2024 MAC Recruiting

[catdaddyp]

HS/JUCO TEs:

1) AKRON - Khalil Witherspoon HUDL FILM

2) BALL STATE - Jaxxon Warren HUDL FILM (JUCO)

3) NORTHERN ILLINOIS - Joseph Stein HUDL FILM

4) BOWLING GEEEN - Eli Jacon-Duffy HUDL FILM

5) OHIO - AJ Miller HUDL FILM

 

Transfer TEs:

1) EASTERN MICHIGAN - Jonathan Odom

2) WESTERN MICHIGAN - Chris Toudle

3) AKRON - Max Whisner

4) NORTHERN ILLINOIS - Jake Appleget

5) CENTRAL MICHIGAN - Gavin Harris

 

2023 TEs and how they fared:

1) WESTERN MICHIGAN - Brennan Wooten = N/A but played in 6 games.

2) AKRON - Conner Cravack = N/A Redshirted.

3) CENTRAL MICHIGAN - Jesiah Stevens-Silva = N/A Redshirted and entered Portal.

4) WESTERN MICHIGAN - Jack Parker = N/A Redshirted

5) BOWLING GREEN - Jacob Harris = N/A Redshirted

 

Who I may have missed on:

NORTHERN ILLINOIS - Grayson Barnes = 23 Receptions, 422 Yards, 5 TDs. Barnes was a JUCO that signed after this list was put together last year. He plays the flex WR/TE spot for NIU and is currently listed as WR on their roster.

 

Edited March 25 by catdaddyp

[catdaddyp]

OL typically takes longer to develop than any other position. We won’t know for sure on many of these players until several years down the road. I listed a JUCO as the top HS/JUCO prospect mostly because he’s the most physically ready to play. In my opinion, the recruiting services should list JUCOs with transfer portal players, but that’s not how it currently is.

 

HS/JUCO OL:

1) AKRON - Jerrod Burrell HUDL FILM (JUCO)

2) BOWLING GREEN - Alex Harris HUDL FILM

3) MIAMI - Kris Manu HUDL FILM

4) OHIO - Bryce Parson HUDL FILM

5) NORTHERN ILLINOIS - Grey Rumohr HUDL FILM

 

Edit: I should have added Ball State OL Zach Bandy in top 5. Not going to go back and redo it all, but he deserves to be mentioned.

 

Transfer OL:

1) AKRON - Laurence Seymore

2) TOLEDO - Jakob James

3) BALL STATE - Luke Dalton

4) BOWLING GREEN - Nick Reimer 

5) OHIO - Tigana Cisse

 

2023 OL and how they fared:

1) NORTHERN ILLINOIS - Michael Jimmar = N/A Redshirted.

2) CENTRAL MICHIGAN - Jacob Booth = 1 GP and Redshirted.

3) NORTHERN ILLINOIS - Thomas Paasch = N/A Redshirted.

4) TOLEDO - Cole Rhett = N/A Redshirted.

5) WESTERN MICHIGAN- Luke Zanotti = N/A Redshirted.

 

Who I may have missed on:

There were a few freshmen OL that saw significant playing time throughout the MAC due to team need/lack of depth. None performed particularly well, so they were not included.

Edited March 30 by catdaddyp

[Blue & Gold]

57 minutes ago, catdaddyp said:

Transfer OL:

1) AKRON - Laurence Seymore

 

Very hopeful Seymore is an impact transfer. On Miami-FL's website it said that during his senior year of high school he was rated the #6 offensive guard in the nation by ESPN & #7 by Rivals.

[catdaddyp]

1 hour ago, Blue & Gold said:

Very hopeful Seymore is an impact transfer. On Miami-FL's website it said that during his senior year of high school he was rated the #6 offensive guard in the nation by ESPN & #7 by Rivals.

I’m excited about him. I suspect the OL will be much improved this year.

[Section210Zip]

That is a good point catdaddyp. In the transfer world we are in, is there really a reason to keep the Juco separate? At this point they are just another transfer correct? 

[catdaddyp]

6 hours ago, Section210Zip said:

That is a good point catdaddyp. In the transfer world we are in, is there really a reason to keep the Juco separate? At this point they are just another transfer correct? 

No good reason to keep them separate at this point. Before the portal became what it is now, it was all just HS and JUCO recruiting. Recruiting services are attempting to adjust with the times and figure out the best way to allocate their resources and present information. Rivals has the oldest system and is owned by Yahoo. 247 is owned by CBS. On3 recently removed their NIL feature, which was never accurate to begin with. 

