Wednesday, June 29, 2022

The Blade: Moosbrugger on His Way Out

David Briggs in The Blade has the story today.  President Rogers has given Bob Moosbrugger time to find a new job and that University of Washington rumor appears to be real.

I won't steal his thunder because it's a strong story with a lot of original reporting.  You should check it out.

My reaction is that I am a little surprised.  Not that it should or should not have happened, but that it is. I would agree with whoever said he was not the best or the worst.  There were plenty of issues, and some success points as well.  

The next hire is really critical.  There are serious obstacles to winning at BG and we need to get everything right.  We need the 2001 Urban Meyer of Athletic Directors--a competitive maniac who is still below the radar and driven to succeed.

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

BG Football Verbal: Brody Bolyn

Brody plays both ways in HS, (OL/DL) and 247 projects him as an interior lineman. He's 6'3" and 261 and from Norwell HS in Ossian, IN. south of Ft. Wayne.  He's listed as a 2-star on 247 and had offers from Navy, Tiffin, Illinois State, Indiana State and Butler.

Probably your best look at the young man comes here. 

Indiana preps listed him as a top-22 underclassmen after last season (as a DL). He was all-conference as a sophomore. He was all-NE Indiana after last season. 

Brody is also a three-sport athlete, excelling in basketball and baseball as well.

Welcome to the Falcons, Brody.

Monday, June 27, 2022

MBB Adds JUCO Transfer

So has their sixth incoming player for this year, this one a JUCO transfer.  His name is Madani Diarra, from Indian Hills CC in Iowa.  (Per The Blade).

He played last year with Davin Zeigler, who is now at Wisconsin-Green Bay.

He is a big at 6'11" and 255 pounds.  He went to Benedict Prep in NJ, with most of his senior year spent recovering from an ACL. It's a really good team.  He had 21 rebounds in one game.

He went to St. Louis, where he played only 10 minutes for a really good team.  He went to Eastern Illinois, where he made 3 starts and averaged 3.1 PPG and 3.5 RPG in 257 minutes for the season.

He left there to go to Indian Hills, where he played one season. He played 16 games with 1 start and averaged just under 10 minutes a game. He scored 2.4 PPG and had 2.6 rpg.

“Madani is a strong, physical presence, and can affect the game in many ways, but especially with his defense and rebounding,” Indian Hills coach Hank Plona told The Blade.

He will have two seasons.

Welcome to the Falcons, Madani.

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Football Verbal

BG has a football verbal for the 2023 class.  His name is Alijah Williams, a 6'2" 200 pound edge rusher from Buford, GA.

Alijah has no stars on 247, but had offers from Duke (ELKO!), East Carolina, EMU and Liberty. 

Buford has won 3 straight state titles.  If there is much more about Alijah beyond this, I haven't been able to find it.  He is our first second commit for the class of 23.  (Forgot about Harold Fannin, thanks to @bgsportsfan for the reminder.  Confusion reigns.  Fannin is in the class of 22.

Welcome to the Falcons, Alijah!

Thursday, June 16, 2022

New Football Transfer: Kitione Tau

BG announced 5 more transfers today, 4 of which I have already looked at on this blog. The one new one is Kitione Tau, a DL from Laney Community College, which is in Oakland.  He is originally from Pittsburg, CA, which is in the bay area. They were apparently on Season 5 of Last Chance U on Netflix.

Tau is listed as 6'0" and 265 pounds.  He was very productive last season, making 51 tackles, 4.5 sack and 15.5 TFL. He was unranked as a HS senior but was all-conference.  (They are the Pittsburg Pirates, I kid you not).

He also had an offer from Nevada out of community college.

Welcome to the Falcons, Kitione.

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

BG MBB Verbal: Anthony McComb III

BG MBB has a new verbal who will be on the roster this fall.

His name is Anthony McComb.  He is a 6'3" G from Dayton who might well end up being a very interesting player.

He played his senior year in 2021 at Trotwood-Madison, scoring 24 PPG.  This article says that coaches were not able to scout him due to COVID.  Many of the AAU games the summer before were canceled.  Plus, with players getting an additional year of eligibility, there weren't as many open slots as normal.  He was 3-times all-Dayton and at least one site felt he was the best player in Dayton.

