2016 Recruiting

[wadszip]

1 hour ago, LZIp said:

does that necessarily mean the visit is canceled though?

Not necessarily, but it sounded like he made a firm decision. I can't find the article I read the other day, but he said he saw what he needed at Arkansas State to end his recruitment. 

[LoyalZIP]

Jahcour Pearson just committed to WKU

[LZIp]

blah. good for him.

[LZIp]

Picked up a commitment from Tyler Gilchrist out of Hoban. He had offers from other MAC schools. Really like this kid's tape! I've tried to post his tweet 3 times now so I give up.

 

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1838295/highlights/305689386/v3

Edited January 28, 2016 by LZIp

[ZachTheZip]

That one's huge. Getting a player from the state championship team less than a mile from campus is what a successful program is supposed to do.

[ZachTheZip]

Add another local recruit: East HS WR Domonick Holley, according to ScoutingOhio.com

6' 2" with an offer from EMU.

Yeah for local recruiting!

 

 

[blueandgold]

It's nice to see him already playing at Infocision Stadium in some of the highlights. He's got decent size.

[LZIp]

50 minutes ago, blueandgold said:

It's nice to see him already playing at Infocision Stadium in some of the highlights. He's got decent size.

Not the greatest speed, but looks looks like he has good hands and can high-point the ball as well. I like this recruit as well.

[zzx]

MLB Laquavious Paul is visiting Akron today. This guy looks like he can hit.

[Blue & Gold]

Ohio.com posting on Tyler Gilchrist

http://www.ohio.com/blogs/varsity-letters/abjvarsity-1.279974/archbishop-hoban-senior-tyler-gilchrist-commits-to-play-football-at-the-university-of-akron-1.658078

[blueandgold]

I was going to mention that as well...he doesn't look fast, but he does seem to really catch the ball at it's highest point so that adds to his effectiveness.

[kreed5120]

Nice to see we are now adding some local kids to the recruiting class. Should be a busy next couple of days.

[ZachTheZip]

HS Commits

Kato Nelson QB 6' 0" / 190 Flanagan HS, Pembroke Pines, FL

Brandon Council OL 6' 4" / 290 Jireh Prep, Matthews, NC

Trevor Brown OL 6' 6" / 285 Jireh Prep, Matthews, NC

Jonathan Neeley OL 6' 5" / 260 Ursuline HS, Youngstown, OH

Cedric McCoy OL 6' 6" / 330 Ellsworth CC, Iowa Falls, IA

Jovann Letuli  T 6' 5" / 305 Grossmont CC, El Cajon, CA

Tyler Gilchrist ATH 5' 11" / 193 Archbishop Hoban HS, Akron, OH

Domonick Holley WR 6' 2" 154 East HS, Akron, OH

Devon Jones TE, 6'4" / 205 Coventry HS, Coventry, OH (Walk-on?)

 

Transfers

Jojo Natson WR 5' 7" / 171 Utah State

Josh Krok OL 6' 8" / 303 Niles McKinley / Kentucky

Kwadarrius Smith ATH 5' 9" / 165 Missouri

Kevin Gladney WR 6' 1" / 190 Akron Firestone / Nebraska

Reggie Rogers DB/WR 6' 1" / 185 Massilon / Marshall

Bryce Jones S 6' 0" / 178 Cleveland Heights / Boston College

[ZachTheZip]

Hopefully with visits this weekend our current commits are solidified and we add some more. Still a very small signing class.

[LoyalZIP]

8 minutes ago, uakronkid said:

HS Commits

Kato Nelson QB 6' 0" / 190 Flanagan HS, Pembroke Pines, FL

Brandon Council OL 6' 4" / 290 Jireh Prep, Matthews, NC

Trevor Brown OL 6' 6" / 285 Jireh Prep, Matthews, NC

Jonathan Neeley OL 6' 5" / 260 Ursuline HS, Youngstown, OH

Cedric McCoy OL 6' 6" / 330 Ellsworth CC, Iowa Falls, IA

Jovann Letuli  T 6' 5" / 305 Grossmont CC, El Cajon, CA

Tyler Gilchrist ATH 5' 11" / 193 Archbishop Hoban HS, Akron, OH

Domonick Holley WR 6' 2" 154 East HS, Akron, OH

Devon Jones TE, 6'4" / 205 Coventry HS, Coventry, OH (Walk-on?)

 

Transfers

Jojo Natson WR 5' 7" / 171 Utah State

Josh Krok OL 6' 8" / 303 Niles McKinley / Kentucky

Kwadarrius Smith ATH 5' 9" / 165 Missouri

Kevin Gladney WR 6' 1" / 190 Akron Firestone / Nebraska

Reggie Rogers DB/WR 6' 1" / 185 Massilon / Marshall

Bryce Jones S 6' 0" / 178 Cleveland Heights / Boston College

 

Thanks for putting this list together!

[ZachTheZip]

8 minutes ago, LoyalZIP said:

Thanks for putting this list together!

 

Just an updated version of what CK put together a few weeks ago.

