CSNbbs

All the teams in the MAC West seem to be having good recruiting years. I was wondering how MAC East FB programs were doing?

Here's two of most recent and noteworthy ones:

Quote:Ex-Raider Frist commits to Kent State
By Jared Macarin/Richmond County Daily Journal  Saturday, January 15, 2005 11:27 PM EST

When Sam Frist thinks of how far he has come over the years, he still can't believe it.

Three years ago he was a junior at Pinecrest. Then he transferred to Richmond for his senior season, before heading to Hargrave Military Academy for a year.

Now, the 6-foot-4, 250-pounder has fulfilled his dreams of playing college football - at Kent State. Frist verbally committed to the Golden Flashes just before Christmas and will sign with them Feb. 2 on National Signing Day. The former Raider is already at the school for the spring semester and begins classes Monday.

"This is a dream come true," Frist said. "I still can't believe I have achieved this. I get to play in the MAC now. It's so cool to say that."

After being a standout defensive lineman for the Raiders in the 2003 season, Frist decided a year at prep school would be beneficial. So he packed his bags for Hargrave with the encouragement from Richmond coach Ed Emory and the determination to make it to the next level.

"This is what I've wanted to do," Frist said. "I'm real proud of myself and thankful to everyone who helped me get here."

When he enrolled at the prep school, Frist needed to improve his SAT score by 100 points in order to be cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse to play Division-I athletics. After just a month at Hargrave, Frist took the test.

In mid-November, a letter came in the mail with the news he had been hoping for - he was finally qualified.

"I could not have felt better," Frist said of the news. "It was like winning a game. It was a huge adrenaline rush. I wanted to get done with Hargrave, as good as an experience that it was."

With his academic status no longer in question, more schools began to show an interest in Frist.

On the field, Frist battled alongside numerous high school All-Americans and started for Hargrave as a defensive tackle. He also played some defensive end toward the end of the season, but most schools continued to look at him as a tackle.

Kent State was one of the first schools to look at Frist and went after him hard. Later in the season, schools like Georgia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and East Carolina also showed interest, but none more than the Golden Flashes.

Frist visited Kent State in November and fell in love with the campus and program.

"They treated me with a lot of respect and showed me a lot of attention," Frist said. "They treated me very well and that is something that I was looking for.

"Coach (Doug) Martin asked if he could come down to meet my parents. He is that kind of person and it shows they care."

Kent State finished 5-6 last season, including wins over Eastern Michigan, Central Florida and Ohio.

Frist said the Golden Flashes are a program on the rise, and that is something he wants to be a part of.

Frist doesn't know if he will redshirt his freshman season or not at this point. He said coaches would like him to add about 30 pounds to his frame before the fall.

During the season, word was that Frist would most likely be a redshirt, but by the end, that assumption was not as clear.

"I wouldn't mind redshirting because there are some senior linemen ahead of me," Frist said.

"Maybe I could start my freshman season if I redshirt. We'll see."

As for his plans this spring, Frist said he is looking to get some of his core classes out of the way while preparing for spring drills. Whether he is redshirted or not, Frist also said he is going to make people take notice.

"I am looking forward to hitting some heads next year," he said.

So far, he has done a good job.

[quote]Flashes land prized recruit
Jr. College QB commits to KSU
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By David Carducci/Record-Courier staff writer

Michael Machen isn’t your typical junior college quarterback.

He played baseball in the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles organizations. When he decided to give football a try after three years in the minor leagues, he spent a season at the University of Alabama, where he had once been a prized recruit coming out of high school.

After living through the coaching turmoil in Alabama in 2003, Machen played one season of JUCO football in Kansas, capturing the attention of big-time Division I programs like South Carolina, Michigan, Nebraska and Kentucky.

“But from my time in Alabama, I know how it works at those big Division I programs,

[i]“If Steve Spurrier had been hired at South Carolina one week earlier, Mike might have ended up there,

[quote="rocketfootball"] [i]“If Steve Spurrier had been hired at South Carolina one week earlier, Mike might have ended up there,

The article is from 12/18/04.
I'm sure Doug Martin understands the recruiting rules.