[catdaddyp]

HS/JUCO DEs:

BOWLING GREEN - Martreece Dillard HUDL FILM

AKRON - Tristen Graham HUDL FILM

MIAMI - Javon Hammonds HUDL FILM

TOLEDO - Cameron Gwinn HUDL FILM

AKRON - Jahvon Frazier HUDL FILM

Transfer DEs:

WESTERN MICHIGAN - Popeye Williams

WESTERN MICHIGAN - Rodney McGraw

EASTERN MICHIGAN - Jefferson Adam

OHIO - Ben McNaboe

BALL STATE - Riley Tolsma

 

2023 DEs and how they fared:

1) EASTERN MICHIGAN - Messiah Blair = N/A Redshirted.

2) BUFFALO - Dion Crawford = 29 Tackles. Moved to linebacker.

3) BOWLING GREEN - Alijah Williams = N/A Redshirted. 

4) AKRON - Kam Cheatom = 2 Tackles and Redshirted.

5) BUFFALO - Devonyal Lofton (JUCO) = 19 Tackles and 1 Sack.

 

Who I may have missed on:

AKRON - CJ Nunnally (JUCO) = Nunnally signed after this list was completed last year. 65 Tackles and 7 Sacks.

Edited March 28 by catdaddyp

[catdaddyp]

This year’s crop of MAC DTs is not quite as deep as the 2023 class. I also think the two defensive line coaches Akron has had since Moorhead’s arrival have done as good of a job recruiting as any DL coach in the MAC.

 

HS/JUCO DTs:

1) AKRON - Elijah Davis HUDL FILM

2) AKRON - Ronald Hull HUDL FILM

3) KENT STATE - Josue Cordoba HUDL FILM

4) MIAMI - Oyeka Alexander HUDL FILM

5) WESTERN MICHIGAN - Jordan Buckley HUDL FILM

 

TRANSFER DTs:

1) AKRON - Nathan Kapongo

2) WESTERN MICHIGAN - Anterio Thompson

3) OHIO - CJ Doggette

4) EASTERN MICHIGAN - Dylan Shelton

5) BUFFALO - Tristan Souza

 

2023 DTs and how they fared:

1) WESTERN MICHIGAN - Sid Kaba = N/A Redshirted.

2) TOLEDO - Wayne Peart = N/A Redshirted.

3) OHIO - Kobi Gorman = 5 Tackles and 1 Sack.

4) BOWLING GREEN - James Thomas = N/A Redshirted.

5) AKRON - Marcus Moore = 8 Tackles.

 

Who I may have missed on:

N/A thus far.

Edited March 30 by catdaddyp

[catdaddyp]

I struggled with the top 5. Rich Benege and Jason Hocker deserve to be there, but I couldn’t leave Joshua Lloyd off. The other issue I had is that I believe Lloyd will grow into a DE and probably should be with the DEs. In any case, Akron has 3 really good LBs in this class that absolutely deserve to be listed below. It’s a strong LB class as a whole for the MAC.

 

HS/JUCO LBs:

1) TOLEDO - K’Von Sherman HUDL FILM (JUCO) 

2) TOLEDO - Demontrae Gaston HUDL FILM

3) BOWLING GREEN - Elias Owens HUDL FILM

4) AKRON - Dahvon Frazier HUDL FILM

5) WESTERN MICHIGAN - Joshua Lloyd HUDL FILM

 

TRANFER LBs:

1) TOLEDO - Lance Dixon

2) EASTERN MICHIGAN - James Djonkam

3) CENTRAL MICHIGAN - Nolan Ziegler

4) EASTERN MICHIGAN - JT Killen

5) KENT STATE - Luke Fulton 

 

2023 LBs and how they fared:

1) MIAMI - Malcolm McCain = 1 Tackle and Redshirted.

2) EASTERN MICHIGAN - Jaivian Norman = N/A Redshirted.

3) BOWLING GREEN - David Afogho = N/A Redshirted.

4) WESTERN MICHIGAN - Marcus Woodley = N/A Redshirted.

5) BOWLING GREEN - Jabari Mitchell = N/A Redshirted. 

 

Who I may have missed on:

N/A thus far.

Edited April 2 by catdaddyp

[catdaddyp]

This is an incredibly strong group of safties from the high schools ranks. I’m certain in a few years multiple names will be listed below as players that could have been in the top 5. I also think coach Renna has done an excellent job in the portal filling departures on our backend.

