catdaddyp

A lot of offers but in the end it was us, Cincinnati, and Syracuse. Syracuse dropped off a bit though.

At 2:25 McManus dominates at the Rivals camp. He beats 2026 4 star Noah Clark three times and 2026 3 star Rodney White twice.

Ka’Marrii Landers recruitment has heated up lately. Offers from Arkansas and South Carolina in the past few days. Hope he does well, but frustrating as he would have likely been a 4 year starter at LT for us.

Definitely a good one. McManus showed out at a recent Rivals camp. Hence his (5.6) 3 star rating. He’s viewed as already having solid technique with excellent athleticism and a high upside. Cincinnati was the other main player in his recruitment.

No, he was a backup and was one of the 4 (?) defenders that decided to preserve their eligibility and hit the portal 4 games in. Thomas did start 4 games in the middle of the 2022 season and played well. Once Holt was fully healthy, it knocked Thomas into a backup role. This past season, Jones and Lavea locked down the starting roles. On the bright side, Thomas hitting the portal allowed Moore to have an opportunity.

A few updates: DT Kyle Thomas transferred to Valdosta State. OL Kilbane did not make it in to UMASS. Apparently some course credits were not accepted.

Agreed. Fits the type of RB Moorhead typically utilizes in his offense, but probably a depth addition. That said, any time a homegrown talent is good enough to play here, bring him home.

Another reason the QB battle is still ongoing?

Also the only player I’ve ever seen tossed from a football game for cursing out a ref.

I know the SEC hasn’t decided if all 105 players will be on scholarship. My guess is it’ll be more than the current 85, but we’ll see.

NCAA also did away with the limited amount of coaches on staff. Programs were getting around this to an extent with all the analyst roles, but now they can be on-field coaches. Many Power schools will be able to offer more money for “Assistant LB” type roles than G5 schools will for a LB coach (pick any position for comparison). Potentially more than coordinators as well, depending on the school.

Here’s how Moorhead’s 2nd class currently stands. Only scholarship players are listed. 2023 Freshmen Still on the Team: WR - Paul Davis WR - Jean Louis WR - Adrian Norton TE - Connor Cravaack OL - Jayvin James OL - Jonas Mann OL - Delvin Morris DE - Kam Cheatom DE - Bruno Dall DT - Marcus Moore LB - Melvin Spriggs CB - Catrell White S - Darius Owens 2023 Freshmen No Longer on the Team: QB - Steele Wasel CB - Zayden Laing-Taylor S - David Jester Transfer Portal Additions still on the Team: QB - Tahj Bullock WR - Phaizon Wilson TE - Jacob Newell OL - Josh Blanchard OL - AJ George DT - Lama Lavea LB - Shammond Cooper CB - Joey Hunter CB - Terence Thomas Transfer Portal Additions No Longer on the Team: ( * has been placed beside players who have exhausted their eligibility) RB - Drake Anderson * RB - Lorenzo Lingard * OL - Ben Frank * OL - Keon Kindred DT - Terray Jones * CB - Judson Tallandier * JUCO Additions still on the Team: DE - CJ Nunnally (All-MAC) DE - Kabbash Richards LB - Gage Summers CB - Silas Proby P - Dante Jackson JUCO Additions No Longer on the Team: DE - LaJoshua Jackson DE - Antonio Smith DT - Tyler Carter

That program is an absolute mess. Solid chance they go winless if they can’t beat Hawaii to kick off the season.

I think the biggest part of it is he just didn’t recruit well enough. Whether that was due to having poor recruiters on staff, the admin not giving enough support, or some other reason, I don’t know. Maybe all of the above? Regardless, it still falls back on him. A lot of coaches that were great at X’s and O’s, but were poor recruiters have flamed out at the D1 level. Steve Spurrier is one of the elite coaches of all time and flat out stop recruited during his last few years at South Carolina. At the tail end, he just wanted to coach football and let his assistants do the rest. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. I know All-Conference isn’t the end all be all, especially when some of it goes off of win totals, but it’s a decent barometer for recruiting. Arth recruited 6 All-MAC players in three classes. The caveat is that 2 of them were developed by Moorhead’s staff. Dollard Watts Brank Mumpfield Irons* Gathings* Not a single OL or DL on the list.

