From today's Cleveland Plain Dealer. Former Toledo Coach Beckman took one of the top Miami (O) & overall MAC recruits away. For those who live in the Cleveland area, Ohio got a very solid player listed below. congrats Bobcats.

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St. Ignatius senior Mike Svetina has tweeted he'll attend Illinois
Bob Fortuna/The Plain Dealer, January 29, 2012 4:17 p.m.

CLEVELAND, O. - St. Ignatius senior safety Mike Svetina has tweeted "Will be attending University of Illinois next fall'' and a number of teammates and friends have followed with congratulatory tweets. Svetina had given his oral commitment to Miami (O.) in late June but visited Illinois this weekend and apparantly had a change of heart. The 6-2, 220-pounder accounted for 111 tackles, including 59 solos, four sacks, three interceptions, two forced fumbles, two recovered fumbles and a defensive touchdown in helping lead the Wildcats to an 11th Division I state title. For his efforts, Svetina was accorded Defensive Player Of The Year honors in The Plain Dealer as well as All-Ohio Co-Defensive Player Of The Year laurels.

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Benedictine football player Mike Roberts selects Ohio University
Plain Dealer staff, January 29, 2012 6:19 p.m.

Cleveland Benedictine senior Mike Roberts had a good excuse for meeting the Bengals' basketball team in Canton on Sunday morning before its game. He orally committed to play football for Ohio University on Saturday night during a weekend visit to the campus. Roberts, who will play tight end, planned to meet his teammates at Walsh University before Benedictine's 1 p.m. game and he was in the starting lineup as the Bengals took on Bishop O'Connell at the Dunk 4 Diabetes Shootout. Roberts scored 7 points in the Bengals' 63-61 overtime win. His football finalists were OU and Toledo. "When I went to Toledo it was nice and I really loved the coaching staff but to me it was too much like Cleveland with a lot of trouble you could get into," said Roberts, a Division III All-Ohio special mention selection. "OU isn't secluded but it's warming and inviting. It felt like a place I can succeed not only on the field but outside" Roberts (6-4, 245) caught 45 passes last season for 792 yards and six touchdowns. He plans to study sports management.

Sucks to lose any recruiting battle but at least have another TE already committed. Although with 2 of the graduating another would be nice

Mikhail Dubose (BGSU verbal) has reopened his recruiting hoping for an Illinois offer.

Looks like Timmy's reputation precedes him.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hig...1753.story

Very cool!

Man, Illinois is going to be good in the Little Ten this year with all that MAC talent they're recruiting!

Benedictine football player Mike Roberts Wrote:"When I went to Toledo it was...too much like Cleveland with a lot of trouble you could get into"

:bustacap:

http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=551...pid7480783

(01-30-2012 09:34 PM)Howl-n-Prowl Wrote:  

Benedictine football player Mike Roberts Wrote:"When I went to Toledo it was...too much like Cleveland with a lot of trouble you could get into"

:bustacap:

http://csnbbs.com/showthread.php?tid=551...pid7480783

Yup, you can get into trouble in big cities. Shocker, I know. You can get shot during a drug deal gone bad in DeKalb, too. Or sitting in a classroom. Its a tough world HnP. I'm guessing there are recruits who have worried about that as well. Guys who are worried about getting into trouble probably will wherever they end up.

(01-30-2012 09:48 PM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  Yup, you can get into trouble in big cities. Shocker, I know. You can get shot during a drug deal gone bad in DeKalb, too. Or sitting in a classroom. Its a tough world HnP. I'm guessing there are recruits who have worried about that as well. Guys who are worried about getting into trouble probably will wherever they end up.

Toledo, a big city?

There isn't a big city in all of Ohio.

holes and piss-pots, that's all you have.

UT had 3 commits from TE's:
Ebert
Zmolik
Runyan

(01-30-2012 09:33 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote:  Man, Illinois is going to be good in the Little Ten this year with all that MAC talent they're recruiting!

Honestly (and I think everyone here knows this), there are plenty of MAC players that could also play at Big 10 schools, especially once you get away from the line of scrimmage. IMO, the biggest difference between players from the 2 conferences is in the trenches. The big 10 o-linemen are taller with longer arms and the d-linemen are about 20- 30 lbs heavier. LB's, DB's, receivers, QB's.........not really alot of difference.

