catdaddyp

I suspect it was proposed as a package deal with USC and UCLA. Oklahoma State attempted to make it a package deal to move to the SEC with Oklahoma, but neither the SEC nor Oklahoma seemed to care too much about that idea. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Oklahoma State eventually make their way to the SEC by the time all the realignment is completed - whenever that may be.

Yes, the media contracts are a part of it and I believe the B1G is up for a new one soon, but it doesn’t have much to do with alumni on the West Coast.

I agree most people in the Southeast - especially with ties to the SEC - don’t care much about the move of Southern Cal and UCLA to the B1G. Outside of maybe something along the lines of “oh, that’s neat.” Like you mentioned, it’s all about revenue. And according to the revenue numbers from a few years back neither Southern Cal nor UCLA were in the top 20 in revenue for football or as an athletic department. Those numbers could have changed recently and certainly could change in the coming years, but if revenue is what this is all about then it’s a ho-hum move. Most B1G schools aren’t going to spend much time and money recruiting the state of California except in certain situations, so it doesn’t help in that department. Nor will Southern Cal and UCLA spend a ton of time recruiting the Midwest. I can’t speak to what dominoes will fall from here as it seems almost any possibility could turn into reality at this point. I’d guess there is some concern amongst the other P5 conferences, as well as the G5, in how the overall scope could affect them.

Agreed. I thought Maddox might commit on his OV this past weekend, but that didn’t happen - at least not publicly. JoeMo also offered Maddox’s little brother who I believe is a rising high school freshman.

2023 uncommitted prep prospects with offers: WR - Oluwakoleade Osinubi OT - Barrett Maddox OT - Cameron Jones OLB - Roosevelt Andrews ILB - Joe Ginnetti DT - Darold Dengohe DE - Abdoul Idriss

I’m not sure what happened. His absence surprised me as he looked pretty good with the backups in the spring game. His Twitter does not have him listed as an Akron football player anymore, so I’m pretty sure he’s gone. He’s from Florida so maybe he was looking to play somewhere closer to home? I haven’t seen anything related to portal activity, but all the recruiting services have been overwhelmed on that front lately.

Removed Singleton and Scippio.

Fairly recent offer to Troy OL transfer Toryque Bateman. Other offers from: Grambling State Bethune-Cookman Delaware State Mississippi Valley State Florida A&M West Virginia State Eastern Illinois Morgan State Tennessee State Townson Alabana A&M

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/adrian-norton-276321 Toledo also offered. I did a little digging and got his Rivals profile updated. Sounds like he was a late bloomer. His film is impressive and he also camped at Akron, so our coaches were able to see him in person. I’m with you in the hope he works out. Seems to have what it takes physically, but so do most that are recruited to the D1 level.

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/adrian-norton-276321 He seems to be a good one. Not sure how Norton doesn’t have more offers.

Big time target Barrett Maddox is on campus today. Something to keep an eye on. https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/barrett-maddox-277808

I created and updated Rivals prospect profiles with size, offers, and linked hudl video. Once I did that, the national reporters responded fairly quickly and now everyone but Lester Miller has a ranking. Looks like they forgot to give Bowen his 5.2-5.4 rating, but he is listed as a 2 star. I’ll continue to update their profiles as the year goes along, which will probably get a few of them ratings bump if they receive more offers. If anyone notices the players receiving more offers, please let me know. Due to the updates, Akron is listed as having the 67th best class for 2023. https://n.rivals.com/team_rankings/2023/all-teams/football Wasel = 5.6 - 3 star https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/steele-wasel-261890 Long = 5.3 - 2 star https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/maurice-long-294374 Mann = 5.4 - 2 star https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/jonas-mann-285528 Cravaack = 5.4 - 2 star https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/conner-cravaack-279676 Moore = 5.4 - 2 star https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/marcus-moore-280680 Bowen = ? - 2 star https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/joshua-bowen-241562 Louis = 5.3 - 2 star https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/jean-louis-iii-280349 White = 5.3 - 2 star https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/catrell-white-276218 Lang-Taylor = 5.4 - 2 star https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/zayden-laing-taylor-285125 Miller = NR - NR https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/lester-miller-284649 Norton = 5.4 - 2 star https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/adrian-norton-276321

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/lester-miller-284649 I can’t update his ranking or position, but I updated his Rivals profile. There’s also a write-up from a national reporter about playing cornerback at a Rivals Camp.

