catdaddyp

Saboor Karriem committed to Illinois (as expected). We didn’t stand much of a chance in landing him due to a number of factors (NJ pipeline, #1 rated defense, development of DBs, etc), but it shows the staff’s ability to identify high level talent.

Another frustrating loss, but to be honest Kent State’s program is further ahead right now. That was the first MAC game, this season, I thought the other team was superior in talent across the board. Offense: - Landers, Banes, Georges, Whigan, Williams were the starters from left to right. I’m really excited for what Landers will be down the road. That kid’s upside is impressive. Unfortunately he didn’t seem to be 100% from the start. - At this point, if Norrils isn’t going to be involved, I’d prefer Price to receive all of the snaps at RB. He may not be a breakaway back, but he always gains positive yardage when he’s not immediately hit in the backfield. - Outside of the obvious plays that were made, it was nice to see Anderson get involved some more at WR. Naim made a tough grab when he had an opportunity. Not sure what’s happened to Williams. - I guess Irons is what he is at this point. The offense goes as he goes and he hasn’t been able to get it done in crunch time. Defense: - Holt is easily our best defensive lineman. Shame we don’t have him for another year. - Bubba seemed to be on the field the majority of the game on defense. - I like the way the 3 safeties Thompson, Martin, and Woods continue to progress. Lewis had a solid game. Hence was moved to S when Martin went out for a few plays. - We need more help at CB and if Golden-Nelson doesn’t come back, we probably won’t have it this year. Amankwaa held his own against some really good WRs. - Nice to see a few kickoffs go for touchbacks. - Not sure how Kent’s freshman QB was rated a 2 star by Rivals. I thought we had the more disciplined team, but in the end it didn’t matter. The two turnovers were costly and we again gave up some big third downs on defense. I’m sure the team will keep fighting and sooner or later get over that hump.

I assumed for Gibson it was about getting closer to home and the opportunity to play at the P5 level. I don’t believe he had any P5 offers coming out of HS. His brother also plays for GT now. I was amused when it basically turned out to be a trade with Mumpfield and Shocky. Glad Mumpfield had the opportunity to play P5 ball, but really pleased we landed Shocky. Shocky has surpassed my expectations.

Yeah, he looks a little lackadaisical in some of those highlights. I’d be worried if he had heavy feet that could hinder his development, but fortunately that’s not the case. I’m sure all of that will get cleaned up in fairly short order once he arrives on campus.

Steele Wasel’s midseason highlights.

No doubt Bubba’s play has been head and shoulders above the rest of our LBs. Behind him, it’s clear that McCoy and Terry are the next best options. Fish has all kinds of athletic ability, but it’s anybody’s guess as to what he’s going to do on any given play. However, I suspect he’ll be a good one before it’s all said and done. I was at the game with a buddy who doesn’t mince words and he turned to me at one point and asked “How in the **** did that guy get an offer to play D1 ball?” All I could do was shrug. I won’t say who he was talking about but I’m sure you can figure it out by process of elimination.

Thanks! Added. Looks like another guy Moorhead recruited while at Mississippi State. I like the offer. On a side note, his partner on the DL is DT Elijah Davis who is an absolute monster.

DT James Thomas will be announcing his commitment on 10/30.

Wasn’t sure where to put this, but Ogbonna has hit the portal.

Rewatched the game and really focused on the defense. I was wrong about Amankwaa and the edge busts. He only had 1, which led to a TD run. The other busts were by Durant, Lewis, and Terry but weren’t TDs. Amankwaa was actually really good besides that one play. Best performance by a DB to date I’d say. We hurt ourselves a few times against the run when our DT’s decided to “get skinny” in an attempt to make the play, instead of holding their ground against the double team. It then opened up big gaps and allowed the OL to get to the second level. If they are going to split the double teams, they must make the play, otherwise it leaves the rest of the defense hanging out to dry. Really impressive footwork by CMU’s RBs. Bubba probably had his best game of the year. The other LBs were active and filled better than any other time this season. Unfortunately, there were more missed tackles than there should have been. Martin probably had his best game of the year. He only had one poor run fit which led to a big run. Besides that, he was solid in pass coverage and the most physical I’ve seen him in run support. Woods missed a couple tackles and nearly hurt himself leading with his head down on one play, but was a pleasant surprise outside of that. Our DTs did not get much pass rush and our DEs struggled to beat the OTs one on one. We gave up a TD when we brought 5 and then Bubba thought the RB was staying in to block so he came too, which made 6. The QB managed to get the ball out to the RB and away he went. Not getting a consistent pass rush, even when blitzing, is hurting us. Teams that base out of the 4-2-5 usually expect the front four to create pressure by themselves and that definitely is not happening. I don’t know if there is a fix to the pass rush this year, especially if the guys playing are the best we have on the roster. I like the blitzes we run and our players have gotten better at disguising them as the season has progressed, but we get beat (often badly) when we don’t get to the QB.