He went to Flyght Academy Prep, which is in Trotwood.  Scrolling through his Twitter feed, he was consistently the leading scorer for Flyght, but from reading the feed his only other offer was from Concord in WV.

I don't have any information beyond that.  He was considered a top player in the center of the MAC recruiting area.  BG could have a steal here.

Welcome to the Falcons, Anthony.


Football adds Long Snapper

The wheels keep turning.  BG's football team has a new long snapper who has been told he's going to compete to start right away.  He is from Akron (Highland) and was committed to UConn, but has switched his commitment to BG and will be there in the Fall.

His name is Dominic Konopka.

From the Beacon-Journal article:

He comes to the Falcons with some big-time accolades. He has a five-star rating from Rubio Long Snapping, which is the premier organization in the country for the position.

Konopka, who runs a 4.78 40-yard dash, is also ranked 16th in the nation at his position and his snap time is 0.62 (0.75 is considered exceptional)

Welcome to the Falcons, Dominic.

Ubong Etim Shooting Victim

Some shocking news from our athletic program.  News reports are confirming the shooting of Ubong Etim on Saturday night.  Etim was in a car with four other people, at least two of them also student-athletes.  The report says that a car passing by fired at them and hit Ubong. 

No one else was hit and Etim's injuries are non-life threatening.

Here is the report from The Blade and 13 ABC.  Note that the report from 13 places an additional person in Etim's car.

Obviously, a nightmare scenario unfolded that night.  Best to Ubong for his recovery and be thankful that everyone is going to be OK.

Saturday, June 11, 2022

Football Verbal: Quinton Bradford


They are going to need name tags in the o-line room in August.  BG has another transfer coming to play OL. His name is Quinton Bradford, and he's 6'5" and 315.  He went to Norcross HS, which is the same HS that Christian Sims played at. He was all-region in HS and went on to play 3 games at Concord University in West Virginia, which is DII.  He has three years of eligibility left.

There's not a lot out there...he visited Clemson...but that's most of it.  He's got the right size and time to mature--doesn't have to fit in the puzzle right away.

Welcome to the Falcons, Quinton.

Monday, June 06, 2022

BG MBB Lands Transfer from OU, Sam Towns


BG has a new men's basketball transfer.  This young man could be interesting.  His name is Sam Towns and he is transferring from OU.  He entered the portal in early April. He's 6'9" and 190 lbs.  He played HS ball in Springfield and Pickerington originally and played prep ball out east before heading to OU.

Spent the 2019-20 season at the Winchdendon Prep School in Winchdendon, Mass. where he averaged 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists per game and was named First Team all NEPSAC...Played his senior year at Pickerington Central High School under coach Eric Krueger, where he helped lead the Tigers to a 2019 Ohio High School Athletic Association district title and a 2019 Ohio Capital Conference title...Played at Springfield High School, winning two OHSAA district titles...Competed for Nova Village in the Under Armour circuit.  

He played sparingly at OU in two years.   He played in 42 games and made 4 starts.  He was a 2 PPG and 2 RPG man last season with the Bobcats.

Love to see him turn things around in BG.  Clearly has ability and size.  Welcome to the Falcons, Sam.

Sunday, June 05, 2022

BG Lands Another OL transfer

BG is continuing to load up the OL "room" as they say.  There's another transfer, this one from Florida A&M...his name is Delonus Kabir.  He is 6'3" and 315 pounds and played in 6 games last year for FA&M, none of them starts. He plays guard.

While he is coming off the portal, he red-shirted in 19 and DNP in 2020 and played in 2021, so he has 3 years of eligibility to grow into with the Falcons.

He was a 3-star recruit out of HS, with FBS offers from Southern Miss and UCF.  In fact, he committed to UCF and then de-committed.  He was named 2019 Palm Beach Post First Team selection and 2019 Sun-Sentinel All-County Honorable Mention selection.  He was also second-team all-state.

In the portal, he was offered by UT along with some non-FBS schools.  He had committed to Alcorn State out of the portal and then switched to BG a few days later.

He is the 6th OL to transfer to BG among 15 total transfers, presumably some of them non-scholarship.'

Welcome to the Falcons, Delonus.