National Signing Day, Part II

So, today was national signing day, part II.  BG picked up three new guys.  On the first NSD, Coach Loeffler said we had four scholarships left, so that leaves us one...but this is always hard to track.  A walk-on might have gotten a scholarship or someone might have left.  Who knows?

Anyway, here are the three.

Austin Dorris is a grad transfer from Indiana who plays TE.  We had more about him when he committed here.  He was a big HS recruit who has played mostly special teams and he can contribute right away there and at TE.  He's at BG now.

Anthony Johnson is an interesting verbal as well.  He's a WDE from Cleveland Heights who had offers (based on 24/7) from Georgia Tech, Ball State, Toledo, Syracuse and other FCS schools.  He's ranked as 3-stars.  He's listed as 6'4" and 230 pounds. He had played originally in PA and then his family moved to Cleveland before his senior year.

Here's some verbiage on his PA career:

In his one season at Jeannette, Johnson totaled a team-leading 134 tackles with 12 sacks to lead the Jayhawks to a PIAA Class 1A championship when they defeated Homer-Center, 42-12, at Hersheypark Stadium. Johnson was named defensive lineman of the year in the Eastern Conference.

In Cleveland he was 2nd-team All-State in Division I and he was first-team all-District.

I suspect that one thing BG offered that helped was that he is coming in at a position in extreme need of bodies and he has a chance to contribute in 2019.

The last signee is Christian Sims of Norcross, GA.  He's a 6'2" and 207 pound WR/TE who had 30 catches for 525 yards.   247 lists him as a TE with an offer from Wingate.  He played S as well in HS.  His sister is in the Air Force and she surprised him for his senior night.  He was first-team all-region in Atlanta as a TE.

You've also seen a bunch of other names coming through Twitter for players who are committed to BG.  Those guys are preferred walk-ons.  The program is working that angle hard with an eye toward getting bodies in the program.  And, we have had very good players start as walk ons at BG, Ryan Burbrink jumping to mind.  (Update: also Konowalski)

Last note.  Loeffler was interviewed in The Blade about the one thing that is lacking in the class, which is a QB.  Most programs want one a year.  Loeffler told the Blade that he needs a very long relationship before offering a QB prospect, someone he calls the CEO of the team.  He didn't feel he had that by now but I think we can assume he will be working on it.  BG did have PWOs come in at QB, however.