Signing Day Part II

So, National Signing Day is over....probably.  In his presser today Coach said that they have until midnight, so who knows what might happen in the meantime.  He made some reference to an HR issue that had to be cleared up.  Anyway, BG had four new players sign today.

The star of the day is a guy Coach didn't even know had signed when he was doing his presser, and that is Ra'veion Hargrove who held his announcement at his school, which had a snow day at the same time.  He has the potential to be a big get.  He played DIII ball in HS, which isn't the highest level, but he had some ridiculous numbers.  As a sophomore, he ran for over 3,000 yards.  He had 2,264 as a senior.  He's a highly productive player and one of the best in Ohio.  See below.

Named Gatorade's Ohio High School Player of the Year ... Runner-up for Mr. Football ... Finished his career with 7,364 rushing yards and 100 touchdowns ... Ran for 2,264 yards and 30 touchdowns to lead Trotwood-Madison High School to the Division III state championship and a 15-0 record ... Had 1,562 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns as a junior ... Ran for 3,039 yards as a sophomore, the ninth-most in a single season in OHSAA history ... Has also been a state qualifying sprinter in track and field.

I know that a lot of people will say that we already have Andrew Clair, which we do.  I will say that most teams are comfortable now with two feature backs...UT has been doing it for years.  There are also injuries that can happen, so depth is good.  Even if both players are healthy, there's plenty of room in our offense for a couple backs.  In fact, it will help to keep them both healthy.

Hargrove had initially committed to BG.  Then, he de-committed.  He did not sign anywhere in December and is now 100% committed to BG...and signed.  He had offers from most of the MAC, including UT.

Coach also talked about TE Presley Motes.  This one is a little harder to see.  He was a lifetime QB and transferred to East Arizona CC and played three games at TE.  Now, coach is talking him up as a guy who can help us right away at TE and possibly keep our two HS TEs red-shirted.  Motes was on a Mormon mission, so he is 23 years old and is 6'4" and 235 pounds.  Coach says he will provide leadership the minute he walks in the door at BG.  Candidly, when I saw this guy had committed I thought he was walking on, but that was not correct.  Just seems like he's hardly played the position at all.

BG also picked up Karl Brooks, a D-end from Lansing.  He's 6'4" and 235 pounds (the same size as Motes, interestingly) and was second-team All-State.  Had 100 tackles, 12 sacks and 5 forced fumbles, all of which are pretty good.  He de-committed from Grand Valley to come to BG.  Coach said that Coach Pelini helped to recruit Brooks.

The other player from today was Cameron Stage.  Stage is from FL and plays OL.  He is 6'4" and 295 pounds.  Coach said he had a lot of offers after his junior year.  I believe he was injured for his senior year, which tends to make most teams disappear.  If he comes back healthy, BG gets a hidden gem.

According to 247, BG ended up with the #3 class in the, albeit considerably behind UT, which finished first with 23 3-star players, while BG had #13.  WMU was second with 19 3-star players.  Last year, BG finished second and WMU was third as they recovered from the departure of the boat.

Coach is a very solid recruiter.  He was asked if the record makes it tough to recruit, he said at first it was tough but then said that he can offer playing time, which is attractive.  (On the other hand, UT doesn't offer that and recruited even better). 

He also said that we are still one year from where we want to be, seeming to imply that after one more class we actually will be able to start to redshirt larger portions of our class.  Of course, if all this recruiting doesn't turn into wins, it will be somebody else's problem.

He was asked about Coach Pelini and said that it was great to have someone around to bounce ideas off who had sat in his chair.  Which was the point a lot of people made about his original assistants. He also had good things to say about Jimmy Williams, the new d-line coach.  He said that Pelini demands attention in the defensive room, which is a start.  You'd just think you'd have gotten someone who commanded attention in the first place.

But, it is what it is.  Pelini was an excellent hire and if the coaching improves while the talent continues to develop then this thing really does have a shot at turning around.