catdaddyp

No way Hooks is taught to play defense like that. The majority of routes are to the inside. Having hips to the sideline in that situation is foolish.

Both Morton and Johnson sucked up on that TD reverse, but how a flag wasn’t thrown on the dropped pass in the end zone is beyond me. It was a clear pick play by Miami to free the receiver. Oh well. Time to respond.

Agreed. I’m not sure what he’s looking for, but playing time should be plentiful here. The staff is clearly pushing for more experienced players on both sides of the line with the latest offers that have gone out. Makes me think some of the juniors/redshirt sophomores aren’t progressing at the pace they’d like and a few may transfer out. It’s odd that Manoa even posted about the offer. I’m the past, the majority of transfer portal players were quiet about their process, which is a stark contrast to their recruitment coming out of high school. Maybe we’ll see more of the transfer portal players be open about their offers this year.

Thanks! Added as an OT, but I suspect he’d end up at OG with us. We are the 3rd MAC school to offer and he’ll have plenty of options ahead of him by the time his recruitment is finished.

Recent offer out to DE/TE Bruno Dall of Bay St.Louis, MS. Dall has size and length that can’t be taught at 6’7” 230. He’s picked up 4 D1 offers since 9/30.

Tyler Manoa, grad transfer from UCLA, has been offered as both an offensive and defensive lineman.

Amankwaa. I should have added his name in the post as well. Sometimes the tweets don’t load correctly.

DJI sometimes gets happy feet and caught in a state of indecision. Like he’s unsure if he should tuck and run or try to keep the play alive. When he’s able to stand and read in a clean pocket, he’s excellent. When the pressure comes and forces him to make an alternate decision he gets into trouble. Not knocking Irons as he plays the most mentally tough position in football, but I expect to see continued improvement as the year closes out and another step forward in the offseason.

I know all too well. I used to write for SBNation, but I watched the teams I was writing about. After about 3 months I was given an offer by Rivals. Now I’m covering just one school while also trying to expand coverage for Akron/MAC. It’s an uphill battle because it’s all about money and subscribers. It scratches my coaching itch which my wife keeps trying to push me back into. She’ll eventually win and I’ll have to give up the writing gig.

The writer definitely loves him some DJI. I’m guessing he hasn’t watched many of the games or he’d know DJI is responsible for a number of those sacks he seems to place on the OL. Writer also must’ve missed Amankwaa hitting the portal. Outside of that, it’s an entertaining read. Thanks for posting! On a side note, I still can’t convince Rivals to create an Akron site. I’ll ask again after the season.

DT Wayne Peart committed to Toledo.

I’m not sure what to think about this game. I haven’t seen Miami play, but going off the stats and scores it seems their defense is stout. Their offense seems to struggle in all areas, but will that be the case against our defense? Moorhead said they play 7 in the box and go single high safety. If that’s the case, our WRs and TEs will have all kinds of opportunities. I doubt Miami will be able to keep our passing game in check. We haven’t been able to consistently run the ball so it may be pointless for Miami to keep 7 in the box. Im guessing Miami will try to establish their run game as much as possible and throw it as little as they have to. Even if they do throw it, will our CBs be able to keep their WRs in check without Amankwaa and a healthy Golden-Nelson? IDK. This game may come down to special teams play and field position. We tend to give our opponents great field position and allow ourselves to be forced to drive the majority of the field on most drives. On a stats note - Bubba has 86 total tackles on the year and could go over 100 this game.

- Enjoyed hearing Moorhead talk about the young LBs - McCoy, Griffin, and Fish - and how they are going to be great players. Mentions how they go about things the right way, watch film, and love football. - I get more excited about Landers every time I see him play. Can’t wait to see the other freshmen next year. - Love how Moorhead is rewarding the contributing walk-ons with scholarships. I think that’s 3 now? Durant, Gettman, and Hester. All 3 of them are heavily involved with Special Teams. - I was surprised to see Moorhead get asked about Naim and Anderson, but glad they were mentioned. Naim is another special teams contributor and has flashed excellent hands at receiver. I’m excited about the potential Anderson brings. He’s stuck behind George right now, but he could become a big time red zone target for us in the future. Hopefully Anderson gets worked into the spot Shocky is playing right now and we see George and Anderson on the field together in 2023. - Moorhead mentioned Ryan Johnson had his best game. Johnson has been quietly developing throughout the year.

OT Nikola Milovac committed to Old Dominion.

If he’s using it as a way to continue to have his education paid for, more power to him. If he believes he’ll be able to transfer to a P5 school based on his 4 games this year, he may find himself disappointed. As far as our program goes, it’s frustrating in the fact we were one corner away from having a half way decent secondary to finish out the year. Amankwaa and Golden-Nelson on the outside would have made a nice combination - assuming Golden-Nelson would be healed up. While this move has no effect on next year, it makes winning another game this year a little more challenging.

Didn’t see this one coming. When Moorhead was asked about any players that haven’t played much potentially redshirting, he responded with “coaches do the redshirting.” I think even he is finding out the game is changing.

LB Malachi Mercer committed to Columbia.

Regardless of my feelings on the situation I was just using Carolina as an example as I have inside sources there. Martin ultimately got fired this offseason and then quickly landed with UMASS. The BOT basically gave Martin one more year and then gave way to the AD.

I like how Moorhead chuckled and lit up a little when talking about the true freshmen OL. He knows it’s only a matter of time before we are really good up front. Not sure who George is afraid we’re going to lose. Doubt any of the P5 transfers would transfer back out and it’s unlikely any of the freshmen would transfer out at this point. I think the more likely scenario for anyone who transfers out is to go D2 or nowhere at all. Irons probably would be the exception.

Depending on the school, sometimes the boosters and board have as much control, or more, over the hire/fire. I can tell you Ray Tanner was heavily pressured (some claim told) to hire Shane Beamer at South Carolina. Tanner also wanted to fire basketball coach Frank Martin a year ago and was flat out shut down by the board of trustees.

Great News! Edit: I thought it originally said early.

Agree about both Jimbo and Oregon. Don’t discount South Carolina though (another turnaround situation). They are currently flying under the radar despite being ranked. Carolina has an explosive (former 5 star) running back in Marshawn Lloyd who is playing as well as anyone in the country. In a few weeks they will likely be 7-2 going into the Swamp. If they find a way to beat an inconsistent Florida team they will be 8-2, at home, against Tennessee. They’ve come a long way from their slow start to the year.

I’ll keep up with this list as much as possible. At least until things spiral out of control with portal entries.

Out of the guys on the roster now: WR - Adams OL - Landers LB - McCoy I’m looking forward to seeing how a host of others on the roster continue to develop. If we had a healthy pass rush and more productive depth at cornerback, we’d likely be at least 3-1 in MAC play. If the defense was consistent, Irons probably wouldn’t have been in forced situations to lead a long drive for the win. The program isn’t far off considering we’ve been competitive in conference play with what will be Moorhead’s least talented roster.

I am “half full” in certain situations. Ask my opinion on programs like South Florida, Charlotte, Nevada, Hawaii, UMASS before the season began and you would have gotten a much different take from me. Arth was not offering the same type of players this staff is. Can’t land upper level players if they aren’t identified and offered. I closely follow turnaround situations that have competent staffs. Hence my interest in Akron (plus my fairly recent move to Ohio). I watched Akron’s games last year, but wasn’t invested as I didn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel with what was happening. Moorhead’s hiring changed the direction of the program. As far as Karriem goes, he could probably be viewed as a late bloomer, but when his recruiting picked up Illinois really put on the full court press.