY) -NR TE: Brendan Loftus (IL) - NR DE: Romando Johnson (FL) - NR Israel Oladipupo (IN) - NR Cal Thrush (OH) - NR CB: Sean Ferguson (GA) - NR S: Jaleel Walters (FL) - NR Joel Cordoba (NJ) - NR Donovan Robinson (IL) - NR

Here’s some film on newcomer Tahj Bullock. Most of it is practice film, but there are a few game highlights at the beginning. There’s a lot to like as Bullock is a true dual threat quarterback. He throws a really nice deep ball and has the ability to make most throws when he has time, as seen in his practice film. If I’m going to nitpick, he tends to push the ball out on the shorter routes and isn’t quite as fluid there. So much of playing QB is mental, so it’s not always easy to know who will pan out, but Bullock certainly has the physical traits. It’s going to be fun watching these guys develop. Hard to believe the depth in the QB room (and team in general) now versus when JoeMo arrived.

JUCO. Was on Buffalo’s roster before.

And a LB from NIU. Signed in this year’s class and entered the portal after the spring.

I came away from the spring game feeling good about the OL and Secondary. These additions will only make us stronger there. Coach Wart was a little behind the eight ball in recruiting the DL and it’s not ideal taking this many JUCOs, but gotta figure a few of them will pan out. We should have a solid rotation on the interior. I like the potential we have on the edge, just don’t know what’ll we’ll get from our ends. Now to see how quickly coach Wart can develop these guys.

And another one. I have no idea where we stand with scholarships at this point.

I’m not sure if it’s the biggest, but I’d say easily the most athletic. These guys have size and can move. Little chance we finish last in the league rushing this year. JoeMo is about to put the MAC on notice.

I feel like that pic should be labeled “F around and find out.”

So much so I can’t keep up. I’m having to save the names and come back to them. A number of 2025 offers going out too.

I imagine the thinking with Kindred is to eventually have him push for the RT spot, but gotta figure he will be one of the best 5 OL and be slid inside to one of the guard spots this year. If that’s the case we probably see something like this: LT = Landers LG = Kindred C = T. Williams RG = Davis RT = N. Williams Maybe Kindred and Davis would be flipped, depending on what coach JRod wants. The above lineup would certainly rival any other OL in the MAC in regards to athleticism. I’m also curious to see what Ben Frank gives us. It can take lower level OL transfers a while to get acclimated, so who knows? I hoped he would arrive in the spring and get ahead of the curve. My best guess is Long and Bowen did not qualify. We’ll probably see them take the JUCO route if they choose to continue playing football.

Huge Pickup! 💣 🔥

Not at the 0 or 1 tech here, but man! I’ll happily take this kind of play.

I watched a few NMSU games last year and from what I recall he wasn’t aligned to be a standout on their defense. Lavea was mostly lined up as a 0 or 1 tech and took on a bunch of double teams. NMSU had 3 interior d linemen that were close on snaps. The 4th was their standout (Izaiah Reed). Lavea fires off the ball quickly and does a nice job when taking on double teams. I imagine he’ll compete with Robinson for starting snaps. We needed more quality depth and I think that was accomplished with this addition. This is going to be one physical defense. On a side note, Kent State is going to be really bad.