I trust the staff’s opinion, but Laing-Taylor doesn’t seem to excel in any area when watching his film. He definitely has the size to come in and contribute as a freshman, but not so much the skill. He looks to be best suited as a S. Ive lost track at this point, but does anyone know if he camped and earned an offer in person?

Some transfers are unknowns, but have the potential to excel. A number of the transfers have had success elsewhere and there isn’t any reason to believe that won’t carry over. I am with you in as far as tempering expectations in winning the MAC this coming season, but I do expect this team to be competitive in every MAC game and win their fair share. I also agree the offense will heavily revolve around success of the QB position. Moorhead has been successful almost everywhere he’s been and seems to have a strong staff in place. It all aligns to a solid year and little chance of finishing last place.

The same writer gave Akron an A- for the Moorhead hire. I guess he thinks it’ll take a much longer process to be competitive, despite the transfer portal changing the dynamic for rebuilds.

Wow, talk about a major publication missing the mark. Do better Athlon.

I see where you’re going with that, but it’s not an apples to apples comparison. When I’m watching film I’m not receiving someone else’s opinions, plugs, or lack thereof about the prospect - outside of maybe a star rating. Star ratings I also take with a grain of salt because those are often tied into the number of scholarships or who the offers are from. So the ratings can be very different by the end of the prospect’s senior year.

Probably so. Keep in mind I work for one of the major recruiting services, so there are some things that rub me the wrong way.

I couldn’t make it past the 6 minute mark. The smugness and name dropping of the guy doing the podcast really irked me. Saying Steele had a “fun little game” comes across almost as a backhanded compliment. I wanted Steele to ask the guy what team he played for or which quarterbacks he’s coached. Thanks for posting it though ZZX. Steele will have a chance to accomplish some great things here.

He’s a good one. I’m really surprised about his lack of offers. I can’t speak to the competition level he plays against, but he flaunts a number of positive traits. Fluidly flips his hips, has long arms which helps in breaking up the pass and jamming receivers, solid athlete, reads the flight of the ball well, explosive when coming down hill, enough speed to stay connected with the receivers. He’s lacking in mass, which will change once he hits our S&C program. Unless he shuts down his recruitment, I’m sure more offers will flow his way.

Bigjim, this is new territory that not many people know about outside of the athletics departments themselves. If you’re not satisfied with my response, I suggest you contact Akron athletics or the NCAA directly for your answer. Unfortunately, you won’t receive a 100% positive answer here or on any other message board. I used to be a high school AD so I was in the loop, but not anymore. Now I write for a sports media outlet. The information I just gave you is as close as you’ll find without contacting the departments I mentioned above.

Not sure you’ll find many facts at this point, but I suspect any school can use as many Greyshirts or Blueshirts as they wish. There isn’t a scholarship limit per class for the next two years, but all schools do have to get down to the 85 scholarship roster limit - if they are over. It certainly seems we are over, so I don’t know how the numbers are being handled.

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2023/rico-jackson-242130 We offered this kid and now he’s blowing up. Jackson committed to Illinois last week, but is at South Carolina’s camp this weekend and holding his own against some of the best in the southeast. I’m pointing this out to say our staff continues to identify high end talent and offer early. Exciting times! *This should probably be in the 2023 thread*

That’s an interesting take. The whole nation is going to find out who the best players are in a few months. Also, if players enter the portal now they’d have to sit another year. Was it a coach saying that? Or the podcastee’s (is that a word?) hot take?