Lets be honest, recruiting is something of a crapshoot or there wouldn't be so many MAC players in the NFL. Obviously, when they came out of H.S., the big 10 coaches didn't think they were good enough - but yet they're in the NFL.

(01-31-2012 08:51 AM)Crebman Wrote:  

(01-30-2012 09:33 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote:  Man, Illinois is going to be good in the Little Ten this year with all that MAC talent they're recruiting!

Honestly (and I think everyone here knows this), there are plenty of MAC players that could also play at Big 10 schools, especially once you get away from the line of scrimmage. IMO, the biggest difference between players from the 2 conferences is in the trenches. The big 10 o-linemen are taller with longer arms and the d-linemen are about 20- 30 lbs heavier. LB's, DB's, receivers, QB's.........not really alot of difference.

Lets be honest, recruiting is something of a crapshoot or there wouldn't be so many MAC players in the NFL. Obviously, when they came out of H.S., the big 10 coaches didn't think they were good enough - but yet they're in the NFL.

Part of that also is opportunity: some of those players who go from the MAC to the NFL might not have done that had they gone to the bigger school and not gotten the opportunity to play like they do in the MAC. If they went to a Big 10 team and were buried on the depth chart for 2-3 years, their games might not be where they were when they leave the MAC school. There are probably any number of big conference players who might have made the NFL if they had received the playing time and the chance to practice as a first-teamer.

Sure, some guys come to the MAC who would be stars anywhere, but one of the real advantages the MAC has is that it can develop the less-accomplished HS players to reach their potential more than bigger schools will who will bury that guy on the depth chart and not really develop that players skills to the maximum.

I think an advantage of the MAC is that you can go through your college career with less toll on your body.

Getting banged around for 4 years in the SEC (especially for a RB) is brutal on the body and takes away from the longevity of your career and $$$ in the long run.

Also, if you are a stud and playing like a "Man amongst Boys" ala Roethlisberger the game around you is much slower and allows you to develop in a way that you maybe you couldn't if you are thrown to the wolves in (again as an i.e.) the SEC. You see it in the NFL, where players are ruined in their first year because the game is too fast for them to adapt properly and refine their game. It stands to reason that this can happen at any level of competition.

There are probably a number of productive NFL players from the MAC that would not have made the League if they went to a "BCS" school out of college. That doesn't even take into account the players that went to a "big" school and never got the opportunity to get on the field, as mentioned in the post prior.

(01-31-2012 11:08 AM)Howl-n-Prowl Wrote:  I think an advantage of the MAC is that you can go through your college career with less toll on your body.

Getting banged around for 4 years in the SEC (especially for a RB) is brutal on the body and takes away from the longevity of your career and $$$ in the long run.

But the upside is if your a top prospect, you can get into the NFL sooner...so you never get thru 4 years of college...

Toledo stopped recruiting TE's quite a while ago as they had three TE commitments. They were recruiting Roberts as an athlete that would probably play wide receiver and he visited a few weeks ago. After Toledo received a commitment from Corey Jones a week and a half ago, they were done at wide receiver too. Toledo had 3 commitments from three star prospects at that point. Roberts no longer had an offer from Toledo by the time he decided on Ohio. Whether or not that meant he would have even picked Toledo in the first place no one knows, but it is irrelevant now because when he made his decision the Toledo offer was no longer on the table.

(01-31-2012 01:31 PM)wleakr Wrote:  

(01-31-2012 11:08 AM)Howl-n-Prowl Wrote:  I think an advantage of the MAC is that you can go through your college career with less toll on your body.

Getting banged around for 4 years in the SEC (especially for a RB) is brutal on the body and takes away from the longevity of your career and $$$ in the long run.

But the upside is if your a top prospect, you can get into the NFL sooner...so you never get thru 4 years of college...

Tell that to Eric Page, and Corey Jones (Rivals 3 star and Scout 4 star) he de-committed from Pittsburgh to commit to Toledo shortly after Page announced he was skipping his senior year to enter the NFL draft. Jones even said Page going to the NFL early caught his eye about Toledo and played a role in the decision to switch to Toledo.