I think you meant Group of 5 (G5 in FBS) in your original post instead of FCS? I believe the only FCS schools in Ohio are Dayton and Youngstown State.

Ill create a Rivals profile when I get a chance. The staff has been on fire with offers the past two weeks for classes up to 2026. I haven’t had a chance to catch up. Also, saw a ton of recruits at the game this past Saturday.

That’s a lot to unpack. I think the 2022 freshman class is very underrated and when combined with the transfer class was solid. No class is going to be 100% hits, but if 2/3 pan out then it’s a great class. It’s telling in the amount of players that transferred out and where they landed (or didn’t land). The roster had a major talent deficit and still isn’t quite where it needs to be but at least now there is some strong potential in place. Im not concerned about the losses to the P5 teams. Those were money games we had no realistic shot at winning. MSU may not be a good team this year, but how many of our players would be starting for them? Not many, if any. So they are still a better program than us. Irons was definitely inconsistent last game and brought some issues on himself. Moving him to RB wouldn’t be the best idea as his 6’6 frame isn’t built for that position. The OL struggled at times in pass pro and the run game has also struggled. All those guys may have gotten experience last year, but not all of them move as well as FBS OL should. Watching Landers move compared to any other OT we have is night and day, but he’s a freshman and still learning. Point is the staff has brought in some talented and athletic freshmen OL, but they aren’t ready to help us yet. Whigan has been a great addition and Banes has been ok, but we need more OL like Whigan out of the portal. Keep in mind all of the transfers are going to be backups or part-time starters, at best, from P5 programs. The guys from FCS and D2 will be looking to take a step up. No P5 regular starter is going to transfer here. So the staff has to make sure it’s a good fit and the players increase the talent level. In MAC play we’ve seen improvements from 2021 every where but rushing offense, passing defense, and scoring defense. Passing defense is not a surprise as teams no longer run at will on us and are forced to pass more. Is our secondary great? No, far from it, but if Golden-Nelson would come back and be paired with Amankwaa we would probably see some improvement there. Thompson and Woods have been solid at SS and Martin has manned the FS spot better than anyone I recall playing there last year. Throw in Lewis at Nickel and we have something to work with. We desperately need more productive depth though and it certainly wasn’t on the roster when Joe took the job. Scoring defense on the other hand is a concern and needs to improve. 100% agree about Bubba playing more. Obviously it’s ok to be frustrated, mad, or whatever else helps cope with a losing team. I’ll never tell anyone how they should feel, but I’ve seen this story play out before. Good things are coming.

I hear what you’re saying. Consistency has been an issue. It seems players and/or positions take turns, not only from game to game, but within the game itself sometimes. Which is mark of a young or inexperienced team. We have some veteran players, but it’s hard to call them that when they are all in a new system and have different expectations. I follow recruiting and turnaround situations closely which is why it’s easy to see what’s coming. The next step for this team is just to win another game. The following step will be to string wins together. This off-season I tracked all of the new FBS staff’s recruiting classes. Out of the G5 schools, I thought UCONN easily had the best class followed by Akron. New Mexico State probably had the 3rd best with UMASS having the worst. (I won’t go through the rest) Unfortunately, our roster was so bad - and I couldn’t just say certain players shouldn’t be at this level in the preseason outlook - that it’s taking a little longer than expected. Improvement is clearly there, but the wins have yet to follow. At some point this team will display its best self and we’ll see a complete game. When that happens, we should be able to beat anyone left on the schedule.

This isn’t a bad coaching staff. It’s a staff that took over one of the worst rosters in FBS and has had one recruiting class. The roster was flipped by nearly 50 players and will likely have another 30ish flip this offseason - whether that’s through graduation and/or the transfer portal. I agree about not attempting to establish the run earlier, but to me it shows a staff that doesn’t trust the OL to get any push more than one that outsmarted itself. I mentioned in one of the threads in the preseason that we had a solid RB corps but it would be contingent on our OL how much room they had to run. A poster (don’t remember who, nor am I going to spend time flipping back through posts to find out) said something to the effect of we’ve had successful runners in the past so the OL should be fine. My point was/is our OL as a whole is not where it needs to be just yet. Hard to say this game was lost in the first half when we were in scoring position and running out the clock to win the game in the 4th quarter. It seems to me this team has played to its competition level in the MAC. I don’t see why that would have been our last winnable game, but we’ll find out.

