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Another higher touted local guy in the portal. Gates has already had a few stops though (if he actually made it to BC that is).

It will be interesting to see how it shakes out for sure. I'd have thought we were set at TE (maybe even had one too many already), but this was likely a situation where the talent and potential goodwill of giving a Hoban player a home was too good to pass up. Just seems like we have too many guys (unless planning to run a lot of two TE sets) , but regardless TEs should be good special teams players.

Re Lawson: he was one of the higher rated recruits in Arth’s initial class, but I believe he’s been oft injured throughout his career. I was wondering who that #10 was at first. Here’s to hoping he ends up being a pleasant surprise.

surprised Gates didn't take him.

My lord. Hell of a get.

Looks like an interior OL from Penn State. Hell yes! Edit: Looks like he played on interior at PSU, but was maybe recruited as a tackle. At the very least seems versatile. Was also a 4 star recruit to Penn St.

1 week to the spring game gentlemen!

I wouldn't consider myself bold on him, though the talent would appear to be there based on his HS recruitment. I think they brought him in to fill a void. Ali was more of a traditional 3 rather than a stretch 4 IMO. Though he played the 4 a lot, he was undersized. Adding Hunter gives us a player who is bigger and can help with rebounding/guarding in the post, but also be an outside threat and help us maintain appropriate spacing for Freeman to work. Not a whole lot different than what Wynn can provide, but hopefully he's an upgrade. With the addition of Hankerson (because I think the last spot goes to a true big man back up for Freeman), I think we may end up being a little smaller in the back court, but thats not as big of a deal as being undersized in the front court. Freeman is prone to foul trouble and there is no true big man behind him. The wildcard to all of this is if Groce thinks Dawson and backup by committe can hold down the 3. If so, we should be in pretty good shape. Time will tell.

So....Kevin Durant. Easy enough.

Other: a true big back up for Freeman.

Lets hope poaching from the former MAC west works out better than last year. He's 6'2" so clearly a guard to me..

Really wasn't much in this one as some others IMO. I'm having trouble copying the article, but these are the guys mentioned: “A lot of guys, really more than five guys, had a really good offseason. Xavior Gray, Jordan Daniels, Nate Williams, Alex Robarge,” he said. “All of those guys had a really good offseason in terms of the weight room, accountability, culture, all of those things.” And there’s Banes, who played tackle at Houston.

I’m seeing offers from Kent, BG, Army, Navy, Air Force and some FCS schools.

While we’re still doing mental gymnastics to make it seem like losing Ali wasn’t a big deal, anyone want to chime in where Sammy Hunter ranks and what that means about him? Don’t see him in the top 100. if everyone thinks Ali is good except for a select few of the Zipsnation faithful, it just might be a bad take. Best of luck to him, but I don’t really have much interest in talking about it anymore. Looking forward to seeing how the staff fills out the roster. Go Zips!

Feel free to share anything you observed at practice

Have to say GT is doing a nice job with these position previews. Wonder if he got the idea from @catdaddyp lol

Virshon Cotton in the transfer portal for the umpteenth time.

Ali was by no means an inefficient scorer either.

So I actually have it on good authority this commit is actually going to be the 22 class, though I’d typically think 23 given the timing. What I don’t know is if they’re on scholly and/or is this a replacement for the OL commit from Indiana who is the only freshman signee that isn’t on the roster. Not a lot of information out there on this one and this is and example of where it gets confusing when trying to track players on scholly.

For whatever reason, I have a feeling he ends up at OU (because of need and I believe his dad played there) or Toledo (need). I think he’s a heck of a talent though, one above the MAC, so he’d be a steal for whoever get him. Unfortunately I don’t think we have a fit for him on the team, unless we make room of course. We have a lot of guards.

Also with offers to KEnt and Toledo per 247

Agreed. Makes you wonder why he wasn’t able to catch on elsewhere.

We are going to have some real depth at DL then. We still have the likes of Fann, Wilson, Johnson, McClain, Morton, and Szy backing them up (assuming they don’t transfer)..all of whom have plenty of experience. I guess 4 new starters means we should raise our expectations of this unit.

Interesting as I believe both Williams and Daniels were guards last year. Thanks for sharing.

Idk if he’s supposed to replace Aziz, so I don’t look at it that way. I think he gives us the option to add another dynamic to the team and play bigger, while maintaining adequate spacing on offense for Enrique to operate. I’d still like us to bring in a back up center in addition to a “replacement” for Ali, whatever that may be.