catdaddyp

All great questions and, unfortunately, I don’t have any concrete answers to any of them. It’s possible Landers entered the portal, but more likely a grades issue. Not sure what this staff requires in that situation. I wouldn’t count on him being back, although I’d really like to see it happen at some point. I figured Holt would end up on Minnesota’s roster, but the longer this goes on it seems less likely. There’s a chance he’s already landed somewhere and it hasn’t been reported. Would love to say I have access to the NCAA portal, but I don’t. I don’t know how the staff feels about taking guys back who have already entered the portal. I know some coaches are more forgiving than others. He’d definitely help us and a team can’t ever have enough talented defensive linemen. Although, there could be another issue going on we don’t know about?

I got so focused on Landers, I forgot to even mention Howard. I’m with you, I’m thinking he’s probably a PWO. He was listed with NIU’s initial 2023 signing class, so I think he was on scholarship there. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more unannounced roster departures and the scholarship chart line up closely.

Oh wow, you’re right. I could be wrong, but I thought I saw Landers on the sideline during the spring game, just not in pads. That’s a big loss. Suppose that means we’ll see Chambers and Kindred battle it out at LT now. Maybe James will come along quicker than expected? I think that’s now 4 players gone from the 2022 HS/JUCO signing class.

And after checking the online roster, TE Darnell and OL Hale-Frater are no longer listed.

Going with C. Imagine some players are being encouraged to look around.

Love this pickup! Cooper was flipped between inside and outsider backer in Illinois’ 3-4 defense and wasn’t able to carve out a starting roll. No shame in that as Illinois will have one of the best front sevens in all of college football this year (barring multiple injuries). Cooper was initially recruited by Lovie Smith’s staff to play in the 4-3 scheme, so it stands to reason he will have a chance to excel in our 4-2-5.

Good question. I’m not sure if there is any one player with the ability to make a bigger difference for their team than Lingard. Especially considering how inept our running game was during portions of last year. Each MAC team has landed at least a few good players in portal. I can’t point to any one team and say that’s probably an awful portal class. However, CMU has collected the least amount of portal players. The teams I’m most interested in are: Ball State - A new QB and some nice additions at receiver. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them steer in a new direction offensively. They lost Carson Steele at RB and replaced him with Kent State’s Marquez Cooper. Bowling Green - They’ve added some athleticism and size at the OLB position. Just not sure what to expect from the rest of their defense. Connor Bazelak could be a wild card if he has time to throw the ball. OL is still an issue. BGSU has some solid talent at WR. Kent State - They are going to be awful, but got off to a hot start initially landing Jalani Williams, Dallas Craddieth, Devin Nicholson, and Mattheus Carroll. The recruiting of late has been unimpressive to say the least. Miami - Rashad Amos is a good back that never really got an opportunity at South Carolina. He could potentially make a difference for what should be a solid Miami squad. Western Michigan - What are they going to be? I like what they’ve done in the portal and they had a top heavy HS class. Keshawn King, along with the two freshmen RBs, could make some noise and provide a strong running game.

A few updates: - All 2023 high school MAC commits now have ratings. - A number of JUCOs still need ratings, which is skewing the rankings. Teams with JUCOs that still need a rating: Akron = 5 Eastern Michigan = 2 Kent State = 2 Northern Illinois = 2 Western Michigan = 2 Ball State = 1 Bowling Green = 1 Ohio = 1 Rivals plans to incorporate the HS/JUCO rankings with the portal rankings at some point during the summer. I’m not sure how that will look with so many unrated portal players, but I strongly feel Akron has the best portal class in the MAC (regardless of ratings) and it’s not that close.

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.