Football Updates

So, considering we are sitting here in the middle of the summer, there was some news from the football program today.  We will summarize.

First, an alert tweeter noted that in the bottom of this article about RB Davieon Hargrove from Trotwood-Madison, that BG is getting two Dayton area transfers from high-level FBS programs.

The first is Roland Walder, a LB from UK who is transferring following his redshirt season.  He was a 3-star recruit---also at Trotwood-Madison---and is 6'3" and 220.  247 had him ranked as the #57 LB in the country, and he's listed as an ILB.  He was part of an exodus of LBs--4 have left Big Blue.  He also had offers from Nebraska, Syracuse, Pitt and UC before heading to Lexington.  He comes in at a position of need for BG and while I am leery of transfers, you have to believe he's got a shot to be a contributor.

The other young man is Tyler Traylor from Centerville.  He was a star WR in HS who went unsigned on NLI day.  At 6'3" and 205, he has good height.  He went to UC and redshirted last year as well.  He was #54, which tells me that he was moved to LB, but who knows what position they envision him playing at BG.

Besides that, the roster is out with the freshmen now in the house.

I looked through the roster.  The only NLI freshman who is not listed now is TE Travis Koontz.  He could be a grey shirt, but would be an odd guy to do that with since he was a highly ranked recruit.  You may remember him as the guy who verballed to BG, then committed to UT and then ended up back with BG.  Anyway, I haven't been able to find anything about him online, let me know if you have anything.

Beyond that, o-lineman JC Bartok is no longer listed on the roster.  He had been with the program for two years and had yet to appear in a game.

Also. Calen Taylor is no longer listed on the roster.  He is a RB from Missouri who came to BG after a year the West Point prep school.  He was with BG for one year, red-shirting.

Finally, WR Tim Tupa is no longer listed.  He had appeared on the depth chart though he never appeared in a game and was out last year with an injury.  Yes, his Dad is Tom Tupa.

There appear to be three FR on the roster who are new to me.

The first is Denzel Norvell, a RB from Dayton Thurgood Marshall.  This one is a little harder to figure out.  BG lists him as a FR, but here you can see that he played two seasons at Mt. St. Joseph, which is a DIII school in Cincy.  Not sure how that all sorts out.  His second year he averaged 6 yards a carry.

There are two WRs.  Aidan O'Connor from Lima and Justin Sawmiller of Kenton.  Sawmiller's bio says he played one season at UC and is listed as a FR as well.

Anyway, that's a decent amount of news for early July.  Inside of two months to the opener!