Class of '26 Verbal Commits and Offers/Discussion

[Blue & Gold]

Class of 2026 Verbal Commitments

 

Semaj Beals, QB, 6-2, 190, Roman Catholic HS, Philadelphia, PA

Yeboa Cobbold, ATH, 6-1, 185, Lansdale Catholic HS, Philadelphia, PA

Daunte Curtis, LB, 6-1, 225, Pickerington North HS, Pickerington, OH

Antwan Smithray, DL, 6-4, 270, Roman Catholic HS, Philadelphia, PA

 

Class Breakdown

Total Commits: 4

 

Offense: 1

OL: 

WR: 

RB:

QB: 1 (Beals)

 

Defense: 3

DL: 1 (Smithray)

LB: 1 (Curtis)

DB: 1 (Cobbold)

Edited 21 hours ago by Blue & Gold

[Blue & Gold]

We've offered Indian Valley 5'9", 200 lb. RB Grady Kinsey.  This kid is tough & has a terrific 5-yard burst. Grady scored 5 TD's in this weekend's D4 state championship game, which Indian Valley won.

Hudl highlights

[Slam_Hilliard22]

1 hour ago, Blue & Gold said:

We've offered Indian Valley 5'9", 200 lb. RB Grady Kinsey.  This kid is tough & has a terrific 5-yard burst. Grady scored 5 TD's in this weekend's D4 state championship game, which Indian Valley won.

Hudl highlights

Was also a finalist for Mr. Ohio

 

Really physical back it looks like even if he's only 5'9

 

Had nearly 3k rushing yards this season and 40+ td's on the ground

 

Insane numbers

[Blue & Gold]

As mentioned in another thread, we've offered '26 Avon LB Ryan Stolarski

 

[Zipmeister]

On 12/8/2024 at 7:03 PM, Blue & Gold said:

Class of 2026 Verbal Commitments

...

 

Offense: 0

 

Defense: 0

 

 

This 0 kid must be pretty good. When was the last time we got a recruit that went both ways?

[LZIp]

11 minutes ago, Zipmeister said:

 

This 0 kid must be pretty good. When was the last time we got a recruit that went both ways?

Cody Grice.

[Blue & Gold]

Woody's cousin is a 6'1.5" WR from western PA.

[Let'sGoZips94]

 

 

[Blue & Gold]

Looks like we got our first verbal for '26.  Yeboa Cobbold, Jr.  An athlete from Philly. In his bio he listed his positions as DB/WR/QB.  I'm gonna go ahead and list him as a DB in post #1.

[ZippyRulz]

14 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

Looks like we got our first verbal for '26.  Yeboa Cobbold, Jr.  An athlete from Philly. In his bio he listed his positions as DB/WR/QB.  I'm gonna go ahead and list him as a DB in post #1.

 

Just speculating but if he lists QB as one of his positions and is committing early to us he may have hopes of playing QB here.

 

[Blue & Gold]

6'1" 225 LB from Pickerington North w/ 6 D1 offers

By his X feed it was difficult to tell who offered but it looked like us, Ohio, Miami, Toledo, KSUcks, YSU, and Gardner Webb.  That's 7 so one of those schools didn't offer.

Edited June 16 by Blue & Gold

[Slam_Hilliard22]

Zips have offered Finnish DB Peter Lundstrom

 

Played in a top European league a few years ago it looks like

 

Not a ton of info on him but appears to be a '26

 

 

[Blue & Gold]

 

[Blue & Gold]

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

2 hours ago, Blue & Gold said:

 

 

Never seen somebody so committed. 

[MangoZip]

On 7/11/2025 at 5:21 PM, Blue & Gold said:

 

This is ridiculous 

[zvillezip]

 

[catdaddyp]

35 minutes ago, zvillezip said:

 

Wow, was not expecting that. This kid had offers from a number of big time programs at one point. Not sure if all offers were for QB or a different position, but major recruiting win for this staff. 

Edited Sunday at 11:54 PM by catdaddyp

[Let'sGoZips94]

12 hours ago, zvillezip said:

 

 

4.0 GPA according to his bio. 

[Blue & Gold]

His massive offer sheet also included Colorado, Duke, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska and Penn State, among many others. In his junior season, Beals finished with 4,135 passing yards and 50 touchdowns, while adding seven scores on the ground.

[MangoZip]

Something about this just doesn’t add up - must be more to this story. Maybe he just waited too long and this was the only offer still on the table? There is no way that he chooses Akron over some of those other schools. I’m guessing that it was Buffalo, Akron, Tulsa, and Sacramento State as the only valid offers left and he chose Akron. 

Edited 16 hours ago by MangoZip

[72 Roo]

57 minutes ago, MangoZip said:

Something about this just doesn’t add up - must be more to this story. Maybe he just waited too long and this was the only offer still on the table? There is no way that he chooses Akron over some of those other schools. I’m guessing that it was Buffalo, Akron, Tulsa, and Sacramento State as the only valid offers left and he chose Akron. 

It's safe to say there is more to this story. I love the recruit, but I don't buy that we out-recruited the big boys. I would love to learn the real story behind this. The second thing I would love to answer is how long he will stay at UA if he is successful. We are, and will be, a stepping stone to greener pastures. I'll enjoy him while we have him. 

[AkronAlumnus]

HUGE if it sticks, NIL play?  Either way the future looks bright atleast for right now. 

[ZippyDoo]

Not to diminish his talents or abilities at all, but if you look at his Rivals timeline, several of these offers were made when he could commit. For example, Florida A&M and Pitt both offered him in 2023 along with 17 other schools. He was only a sophomore. So someone showed interest then everyone jumped on board and tried to get his loyalty. 

[zzx]

4 hours ago, 72 Roo said:

It's safe to say there is more to this story. I love the recruit, but I don't buy that we out-recruited the big boys. I would love to learn the real story behind this. The second thing I would love to answer is how long he will stay at UA if he is successful. We are, and will be, a stepping stone to greener pastures. I'll enjoy him while we have him. 

 

According to inquirer.com, in a subscription article dated Dec. 06, 2024: "Roman Catholic drops state championship game to Bishop McDevitt in overtime" .... "Roman Catholic junior standout quarterback Semaj Beals reportedly was injured just before the fourth quarter concluded..."

 

 

I am not sure the extent of his injury, however, the injury might be the reason some schools lost interest in recruiting him.