Thursday, June 29, 2017

Pinegar DeCommits


Well, that was fast.  For the second time this month, a BG commit had been a BG commit for about a week or so and then de-committed.  Tommy Rush went to row the boat and this young man is just seeking his options.

(Thanks to the alert commenter who pointed this out to me).

Anyway,  no hard feelings.  Best of luck to all.

Monday, June 26, 2017

Matt Johnson to Coach at Syracuse

It appears that the playing career of Matt Johnson is over.  An all-time Falcon great, he was MAC Offensive Player of the Year, winner of the Vern Smith trophy, two-time MAC Champion, etc....Johnson will now be an offensive quality control assistant at Syracuse.

He had signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL, which I thought he had a reasonable shot at producing in.  He was injured early on in practice and released June 12.   If you read his statement linked above, it is clearly a very difficult decision for him to make.  However, he's always had a goal to be a coach and this is the first step.

He's always a Falcon and always a champion.  Best of luck, Matt.

Friday, June 23, 2017

Falcon Football With Another Verbal: James Lachey


Bowling Green football has another verbal...this one is a young man with a famous name.   James Lachey, whose Father, Jim, was a big star at OSU, played in the NFL, won a Super Bowl, and is apparently now a radio announcer for OSU.

Swear to god, until today his name was not familiar to me.

Anyway.  James Lachey plays DE and TE at Grandview Heights, which is in Franklin County.  It seems as if he's projected to play DE in college. He was first-team all-state and the district defensive player of the year in D-6, which is the second smallest classification in OHSAA.  Even so, he did all that as a junior.  I don't see any additional information on other offers or any stats.

He's 6'4" and 235 pounds, which is a good size for a high school junior.  Obviously, he's got football genes.

Welcome to the Falcons, James.

Update:  Had this additional information provided to me on twitter.  Peters was an all-MAC and All-Academic MAC offensive lineman for BG in 1994.  Here's a story on his big success as a coach.  Always a Falcon.

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Falcon Football Verbal


Another verbal for the Falcons, this one is Brad Papez, the fraternal twin of BG TE Commit Jake Papez.  He plays both ways--OL and DE--and it is my understanding that he is expected to play DE at the college level.

He's from Missouri, and has a good number of FBS offers, including Army, UC, CMU, NIU and OU, along with a comparable number of FCS offers.   He was also a third-team All-State player as an o-lineman, and a first-team all conference selection.

Welcome to the Falcons, Brad.

(Update: alert commenter Perry Boise points out that Brad is 6'6" and 235, which is a pretty good sized young man for an 11th grader).

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

DeCommit: Tommy Rush


So, this is sometimes what happens when you recruit at the level we are recruiting at.  If you get guys who are really good, other guys want them, too.  Sometimes you keep them, sometimes you don't.  Anyway, Tommy Rush went to camp with The BoatRower and now he's flipped to Minnesota.

Best of luck to him.  It's his life and he should go where he wants.  Would have loved for that to be at BG...we have to find the Falcons out there, that's all.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

BG Lands Kicker Commit



So, more news in recruiting land...BG has a kicker committed.  His name is Jake Pinegar of Ankeny, IA, which is just north of Des Moines.  BG's current kicker is Jake Suder, who will be a JR when Pinegar arrives.  Suder appears to be improving after a slow start, but the internal competition will be good for everyone.

Pinegar isn't a kicker, he's a football player (and athlete) who happens to kick.  He has been an all-state defensive back and district MVP in Ankeney, which plays in the largest classification of Iowa HS football.  Also, he is an all-conference soccer player and a state champion hurdler.

Kohl's Kicking says he is the #13 ranked kicker in his class in the nation.  He has a good leg on kickoffs and is accurate, according to their report.

Given all this, I assume he's a scholarship recruit as opposed to a preferred walk-on, but time will tell.

Welcome to the Falcons, Jake.

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

BG Lands Verbal from 3-star QB

So, big news on the recruiting front.  BG has received a verbal commitment from a highly-ranked QB from West Bloomfield....Bryce Veasley.  He is the first QB in the '18 commit pool and makes it clear that Coach Jinks is loading up for depth and competition at the most important position on the field.

Veasley is a 3-star recruit from 24/7, which reported that he had offers from EMU, CMU, UT and Buffalo.  There are probably more, as they did not report him having an offer from BG.

