catdaddyp

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.

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.