catdaddyp

Yep, we probably saw the peak of the program under Loeffler. I believe I saw Brooks declared for the draft. Losing Brooks, Anderson, Anders, and Brown from that defense is going to sting.

Shawn Naim removed.

DB from Houston with 2 years of eligibility. Former JUCO.

He’d be a solid pickup. Legitimate 3 star DE coming out of high school. For whatever reason he wasn’t favored by VT’s new coaching staff. 3 years of eligibility remaining with a nice upside? I’m a fan.

Not sure why he didn’t sign early, especially since he already had a “Top 4.” In any case, he’d be a great pickup. Looks like a natural at free safety but could also play cornerback.

Agree, we are going to land some difference makers. I went back and looked at the commitment timeline (not signing) from last year’s class and it went like this: December: Robinson, Wiley, Threatt, Martin, Harper January: Banks, Jennings, Kellom, Terry, Jacques-Louis, Banes, Jones, Adams, Murphy, Gettman, Golden, T. Williams, Landers, K. Davis, McCoy, Darnell February: Hale-Frater, Stallworth March: N/A April: Price, Thompson, Whigan, Clark, George May: Griffin, Holt, Undercuffler, Woods, Golden-Nelson, Anderson June: Fish, Thomas

Another side effect the portal is creating is making better high school players available to G5 and FCS schools. The portal is hurting high school recruiting when it comes to the P5 level, but players who in previous years would be signing at P5 are now available to G5. (Landers may have been a case here.) On the flip side, there is always the possibility those kids have a great season or two and then transfer up to P5.

We got us a long snapper. Looks like he works with the same kicking academy as Owen Wiley.

I’m not knocking those other schools, but none of them are a step up. Especially if the 2023 team takes the leap I expect them to.

I’m assuming he expected bigger offers when he entered the portal. Instead of helping the Zips win a few more games or being CB1 going into 2023, he’s now deciding between Kent State, Eastern Michigan, Stony Brook, Illinois State, and Bryant.

According to his Twitter we are his only offer. We should take at least one high school DT in each class and if a local guy is deserving to play on this level I’m all for it. He doesn’t seem as explosive as Murphy on film, but if he can clog up running lanes and keep OL off LBs then that sounds good to me.

Not exactly. As things currently stand we’d also be 5th in the Mountain West, 5th in the Sun Belt, and 6th in Conference USA. Under Arth we were getting out recruited by not only the majority of FBS teams, but also a slew of FCS teams.

Haha, that’s one way to look at it. I believe there will be 69 P5 teams in 2023 and beating any of them in recruiting is a tough task. Especially for a team that has won 5 games in 4 years. Although it’s not an exact science, better recruiting usually correlates to more wins.

I’ll say this about him, he has a strong base and plays with great extension. Hard to displace. He’s clearly been well coached.

Regardless of where we end up ranked, I think this class complements last year’s class really well. If I recall correctly, we landed a slew of portal/JUCO players between April-June like Holt, Undercuffler, George, Price, and Thomas. And I believe the majority of the class was signed during the second signing period. It’s incredible we were able to land guys like Landers and McCoy that late in the game. I recall JoeMo giving Sam Popper a lot of credit for last year’s recruiting class. All that being said, I feel confident the staff will land some more difference makers before the 2023 season arrives and we’ll have a solid shot at finishing with a top 100 ranking this year.

Correct. Lingard, Jones, amd Rabah are not yet included in the rankings. This will be the first year Rivals has included transfers into their final rankings, but I don’t know what date they will officially be added.

Another offer out to a JUCO Safety.

Maybe a little of both? Haha. I’m just making sure all the teams are updated correctly so everyone is on the same level playing field.

Update on Rivals Team Rankings for 2023 (does not yet include portal commitments): MAC Rankings followed by National Rankings in parentheses. 1 - (79) Central Michigan 2 - (82) Miami 3 - (93) Western Michigan 4 - (95) Akron 4 - (95) Eastern Michigan 6 - (98) Ball State 7 - (99) Buffalo 7 - (99) Toledo 9 - Northern Illinois 10 - Ohio 11 - Bowling Green 12 - Kent State If we finish in the top 100 it will be the highest ranking for the Zips since 2010.

Hopefully he’ll be a February signee. We’ll see.

Bump for additions of Laing-Taylor, Owens, and White.

Bump for addition of Spriggs.

Bump for additions of Jones, Rabah, Cheatom, Dall, and Moore.

A few more offers out. We ain’t done yet.