He has nice size...he's 6'4" and 230 pounds and is considered to be a pro-style QB, which is what these high paced offenses seem to want.  They have him ranked as the #67 QB in the nation and the #39 player in Michigan.

He was all-conference in the OAA Red and this Detroit News writer called him "remarkable" early in the season.  He's also a standout baseball and basketball player, accounting for strong athleticism as well.

Oh, and here's what he liked about BG....

"The biggest factor was the coaching staff and the offense there it's similar to what we do at West Bloomfield. My biggest goal is to take care of my academics and get a degree in my major and compete to get the starting spot at QB. I love the coaches and how they're all young guys. They're very energetic!"
So credit where credit is due, our young guys score!

Welcome to the Falcons, Bryce.

Tyrik Jones leaves BGSU Football Program


So, another setback for the BG defense, which has suffered significant losses since last season.  When the year ended, graduation losses were normal in scope...Bush, Lunsford, Greene, Mack, Watson. Since then, Valdez has transferred and now Tyrick Jones, who was slated on the spring depth chart to start at DE, has moved onto JUCO.

Tyrik was a preferred walk-on from Florida brought during the chaotic Babers/Jinks transition.  He had made a contribution, with 4.5 sacks as a true freshman and 2 against UT.

BG finished 7th in the MAC in scoring defense last year (conference games only).  Part of that was incurred while the coaches were still trying to make the offense and the defense into something they weren't, but some of the results were also generated late in the year playing against Kent and Akron, both of whom were using non QBs under C.

The secondary for BG remains very young (spring depth chart showed 3 true sophomores on the 1 line) and pressure up front on QBs is going to be vital.

Anyway, this will only make things more difficult, as they had high hopes for Jones on the edge.

Monday, June 12, 2017

Falcons have new football verbal


BG has another football verbal.  This one is Jake Papez, a TE/LB from Wentzville, MO, where he attends Timberland HS.  According to Rivals, he has offers from Ohio U., Missouri State, SW Missouri State and Eastern Kentucky. He's got excellent size, at 6'4" and  225 lbs.  He's listed as a TE on Rivals, and sometimes a guy has a couple positions he can play at.

He's doesn't show a bunch of stats from his junior year....13 catches, 4 TDs.  They only completed 80 passes as a team, so that might not be much of an indicator.  BG may have seen him at a camp, and I would assume that's how he ended up committing to BG.  And we might see his as a blocking TE or might have been underutilized.

Either way, welcome to the Falcons, Jake.




Friday, June 09, 2017

New Football Verbal

So, BG has its newest football verbal.  This one is an Ohio boy named Tommy (Thomas) Rush of Marysville, OH.  He is 6'3" and 205 pounds and is known as a RB in HS.  Some profiles talk about him playing FS as well and I have no idea where he projects in college.

He was first-team all-league and second-team all-district for a 3-7 Marysville team.  He was a productive runner.  He had 1,400 yards on 261 carries for a 5.4 yard average and 9 TDs.

24/7 has nothing on him.  Rivals has him as a 2-star player with offers from Brown, Davidson and Notre Dame of Ohio.

Welcome to the Falcons, Tommy.

Thursday, June 01, 2017

Falcon Football Recruiting....and the beat goes on...



The verbal train keeps pulling into the station...BG has landed its 3rd verbal for the 18 class and it is another 3-star player.  This young man had a lot of offers...if you measure recruiting based on beating other schools to the guy, this is a win.

His name is Devin Ruffin and he's a MLB with FBS offers from Minnesota, Iowa State, New Mexico, NIU, Syracuse, Toledo and WMU, according to 24/7, and a half-dozen or so other FCS offers.

He's from St. Louis Lutheran North High School and is 6'1" and 210 pounds.  24/7 ranks him as the number 41 ILB in the country.   FWIW, this local article suggests he might play SS in college.

He had big numbers as a junior.   He had 50 tackles overall, 6 for loss, recovered 2 fumbles and had 4 INT.  He also played on offense, scoring 2 TDs, a crazy 6 2-PT conversions, and having 17 overall receptions.

He was also on a good team.  They were 9-3 and made it to the District Final.

Welcome to the Falcons, Devin.