Revisiting now that the majority of roster movement is complete. All of this is just conjecture from what I’ve seen so far. OFFENSE QB: Finley - R. Junior (TP) Bullock - R. Junior (TP) RB: Simmons - R. Junior (TP) Kellom - R. Sophomore (HS) WR: Norton - Sophomore (HS) Polk - R. Freshman (TP) WR: Adams - R. Junior (TP) Golden - Junior (HS) WR: Rush - R. Junior (JUCO) Granger - Junior (TP) TE: Newell - R. Sophmore (TP) Whisner - R. Sophomore (TP) LT: Blanchard - R. Senior (TP) James - R. Freshman (HS) LG: K. Davis - R. Sophomore (HS) Lyons - R. Junior (Arth) C. T. Williams - R. Sophomore (HS) Fox - R. Sophomore (JUCO) RG: Seymore - R. Junior (TP) Burrell - Junior (JUCO) RT: Thomas - R. Senior (TP) Walker - R. Junior (TP) DEFENSE DE: Nunnally - Senior (JUCO) Cheatom - R. Freshman (HS) DE: Adler - Senior (Arth) Richards - R. Senior (JUCO) DT: Lavea - R. Junior (TP) Madden - R. Junior (TP) DT: Kapongo - R. Senior (TP) Moore - Sophomore (HS) LB: Fish - Senior (JUCO) Benenge - R. Freshman (TP) LB: McCoy - Junior (HS) Cooper - R. Senior (TP) NB: D. Lewis - R. Junior (Arth) T. Thomas - R. Sophomore (TP) CB: Golden-Nelson - R. Junior (TP) Anderson - R. Junior (JUCO) CB: Hunter - R. Junior (TP) White - R. Freshman (HS) S: P. Lewis - Senior (TP) D. Johnson - R. Junior (Arth) S: David - R. Junior (TP) Greenwood - R. Junior (TP) SPECIAL TEAMS K: Wiley - Sophomore (HS) Smith - R. Junior (TP) P: D. Jackson - R. Senior (JUCO) Book - Senior (TP)

I was surprised to hear him say the secondary has the most depth. It feels like the situation we had along the DL last year in that we knew the talent level had been increased, but didn’t know how it would play out. If the secondary can take a step forward like the DL did, this defense should be one of the best in the conference. I was disappointed to hear there is still an ongoing competition at QB. Seemed like the spring game made it pretty obvious who the best QB was. Might be a situation where they are still hoping Bullock makes a leap in progression before the season begins?

MAC Media Days

It’s definitely time to see progress in the win column. Should have happened last year, but didn’t. I’m not sure how many coaches actually care about the preseason rankings. If picked low, they can use it for motivation. If picked high, potentially have to fight off complacency. Some coaches actually let someone else on staff do the voting and turn it in for them.

There’s definitely a chance for Akron and UMASS to go bowling. There have been a number of similarities between the two football programs. Both rosters were the worst in college football when Moorhead and Brown took over. Looking at Akron: Likely losses: Ohio State, Rutgers, South Carolina Most Likely Wins: Colgate, Kent State, Buffalo Would need 3 from: Ohio, Bowling Green, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Toledo Looking at UMASS Likely Losses: Missouri, Mississippi State, Georgia Most Likely Wins: Central Connecticut, Wagner, Buffalo Would need 3 from: Eastern Michigan, Toledo, Miami (OH), Northern Illinois, Liberty, UCONN I haven’t followed MTSU enough to have much of an opinion.

Updates are completed. I doubt any more players receive ratings at this point as Rivals has moved on to the 2025 class. Akron finished tied for the best comprehensive (HS,JUCO, & Portal) class in the MAC last year and finished 2nd this year. Rivals did not do a comprehensive ranking in 2022. So far, 6 players from the 2022 class have been selected All-MAC - more than any other school in the conference for the 2022 class. The 2024 final rankings: 1 - Toledo 2 - Akron 3 - WMU 4 - EMU T5 - Kent T5 - Ohio 7 - Miami 8 - BGSU 9 - Buffalo 10 - Ball State 11 - NIU 12- CMU