Ohio Verbals

Quote:Verbals:

Matt Fryfogle  FB (5-11, 220)
Gulf Coast CC, MS

Voncarie Owens  RB (5-8, 180)
Jones County JC, MS

Brian Mellot  G (6-4, 270)
Youngstown Austintown Fitch

Tom Stuck  C (6-3, 295)
Lancaster

Dathan Ferrainolo  OL (6-3, 285)
Lisbon Beaver Local

David White  C (6-3, 295)
Chardon

Gary Schussler  G (6-3, 274)
Chardon

Mike Philibin  T (6-4, 290)
Youngstown Cardinal Mooney

Jordan Meyers  LB (6-2, 215)
Harrison

Ervin Jackson  DB (6-2, 195)
Pearl River CC, MS

Lee Renfro  S/RB (6-1, 198)
Burnside Pulaski Southwestern, KY

Conor Reilly DE (6-4, 234)
Hudson

Last Edited: 1/19/2005 9:10:07 AM by Ted Thompson

:rolleyes: I see Ohio is going back to smash mouth football.

With regard to smashmouth football, it occurs to me that a team with a true power running game might be hard for a lot of teams to stop right now. Think about this: with everyone going to variations on the spread, the focus is on faster defenses. Faster often means smaller, so a real power team could wear the attack defenses down.

Of course, you still have to pass well enough to make teams back off, or they'll just stack the box, but I still think the strategy could work. College football has been going in cycles for awhile, after all.

[quote="rocketfootball"] [i]“If Steve Spurrier had been hired at South Carolina one week earlier, Mike might have ended up there,

rocketfootball Wrote::rolleyes: I see Ohio is going back to smash mouth football.

Not all smashmouth...I don't think Ohio will be going back to the "can't pass" era. Offers have gone out to several WRs, including this one who has verballed:

Brandon Peterson WR (6-0, 180)
Hyattsvile DeMatha, MD

6-0, 180 pounds. Runs 4.5 40. Other schools interested were Maryland, UC, Vanderbilt and UMass. Was named Maryland Consensus All-State and Big School All-State.

Louisville seemed to be pretty successful with a high-powered, smash mouth running game this year.

OU has never run a real smash-mouth style. Even when we were leading the MAC in rushing, we were running a more gimmicky, option look. These are the biggest & best linemen we've ever recruited. In just 4 weeks, Solich is putting together one of the better classes in OU history, which should scare the rest of the MAC a little. We got Stuck to break a verbal to sUCks, while Meyers might have been a UC verbal as well. Renfro was set to go to Southern Miss until Solich called. If we can land top 40 QB Brandon Jones over Illinois and Southern Miss, watch out. In 2-3 years, Solich is going to have this program at the top of the MAC.

[quote="owen"] [quote="rocketfootball"] [i]“If Steve Spurrier had been hired at South Carolina one week earlier, Mike might have ended up there,

Anyone have a list of likely committments so far for Miami, BG, NIU, and Toledo? These were the best records last year and I'm interested to see who's doing the best job recruiting so far.

Here is a list of confirmed verbals for Toledo. There are 13 names on this list, but I hear that we actually have about 18 or 19 verbals so far. A handful of them just haven't said anything in the papers and since our coaches are not allowed to comment we don't actually know who they are yet.


[code:1]Pos  Name               HT/WT/40-Time     High School/JC           Rivals      Insiders
DT   Steve Burch        6-2/275/4.80      Dodge City JC             ***          ***
WR   David Nichols*     6-3/225/4.50      Cerritos JC               NR           ***
QB   Brandon Summers    6-1/185/4.70      Southfield HS             **           **
TE   Matt Stevens       6-4/225/4.70      Wheaton-Warrenville HS    **           **
LB   Keith Forestal     6-4/225/4.60      Youngstown Liberty HS     **           *
FS   Jeff Green         6-3/180/4.50      Deptford Township HS      **           *
DE   Lyndon Gayle       6-4/275/4.80      Akron North HS            NR           *
RB   Dajuane Collins    5-11/187/4.50     Deptford Township HS      ***          *
OL   Shawn Glaser       6-7/317/5.72      Akron Hoban HS            **           *
DB   Lester Richmond    6-3/185/4.50      Chicago Morgan Park HS    **           NR
DE   Kevin Kilgo        6-5/250/NA        Stevenson HS              NR           NR
DB   Chris Faison       6-1/175/NA        Lahser HS                 NR           NR
QB   John Goolsby**     6-3/200/NA        Morris HS                 NR           NR