Tough loss today. This team is so close, but just can’t quite get over the hump. That time is coming though. I really enjoyed the game day experience. The crowd seemed invested in the game and desperately wanted a win. If InfoCision gets even 75% full, it’ll be a serious home field advantage. The band is excellent, the sound system certainly works, and the cheerleaders/dance team were cohesive. Everything is in place, now the football team needs to win and get butts in the seats. Offense: - It’s like musical chairs on the OL at this point. Gray, Daniels, and Lyons are hurt. Whigan and Banes were hurt at some point during the game. Not sure why Landers didn’t play, but Chambers got the start at LT. Robarge and Beckman filled at the guard spots when Whigan and Banes went out. I thought I saw Kilbane play some snaps at C but it was mostly Georges there. - Pass protection was ok, but could have been better. I thought DJI was the cause of a few of those sacks and not the OL. Run blocking is still a struggle. - SJL consistently created separation. Caleb Anderson is a tough matchup that we should continue to take advantage of near the goalline. It’s unfortunate his TD catch did not count. - I thought it was a well called game and we definitely left some plays out there that should have been made. Defense: - I’m not sure why the staff hasn’t narrowed down the linebackers to Bubba, McCoy, and Terry. When those 3 aren’t out there in some capacity bad things happen. Fish will eventually be there, but he still looks lost at times. - Great to see Bubba get a free run at a sack today. He was a tackling machine. - Thompson was MIA and replaced by Woods, who wasn’t great, but was solid. - Hooks started, but I don’t recall seeing him in the 2nd half. Amankwaa was solid in the passing game at CB, but struggled against the run. Off the top of my head I recall 3 edge busts by him. However, it was good to see him cover well. - Richardson played the most he has all year, but I don’t recall him making much of an impact. - We still struggle to get much of a pass rush. I know there is probably some frustration and apathy building, but it’s easy to see this program is close to turning a corner. CMU is built differently than the other MAC opponents we’ve played, so today’s game brought a different set of challenges for this team. Despite the loss, I left feeling even more confident about the turn around that is surely coming. I don’t know how many wins we finish with this year as our chances are becoming fewer, but another recruiting class and offseason with this staff is exciting to think about.

Sorry I didn’t respond sooner. I was at the game today with a buddy. Big shoutout to @LZIp for hooking us up with tickets! Edge contain was the biggest issue, but give credit to the RB. That kid was really good. I saw him shake Bubba (twice), Fish, Terry, and Martin all in tight space. Definitely not easy to do that to Bubba. Our run fits weren’t always great in between the tackles and the edge was especially weak, usually due to the DB and DE either pressing in too much or not enough. I was impressed with CMU’s OL and DL. Their skill players weren’t particularly impressive, but they were stout in the trenches.

They don’t give any reasons behind their selections but hard to argue with that list…at the moment. A win Saturday would change things. It’s interesting to see how all those teams are struggling but for different reasons. New Mexico State doesn’t have much of anything, but they have a freshman QB who can sling it. South Florida will probably fire Jeff Scott, who I’m not friends with but ran in some of the same circles for a period of time. Colorado State is determined to throw the ball but they don’t have much of a QB. Charlotte has one of the worst defenses I’ve seen. UMASS is rebuilding but don’t seem to be making a ton of progress on the recruiting trail. Hawaii will probably stay a 💩 show if the rumor is true that the HC doesn’t have full control over who is on his staff.

Yep. Another explosive player with a high upside. https://www.hudl.com/video/3/18486651/633b3a0a0dc03809f8bb43d9

We offered JUCO LB Rodney Groce. He played 2 years at Mississippi State before transferring.

Yes, productive depth is needed. Unfortunately, even our starters at defensive back are not consistently productive. I don’t want to discard this season as these guys can still improve (Thompson is a great example of that) but if we are looking forward, there are some talented freshmen incoming and we’ll probably pull a few more DBs out of the portal. We weren’t in a position to have Golden-Nelson get hurt along with Hooks and Threatt playing below their ability this year. Assuming he’s able, I’d like to see Hooks return and have a full off-season with this staff.

Well said, my friend. I’m not going to say we don’t have the horses between the players you mentioned, but for whatever reason(s) our horses can’t find their way out the stable right now.