Thought I’d bump this thread so everyone could see where the 2022 class currently stands. It usually takes a few years for freshmen to develop and contribute. It also takes a few years to look back and see how impactful the class actually was. So far, there have been 6 all-conference players (1 freshman, 5 portal) and 17 starters from the 35 player class. Only scholarship players are listed below. 2022 Freshmen Still on the Team: RB - Charles Kellom WR - Bobby Golden OL - Keylen Davis OL - Tyhler Williams DT - Kiawan Murphy LB - Bryan McCoy (All-MAC) 2022 Freshmen No Longer on the Team: QB - Dijon Jennings RB - Anthony Stallworth TE - Marquell Darnell OL - Jourden Hale OL - Ki’Marii Landers LB - Jaharon Griffin Transfer Portal Additions still on the Team: WR - Alex Adams (All-MAC) CB - Devontae Golden-Nelson Transfer Portal Additions No Longer on the Team: ( * has been placed beside players who have exhausted their eligibility) QB - Jeff Undercuffler * RB - Clyde Price RB - Cam Wiley WR - Daniel George (All-MAC) * WR - Shocky Jaquel-Louis (All-MAC) * TE - TJ Banks * TE - Caden Clark OL - Max Banes OL - Anthony Whigan (All-MAC) * DE - Victor Jones * DT - Curtis Harper * DT - Ravontae Holt * DT - Devon Robinson LB - Tim Terry * S - Kerry Martin (All-MAC) S - Nate Thompson * S - Jaden Woods JUCO Addition still on the Team: LB - Antavious Fish JUCO Additions No Longer on the Team: WR - Caleb Anderson DT - Kyle Thomas CB - Cam Threatt

Have to agree with the poster. Not sure why AAC would jump the gun on this and limit their own conference. Some form of NIL salary cap is coming as it’s already being discussed by ADs and HCs (in particular Big10 and SEC). Not sure what it’ll look like since there is so much to hash out and they have to make sure whatever they decide isn’t struck down by the courts.

I think the staff has done a really nice job recruiting the OL. In general, it just takes longer to develop offensive linemen than most other positions. The OL was in rough shape when Moorhead took over. There were a handful of players that had talent, but still needed developing. The rest really should have been nothing more than situational backups. From the 1st class (2022) Landers started as a freshman and unfortunately was lost to JUCO. The following year Williams and Davis became starters as redshirt freshmen (expecting both of them to only get better from here). Whigan was an immediate starter and All-MAC guard from the portal. Banes was a starter from the portal when he wasn’t injured. The 2nd class (2023) brought in two starters from the portal in Blanchard and Frank. All of the freshmen (Morris, James, and Mann) redshirted, so still too early for them, but they look promising. The 3rd class (2024) has 2 JUCO All-Americans (Walker and Fox), 1 JUCO that was on the All-American watchlist before the year began (Burrell), 1 All-MEAC (Thomas), a part-time starter at Miami (Seymore), a starter at Southern (Fields), a former Alabama recruit (Shor), and a prep recruiting win over Boston College (Mitchell). There were 5 linemen that transferred out this offseason and 5 that transferred out last offseason from the previous staff. So 10 OL didn’t get the job done at a high enough level that the current staff inherited. That’s tough. They won’t all work out but the talent and athleticism has been increased dramatically. As far as the stars go, most of these guys would be fringe 3 star guys according to Rivals ratings, which basically means either a multi-year starter, potential all-conference player, or potential late round pick in the NFL draft. This ought to be the year we see substantial improvement from the OL.

I won’t have much to add about the specialists except stats, but I figured it was time for an update with so much turnover. (K) Garrison Smith - [Redshirt Junior, New] - Transfer from McNeese State. Was 48 of 48 on extra points and 18 of 21 on field goals in two years at McNeese. Also handled kickoff duties. FCS freshman All-American. Owen Wiley - [Sophomore, Returning] - Went 12 for 12 on extra points and 4 of 6 on field goals. Only misses were beyond 40 yards. Matthew Schramm - [Freshman, New] - Chose Akron over Marshall. (P) Dante Jackson - [Redshirt Senior, Returning] - Former JUCO. 3 for 3 on extra points and 2 of 3 on field goals. 65 punts for a 37.5 average. Also handled kickoff duties. Avery Book - [Senior, New] - Transfer from Augustana. 48 punts for a 44.8 average in 2023. 1st Team All-conference for two years. Joseph Castle - [Sophomore, Returning] - Did not play in 2023. (LS) Liam Reardon - [Redshirt Junior, New] - Transfer from Iowa. Emmet Rhoades - [Redshirt Freshman, New] - Transfer from Florida A&M.

Bumping all of these. I think I have everyone added now.