[kreed5120]

Hopefully we can close out this recruiting class with some defensive players, namely in the front 7. We could also use a quality back.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I love that the local kids are buying into the Program. I love that a classy former Zip like Marques Hayes is proactive in getting his East High players to play their college ball at home. I hope former Zip, now Saint V Coach Marcus Whattley has that same enthusiasm about funneling kids to his alma mater.

[Blue & Gold]

Still wondering if we'll end up seeing DL Anthony Clark on the list come signing day.  From Buchtel, he played last year @ JUCO.

I'm also still crossing my fingers on OL JUCO Craig Smith (mentioned on page 7 of this thread).  

Edited January 29, 2016 by Blue & Gold

[LZIp]

Board Issue: I have tried multiple posts in different thread where I have tried to post a link from twitter or ZN.o and it automatically "embeds" itself. When I go to submit the post, it takes me to a "forbidden" page and I lost everything I typed.

 

Anyways, when looking at the size of the recruiting class, we need to keep in mind that it seems Bowden has greyshirted approximately 5 or so in every class. So a 2015 greyshirt will not count be on scholarship until 2016, which will take one scholarship away from the true 2016 recruiting class. From my general following of recruiting, it doesn't seem like this is too common of a practice. So at one point, Bowden should theoretically have a small class to "catch up" instead of greyshirting recruits every year. A recruit really would only want to greyshirt if they have nowhere else to go.

Someone who immediately comes to mind that will be eligible this year is Ray Ray Smith. I don't recall who all greyshirted, but you can find the rest of the 2015 recruiting class list made by Zach here,

[kreed5120]

24 minutes ago, LZIp said:

when looking at the size of the recruiting class, we need to keep in mind that it seems Bowden has greyshirted approximately 5 or so in every class. So at one point, Bowden should theoretically have a small class to "catch up" instead of greyshirting recruits every year. A recruit really would only want to greyshirt if they have nowhere else to go.

As a counter point you also have to remember that the Zips target a lot of JUCO and transfer players. Kevin Gladney is coming to the Zips and only has 2 years of eligibility left. You can bring in 2.5 Keven Gladneys over the course of 5 years compared to 1 RS freshman recruit over the same time frame. The Zips should be able to sign 20-25 players per year as they tend to cycle thru players quicker than an average program.

[LZIp]

8 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

As a counter point you also have to remember that the Zips target a lot of JUCO and transfer players. Kevin Gladney is coming to the Zips and only has 2 years of eligibility left. You can bring in 2.5 Keven Gladneys over the course of 5 years compared to 1 RS freshman recruit over the same time frame. The Zips should be able to sign 20-25 players per year as they tend to cycle thru players quicker than an average program.

I get your point, I'll preface by saying I'm not completely sure on the matter, but I believe there are only a maximum number of scholarships schools can give out per year, around mid twenties. If we have 15 commits now made up of transfers and HS kids, have 5 greyshirts from the year before, that means we could only sign 5 more if the max is 25. If we lost 30 last year, we can't necessarily just give out 30 this year

[Captain Kangaroo]

I don't recall too many greyshirts from Bowden, if any?

There are non-qualifiers who sit out 1 year and enter as Sophs, redshirts who sit and enter as Frosh, and prep school kids.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Captain Kangaroo

[wadszip]

2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Still wondering if we'll end up seeing DL Anthony Clark on the list come signing day.  From Buchtel, he played last year @ JUCO.

I'm also still crossing my fingers on OL JUCO Craig Smith (mentioned on page 7 of this thread).  

I'm hopeful Clark will be in this class. I haven't read that he has committed anywhere. Since he is a JUCO (presumably because he didn't qualify) he is free game to any program despite signing last year. But since he went the JUCO route, he may not have the proper credits to transfer to a FBS school until next year.

[wadszip]

1 hour ago, LZIp said:

I get your point, I'll preface by saying I'm not completely sure on the matter, but I believe there are only a maximum number of scholarships schools can give out per year, around mid twenties. If we have 15 commits now made up of transfers and HS kids, have 5 greyshirts from the year before, that means we could only sign 5 more if the max is 25. If we lost 30 last year, we can't necessarily just give out 30 this year

The 25 max is a soft max. It's all about the 85 limit. As long as you have players that can be back rolled into the previous class (transfers, early enrollees) or moved to the next class (grey shirt, non qualifier), they could sign as many as needed as long as stay at 85.

With the way Bowden has constructed this roster, I don't think we'll ever have to worry about a 25 limit. There are a lot of ways he can make the numbers work.

Plus, even if they only bring in the 15 "new" players (though guys like Natson, Jones and Smith were on the roster last year), expect to see a bunch of transfers following signing day. That's not a huge surprise, but this year is going to be even more transfer rich than most with all the coaching turnover (10-plus P5 coaching changes). Schools are wrapping up their classes and once those are set, there are going to be a bunch of P5 talent that is going to be processed to make room for guys the new coaches are bringing in. 

Plus, even schools like Ohio State and Michigan (who don't have new coaches) are both over there 85 limits. They are both going to have to "cut" 2-3 players.

Basically, there is going to be a lot of talent come on the market in the next couple of months. Some will be fifth year guys who can play right away. Some will be guys who have to sit, but will have multiple years left. The more spaces Akron is under the 85 on signing day, the more of those guys they can bring in.