*   Signed mid-year Letter of Intent and enrolled in Winter Semester
**  Greyshirt recruit......enrolled in Winter Semester
[/code:1]

CrazyCat25 Wrote:Anyone have a list of likely committments so far for Miami, BG, NIU, and Toledo? These were the best records last year and I'm interested to see who's doing the best job recruiting so far.

BG Verbals and Signees:

Alexander, Luke WR 6'1" 175 Verbal Ohio
Barnes, Freddie QB 6'1" 180 Verbal Illinois
Lawrence, Nick LB 6'2" 215 Verbal Michigan
Leady, Kevin QB 6'2" 185 Verbal Ohio
Mahoney, Kevin OL 6'6" 290 Verbal Ohio
Ruiz, Rubin TE 6'4" 240 Signed Arizona
Steffy, Shane OL 6'3" 295 Verbal Pennsylvania
Williamson, Guy OL 6'5" 295 Verbal Illinois
Magner, Rhett QB 6'0" 160 Verbal Alaska


Not sure how up to date this is but this is all I could find. I added Magner eventhough he wasn't on the site I went to, and last I heard Leady wasn't playing football to concentrate full-time on baseball.

I bet Magner gets turned into a WR if he does sign, he just seems to be too small to play QB at BG or anywhere for that matter.

Quote: BG Verbals and Signees:

Alexander, Luke WR 6'1" 175 Verbal Ohio
Barnes, Freddie QB 6'1" 180 Verbal Illinois
Lawrence, Nick LB 6'2" 215 Verbal Michigan
Leady, Kevin QB 6'2" 185 Verbal Ohio
Mahoney, Kevin OL 6'6" 290 Verbal Ohio
Ruiz, Rubin TE 6'4" 240 Signed Arizona
Steffy, Shane OL 6'3" 295 Verbal Pennsylvania
Williamson, Guy OL 6'5" 295 Verbal Illinois
Magner, Rhett QB 6'0" 160 Verbal Alaska

I thought we had a few more TE's than that? I remember people pondering about that over on Ay zig, but that was a while ago. Anyways, there are probably gonna be a few more, cuz there are those kids who wait to the last minute, cuz they hope to get an OSU bid or something along those lines, and end up signing with us cuz OSU doesn't want them.

I think you can add running back Bobby Thomas to the BG list. The plain dealer had an article about him today and he is an all state player from Warrensville Heights. I wouldn't be surprised to see both Toledo and BG sign a few more receivers to play in the spread offense. I'm surprised to see so many QB's signing with BG since they probably won't get to play for a while with Anthony Turner having 4 years left. Also, does Toledo already have a replacement for Gradkowski after he graduates, or are Goolsby and Summers expected to be the next in line?

CrazyCat25 Wrote:Also, does Toledo already have a replacement for Gradkowski after he graduates, or are Goolsby and Summers expected to be the next in line?

Toledo is pretty high on redshirt freshman Marques Council and true freshman Clint Cochran. Cochran was redshirted this season.

Toledo likes to have at least 4 or 5 QB's on their roster, and when you get a chance to bring in someone good you can't pass them up. Who knows, one of these guys might end up at another position.

Take Summers for instance. He was rated the #14 player, regardless of position, in the state of Michigan. No way that Toledo could pass up a guy like that.

The MAC East recruiting thread is bombarded with West teams posting theirs. Again. :rolleyes:

axeme Wrote:The MAC East recruiting thread is bombarded with West teams posting theirs. Again. :rolleyes:

CrazyCat25, a fan of a school in the MAC East, asked for us to post our recruits. You wouldn't expect us to deny him, would you? :)