BG MBB with JUCO Transfer

BG has added their 4th transfer, getting the team up to 8 scholarship players for next season.  This young man is the #40 JUCO recruit according to jucorecruiting.com, the highest JUCO recruit to commit to the MAC to date.

His name is DaJion Humphrey.  He's 6'4" from Southfield Christian. He was a highly productive player in HS...

•  Averaged 20.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.2 steals and 2.6 assists per game as a senior, while leading the Eagles to a 17-4 record
•  Named the Associated Press Division 4 Player of the Year following his senior season
• A two-time first team all-state selection by the Associated Press

He had a number of D1 offers, including from Kent,  and chose Holy Cross out of the offers.  He played two years there--one of them the COVID year.  In the second year, he made 5 starts and averaged 18 minutes a game.  He scored 6 PPG on 34% 3FG shooting, slightly above average in D1.

He decided to transfer to Garden City CC in Kansas.  This school has a rich athletic pedigree, including Tyreek Hill, Corey Dillon, Gene Keady, Tyler Rogers, Keith Smart and Brent Venables.

He played one year there.  He scored 17 PPG on 44% 3FG shooting. He was first-team all-conference.

One other thing...he blocks some shots, even at that height.

So here is where BG stands right now:

C:  Spurgin

F:  Agee, Felt, Towns

G:  McCombs, Thomas, Edwards and Humphrey.

Hopefully, more to come.

Welcome to the Falcon, DaJion.

MBB With Third Transfer

Tbe roster continues to build out for the BG Falcons MBB team, as they added their 3rd transfer to go with 4 returning players.

This young man is Trey Thomas.  He's from Durham, ONT and played at Vanderbilt.  In Prep School, he was very productive, averaging 24.2 points per game, 5.9 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 3.9 steals as a senior. 

He will have two years.  

He's a 6'0" G who made 17 starts this year, averaging 23 minutes a game. He averaged 5.8 PPG.  He took 201 shots, 166 of which came from 3FG.  He made 30%, which is not great.  He was a 94% % FT shooter.

Welcome to the Falcons, Trey.

Football Update, including a portal commit

So a couple things.

First, in my list of players who were transferring, I failed to mention that Willie Jones has entered the portal. He is DB from Chicago who came to BG with a number of reported MAC offers.  He played in 1 game in 2 years and has decided to move on.

Best of luck to him in the future.

BG also has a verbal commit on the DL.

🔒 @BG_Football pic.twitter.com/3N0BkMarwP

— Chace Davis (@chacedavis__) April 21, 2023

The young man's name is Chace Davis. He is a grad transfer with two years.

He is from Whittier, CA, which is in the general LA area.  In addition of having the world's largest cemetery, Whittier was home to President Richard Nixon.

He played one year at East Los Angeles CC, where he was all conference and recorded 25 tackles, five tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble.

He went from there to UTSA, where he played 4 games and made 4 tackles.

They reported him at 6'4" and 280 pounds.  FWIW, he says on twitter he is trying to get lighter and has lost 25 pounds.

He was a 3-star recruit out of HS with offers from Akron, FAU and Arkansas State.

Welcome to the Falcons, Chace.

MBB Update....Big Man, Coming In...

So, the news broke a few minutes ago, Jason Spurgin will be transferring from Southern Utah to Bowling Green.

He's a 6'11" Aussie (leaving BG basketball--men's and women's--in Aussie homeostasis).

With that size, he represents the type of player BG has struggled to recruit over the years.  With the exception of Wiggins, the C position has been mostly populated with broken dreams.  

When you see the stats below, keep in mind that SUU played a high pace game, creating lots of possessions.  They played the 16th-fastest pace in D1 last year.

Started in all 37 games for Southern Utah

• Ranked fifth in scoring (10.0) and third in rebounding (6.0)
• Finished first on the team and second overall in the WAC in blocks with 63 on the season
• Scored a season-high 20 points against both Sacramento State and California Baptist
• Pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds and scored 16 points against North Alabama
• Shot an efficient 60.1 percent from the field on the season

That FG% is a little misleading.  He was 1-18 on 3FG, and 65% on 2FG, which is what he is supposed to be shooting.  Also, if you are asking, he's not a stretch.