 

HS/JUCO SAFTIES:

OHIO - Tony Mathis HUDL FILM

WESTERN MICHIGAN - Carlos Mitchell HUDL FILM

KENT STATE - Clinton Robinson HUDL FILM

CENTRAL MICHIGAN - Tysen Campbell HUDL FILM

TOLEDO - Hyajah Miller HUDL FILM

 

TRANSFER SAFETIES:

AKRON - Amon Greenwood

AKRON - Paul Lewis

KENT STATE - Kaleb Moody

OHIO - Dustin Johnson

AKRON - Daymon David

 

2023 S and how they fared:

MIAMI - Mychal Yharbrough = 3 Tackles and Redshirted.

AKRON - David Jester = N/A Redshirted.

CENTRAL MICHIGAN - Mark-Allen Gay = N/A Redshirted.

BOWLING GREEN - Tracy Revels = N/A Redshirted. 

BUFFALO - Devon Rainey = N/A No longer on team.

 

Who I may have missed on:

N/A thus far.

Edited April 2 by catdaddyp

[LZIp]

Love the breakdowns @catdaddyp!

[catdaddyp]

Last category. As I mentioned last year, this one is tough as some of these guys will actually end up being safties. 

 

It’s not even a “may” who I missed on below, but a bad oversight on my part when it comes to Daiquan White. I also did not see Raion Strader making such an early impact. 

 

HS/JUCO CBs:

BOWLING GREEN - Kal-El Pascal

CENTRAL MICHIGAN - Bryce Rowe

TOLEDO - Zachary Rogers

EASTERN MICHIGAN - Jaylyn Monds

EASTERN MICHIGAN - Jordan Toney 

 

TRANSFER CBs:

TOLEDO - JaDarrius Perkins

BOWLING GREEN - Ja’Corey Benjamin

TOLEDO - Terrell Crosby

NORTHERN ILLINOIS - Kiwaun Davis

OHIO - Jacob Proche

 

2023 CBs and how they fared:

OHIO - Byron (Tank) Pearson = 16 Tackles and 2 Interceptions.

BUFFALO - Charles McCartherens =  33 Tackles and 3 Interceptions.

EASTERN MICHIGAN - Jaheim Jenkins = N/A Redshirted. 

CENTRAL MICHIGAN - Jamari Allen = N/A Redshirted.

BUFFALO - Jayden Lewis = N/A Redshirted.

 

Who I missed on:

EASTERN MICHIGAN - Daiquan White. Honestly, I have no idea know how I left White off the list first go round. Overlooked him somehow when he was a huge get for EMU. Should have been top 2 on this list when I originally made it. 19 Tackles and 12 PDs.

 

MIAMI - Raion Strader - 57 Tackles and 12 PDs. Zips actually offered Strader out of HS. He was an excellent cover corner, but was on the lighter side. I wasn’t sure how long it would take him to add the needed mass. Strader quickly added the weight and started 12 games.

 

 

I’m not going to touch on kickers and punters because I honestly don’t know and I don’t pay attention to the specialist recruiting sites. Just like with all positions, I expect our specialists to perform at a higher level this year.

Edited April 6 by catdaddyp

[catdaddyp]

Just a reminder the portal opens back up next week. We will surely have some movement both in and out. Although, I doubt we see quite as much movement as we do not have as many depth issues this year as we did at the same point last year. Here’s a list of who we signed and in what month. None of these players participated in the spring of 2023.

 

April:

RB - D. Anderson (TP)

OL - A. George (TP)

DE - Nunnally (JUCO)

DE - A. Smith (JUCO)

DE - L. Jackson (JUCO)

LB - Summers (JUCO)

DB - Proby (JUCO)

 

May:

QB - Bullock (TP)

WR - P. Wilson (TP)

TE - Newell (TP)

OL - Blanchard (TP)

OL - Kindred (TP)

DT - Carter (JUCO)

DT - Lavea (TP)

LB - Cooper (TP)

 

June:

DE - Richards (JUCO)

 

July:

P - Jackson (JUCO)

[catdaddyp]

A few MAC notes:

- Akron’s comprehensive recruiting class is now ranked #2 in the MAC and #87 Nationally. Our recent 2024 offers have gone out to OL, DT, and WR, so we are clearly still looking for more depth there.

- Eastern Michigan has had the most portal entries in the 2nd window with 10. Although, very few of them were significant contributors.

- Ohio has been hit hard this offseason along the interior of their DL. They are also the only team in the conference without a returning All-MAC player.

