Thomas Gets 6th Year, BG adds RB Transfer from Georgia Tech

#BGSU football: 1st, DE Bryan Thomas has received 6th year eligibility from #NCAA per Instagram. 3rd-team All-#MAC for #Falcons last year.
— JWagnerBlade (@jwagnerblade) April 4, 2015

#BGSU football: 2nd, #Falcons have added RB Donovan Wilson to roster. Ga Tech 3* transfer ran for 2,006 yards & 26 TDs as HS sr. in '12.
— JWagnerBlade (@jwagnerblade) April 4, 2015

RT @orangeandbrown: @jwagnerblade Eligibility for Wilson? <{- Redshirt sophomore, eligible this fall. #BGSU football
— JWagnerBlade (@jwagnerblade) April 4, 2015

Spring football continues.  John Wagner has a couple news items from the scrimmage today.  The biggest news is above...BG will have a key element of last year's defense back for a 6th season, and that is DE Bryan Thomas.  This is huge.  BG's defense was hit heavily by graduation losses and getting Thomas back will help a lot.  He led the team with 8 sacks and the MAC with 5 fumbles forced last year and was 3rd team All-MAC.  BG can absolutely, 100% use him and we are thrilled to have him back.

The second is the news that Donovan Wilson transferred from Georgia Tech and will be eligible to play this fall.  In fact, the Georgia Tech blogosphere reported he was coming to Bowling Green back in August, so presumably he "sat out" this year already.

Wilson is originally from Dublin, Ohio, where he went to Jerome HS.  Here is Georgia Tech's HS bio for him....

High School: Jerome HS... a four-year football starter for Coach Mark Hundley... served one year as a team captain... also played three seasons of basketball... rated as a three-star recruit by Rivals... named All-Central Ohio three times... a three-time all-conference, three-time all-district and three-time all-metro selection... named all-state as a senior in 2012... rushed for 2,068 yards and 26 touchdowns as a senior... owns every rushing record at Jerome HS, including 62 carries for 425 yards rushing and seven touchdowns in a game versus Westerville South... finished his prep career with 4,796 yards rushing and 59 touchdowns... made the academic honor roll.

His father played in the NBA.  It does not appear that he ever played for Tech.  Obviously, you don't know what he is bringing to the table now, but if we had signed him out of HS we would have been doing handsprings.

BG continues to build RB depth.  In addition to Travis Greene, Fred Coppet and Andre Givens, they have added Illinois transfer former enrollee Matt Domer as well as Wilson. (Domer technically is not a transfer. We regret the error).

Beyond that, they also have a RB who has never been mentioned as part of a recruiting class, which is Brian Jennings II.  Notably, his bio says he played one season at Eastern Illinois.  As a FR, he was a special teams player who had 7 carries in a reserve RB role for Coach Babers.

Finally, there was one RB in the FR class...CJ Lamar of Florida.

Greene and Coppet have been effective but injured frequently, so seeking depth (beyond Givens) was critical and BG has brought in some guys who have nice credentials and who were considered as players by high level programs (in the case of Domer and Wilson).  Obviously, that still has to show itself out on the field, something I look forward to watching.