His offensive rating of 111.2 is better than any Falcon regular.

The blocked shots are key.  Since Wiggins left, BG has ranked 248th, 304th and 321st in 2FG% allowed.  That's not all because of a lack of a big man, but it should help improve things.

He does foul a little.  He committed 4.2 fouls/40 minutes and he averaged about 28 minutes a game.

Welcome to the Falcons, Jason.

Football Update

 So, the portal opened a Saturday, and BG had three additional players jump in.  We were expecting this.  Once the spring practice is over and the depth chart is set, there are more guys who think they won't play.  It's the opportunity to pick up additional players as well.

All four of the portal players as of today are on offense. We already discussed Owen Bainbridge, the QB. The others are:

Jalen Holley (WR) was an early enrollee in 2022 and didn't play, taking a redshirt. He is from River Rogue and was a 3-star recruit and had a number of MAC offers.

Jaylen Jennings (RB) also enrolled early in 2022.  He played 4 games, and therefore retained his redshirt. He was also a 3-star recruit with some P5 offers.  He battled injury as well.  Loeffler was really high on him and they were looking forward to having him healthy.

Jaedyn McKinstry (TE) was a 3-star recruit from Toledo St. John's. He played in 16 games and would have entered this year as a R-So.  He is a cancer survivor.  He caught 3 passes as a Falcon and threw a INT on an unfortunate trick play call.

In other news, Chris Hedden, who recently left the BG staff, is now the OC at Ohio Northern.

MBB Update, Including verbal

So, bunch of things happening....

First, Coach Simon announced his first staff changes.  He announced Tum Tum Nairn and Bryce Martin as assistant coaches and German Srulovich as DBO.  All three are from his staff at Southern Utah and I understand there is one more who hasn't been announced yet, for whatever reason.  He kept Parker Settles and Nick Korda from the previous staff.

His Associate Head Coach at USU was Flynn Clayman.  He did not come, heading to High Point where he will be an Associate Head Coach.

This is a staff that was successful before and are comfortable working together.  I think it's the best news we could get.

From the portal:

• Brenton Mills transferred to Vermont
• Rashaun Agee will return to BG

This leaves only Chandler Turner in the portal without a home, to my knowledge, among scholarship players.

BG also got its first Simon-era commit.

PJ Edwards is a 6'4" Guard transferring from Central Florida.  He was there 2 years, one with a redshirt and then he played sparingly in his second year. He's originally from Springfield, Illinois.  People are treating this like he will be an impact player for us, which is what we need and what has kept us from succeeding over the past couple years.

Owen Bainbridge Enters Portal

 BG QB Owen Bainbridge has entered the portal.  He was a spring enrollee in 2022 and redshirted.  He was a 3-star recruit with a number of D1 offers.

Wishing Owen nothing but the best as he looks for a new university.

Coach had predicted that after Spring practice there would be some additional movement....both away and to BG.  With Balenzak and Menard each with 2 years of eligibility left, and having seen spring practice, Owen decided to move on.

It leaves Lucien Anderson, a true freshman, as the only HS-recruited QB left on the roster.  There are only four QBs listed now...Balenzak, Menard, Orth and Anderson.

Metheny to Liberty

So the best BG player in the portal has decided to close the loop and transfer to Liberty.

That's Kaden Metheny.

Best of luck to him.  He played hard for us, fought through injuries and I hope he is a great success with the Flames.

I get it...on a team whose primary weakness was too few good players, the impetus is to want to completely clean house, something that is way more possible now than before.

Having said that, I think Metheny could have been much more productive on a better team with a more effective offensive concept.  (BG was 7th in points per game and 6th in offensive efficiency in MAC Play). 

So far, no news of anyone else finding a home or any transfers committing TO BG for MBB.