- Toledo easily has the most talented recruiting class, but they have lost a good amount of production this offseason. Also, 3 star JUCO signee WR Tre Richardson has already hit the portal. 

[Let'sGoZips94]

 

@catdaddyp Wtf is this news?!

 

[catdaddyp]

8 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

@catdaddyp Wtf is this news?!

 

I was as surprised at the commitment as everyone else, but here’s what he had to say just a few months ago:

 

"I'm big on quality over quantity when it comes to the offers and where I want to go. That means just having a great relationship with everybody. Even a smaller school like Toledo, right now is one of the top of my list. I was just there today. My bond with Coach (Robert) Weiner and coach (Jason) Candleis amazing. That team can compete with anybody from at the Power Four level right now."

 

Edited May 7 by catdaddyp

[kreed5120]

On 4/19/2024 at 10:27 AM, catdaddyp said:

A few MAC notes:

- Akron’s comprehensive recruiting class is now ranked #2 in the MAC and #87 Nationally. Our recent 2024 offers have gone out to OL, DT, and WR, so we are clearly still looking for more depth there.

- Eastern Michigan has had the most portal entries in the 2nd window with 10. Although, very few of them were significant contributors.

- Ohio has been hit hard this offseason along the interior of their DL. They are also the only team in the conference without a returning All-MAC player.

- Toledo easily has the most talented recruiting class, but they have lost a good amount of production this offseason. Also, 3 star JUCO signee WR Tre Richardson has already hit the portal. 

As someone who doesn't really follow recruiting are we #2 because of the volume of the recruits that we got or because of the quality of the recruits? How does our average star compare to other MAC programs?

 

I ask because in the past I've seen those services reward teams in rankings based off of volume more so than quality. My hope is that we're getting both.

Edited May 9 by kreed5120

[catdaddyp]

2 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

As someone who doesn't really follow recruiting are we #2 because of the volume of the recruits that we got or because of the quality of the recruits? How does our average star compare to other MAC programs?

 

I ask because in the past I've seen those services reward teams in rankings based off of volume more so than quality. My hope is that we're getting both.

It’s both quality and quantity. As far as Rivals is concerned, they’ve reverted back to listing most G5 commitments as 2 stars (5.2 - 5.4), although some later commitments did manage to keep their 3 star ratings if they were already rated as such. Portal transfers to G5s are usually listed anywhere from 2 or 3 stars. Rivals is the closest to having all the MAC commitments listed. On a side note, On3 and 247 are easier to navigate and have a better interface but they are missing a high number of MAC commitments. I’ve kept the first page up to date for our ease of use here.
 

Moorhead’s staff has definitely upped the quality of players being recruited. Unfortunately it didn’t show up in the win column last year, but hopefully it will this year.

[kreed5120]

38 minutes ago, catdaddyp said:

It’s both quality and quantity. As far as Rivals is concerned, they’ve reverted back to listing most G5 commitments as 2 stars (5.2 - 5.4), although some later commitments did manage to keep their 3 star ratings if they were already rated as such. Portal transfers to G5s are usually listed anywhere from 2 or 3 stars. Rivals is the closest to having all the MAC commitments listed. On a side note, On3 and 247 are easier to navigate and have a better interface but they are missing a high number of MAC commitments. I’ve kept the first page up to date for our ease of use here.
 

Moorhead’s staff has definitely upped the quality of players being recruited. Unfortunately it didn’t show up in the win column last year, but hopefully it will this year.

Thanks for the grunt work that you do. It's appreciated by us casuals who still want to stay somewhat informed.

[catdaddyp]

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

 

Edited July 19 by catdaddyp

[72 Roo]

Thanks to Catdaddyp for his comprehensive review of our last two classes. Being ranked both years in the top two is something to get excited about. Yet it is fascinating to see that Joe's peers don't place much credence in the thought of UA turning it around. Hence the ranking of 11 out of 12 MAC teams. We only outranked the team at PCCC. The guys who are paid big bucks to know their opposition don't see much to worry about in UA. Can we prove them wrong?   

[catdaddyp]

1 hour ago, 72 Roo said:

Thanks to Catdaddyp for his comprehensive review of our last two classes. Being ranked both years in the top two is something to get excited about. Yet it is fascinating to see that Joe's peers don't place much credence in the thought of UA turning it around. Hence the ranking of 11 out of 12 MAC teams. We only outranked the team at PCCC. The guys who are paid big bucks to know their opposition don't see much to worry about in UA. Can we prove them wrong?   

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.