Must Read: Briggs Column In The Blade

I commend every word of this column by David Briggs to you.  It is a succinct and fair portrayal of where our football program is.

Past and Future Opponent Land

Michigan State (2-1) Demolished by Notre Dame
South Dakota (3-0) Idle.  #14 in the country.
Northwestern (2-1) Idle
Akron (1-3) Lost 22-17 @Troy
Miami (2-2)  Won 31-14 @CMU.  They could be serious.
OU (3-1) Beat EMU in OT in YPSI.
NIU (2-1) Week off
Kent  (1-3) Lost 42-3 to Louisville
UB (2-2) Beat Florida Atlantic 34-31 in Buffalo.
UT  (3-1) Lost @University of Miami.
EMU (2-1) Lost in OT at home to OU.

MAC Vs.

FBS:  10-21
P5:  4-14
FCS:  10-1

25 Questions that do their own homework

What is their body of work?

Historically, this is pretty much the longest period of sustained success for Northwestern football.  For decades a Big 10 doormat, they are now consistently good.  This year they are 1-1...they beat Nevada and lost @ Duke big.  Neither game has been especially impressive but they often start slow.  FWIW, BG has never lost to Northwestern.

How many seniors and juniors on the two-deep?

The Flip Flop incident

They have 27...which is a relatively seasoned team.  They are #19 on the Phil Steele experience chart.

Who were their statistical leaders?

RB Justin Jackson was #13 in the nation in rushing yards last year and #16 in rushing yards per game.  He's considered one of the top backs in the Big Ten.

S Godwin Igwebuike was #9 in solo tackles.

CB Monte Hartage was #13 in INTs.

What was their turnover ratio?

They were +9 last year, which was #13 in the country.  They are +1 this year.

Offense:

How is their QB play expected to be?

He was a mid-range QB last year in the Big Ten and has a lower passing rating this year to date.  He has completed only 58% at 12.1 ypc and 2 TD/3 INT.

What was their scoring and yards per play?

Last year they scored 26 and this year they are in the 24s, with 4.9 yards per play.  They have not shown themselves to be an offensive juggernaut.

Can they run the ball?

2003 Motor City Bowl.
BG 28, NU 24

They are struggling to run the ball.  Their feature backs are 3.4 and 2.8 yards per carry, neither of which is very good.

Do they pass the ball?

They are struggling to throw the ball this year as they did last year.  Their top 2 WRs graduated and the top returning WR is out for the season with an injury.  They do have an Oregon transfer.

How was their run/pass balance?

They ran the ball on 49% of their plays last year, which is still relatively run-heavy in today's game.

Did they convert on 3rd Down?

Last year they were OK at 40% but this year it is very poor at 31%.

Did they score in the red zone?

They are very good here, with 5.4 points per trip--5 TDs in 7 trips.

Did they protect the quarterback?

It has been an issue, allowing 5 sacks on 76 attempts, which is 6.6% of passing attempts.

Defense:

Topline: Scoring and yards per play.

Last year they allowed 22 per game, which was a top 25 result.  This year, they are allowing 30.5 PPG on 5.3 yards per play, both below what their offense is generating.

Did they defend the run effectively?

Last year, they gave up 3.8 yards per rush which is one of the top 30 results in FBS.  To date this year they are allowing 4.4 yards per carry.

Can they be passed on?

They were ok last year at 117 passing efficiency defense and are about the same this year.  They give up only 55% completions, which is really good, at 11 ypc.  4 TD over 2 INT.

Did they get off the field on 3rd down?

They were among the worst in the nation last year at 56% and that's right where they are this year.

Do they defend in the red zone?

They are pretty good, with 4.8 points per trip.

Did they pressure the QB?

No, just 1 sack this year.

Special Teams:

Punting?

This might be the best punting matchup we will see this year.  The NW punter was #5 in the nation in net punting and he's back and on the same trajectory this year.

Punt Return?

They have not returned a punt yet.  Their PR is Flynn Nagel, which is the most Northwestern name

ever.  He was decent last year at 6.6/return with a 47 long.  No TDs.

Placekicking?

Highly recruited, he's decent so far.  67% last year and this year.  One bad miss inside 30, 40 long.

Kickoff?

They have done well, with opponents starting on the 22.

Kickoff Return?

They are average, starting on their own 25.

Miscellaneous: Overall atmospherics and intangibles.

First, Mick McCall, a BG QB Coach and OC in the past is the OC for the Wildcats, and Dennis Springer, another former assistant at BG is also on the staff in Evanston.

Proud Graduate

As noted, BG is 2-0 against Northwestern.  The first was in 2001 in Evanston.  BG scored late to be down 1 and a young Urban Meyer went for 2 and then win rather than forcing overtime.  It was a reverse to a true freshman Cole Magner who converted the score and the BG win.  The other game was the Motor City Bowl a couple years later, also a very competitive game that BG ended up winning behind the same players who played in the previous game.

Northwestern is certainly underperforming this year and they have to look at this as an opportunity to turn that around.  They have had injuries.  In particular, their defense has to be looking at the BG offense as a chance to assert some dominance after a rough week at Duke.

BG will be interesting.  Will the Falcons adjust positively or negatively to the loss against South Dakota.  You'd certainly expect to see a better performance and--obviously--if BG continues to play like they have, they aren't going to win any games.  BG is a 22 point dog and that's probably fair, especially on the road.

Jinks: "Horrible"

via GIPHY

I will give Coach Jinks credit.  He is brutally honest.  He isn't a Gregg-Brandon-we-were-two-plays-from-winning-the-game-type guy.  He used the word "horrible."  Says we got beat in every phase of the game.  Too many mistakes.  Refused to blame the officials.  Admitted the loss hurts worse because it was an FCS game at home.

"You're supposed to win these games."

Inability to handle the twist on the pass rush, turnovers on special teams, 15 penalties, poor hand position on pass defense, the list went on.  BG was awful in all regards.

15 penalties.  Jinks:  "absurd."

So, I give him credit for the honesty.

That's not what I want to give him credit for, though.  I want to give him credit for having a team that can execute a game plan.  I want to give him credit for beating the FCS team.  I want to give him credit for proving that you can take a guy pretty much out of high school coaching, pair him with a bunch of mostly untested assistants and win some football games.  I want to give him credit for having guys ready to handle a twist.  For having DBs with their hands in the right position.  For an offense that can score.  For a team that doesn't commit costly penalties.  For an offense that can put points on the board.  For a defense that can contain a mobile QB.

That's what I'd like to give him credit for.  If he's forced to be brutally honest too many more times he's going to be doing an exit interview.

This was a hugely costly loss.  For BG to go 6-6 and make a bowl game now--assuming losses to Northwestern and Middle Tennessee--will require BG to go 6-2 in the MAC. In other words, we would need to win the East (probably).  Or tie for it.

In other words, a 6-6 record and a bowl game now look like a difficult slog.  If they can make it, if this team does fix those things, he'll get credit for that.

Until then, the narrative has not changed since the day he arrived.  The basic question--is coaching high school successfully transferable to college ball--has not been answered in the affirmative.

Jinks Presser

So I watched Coach Jinks' presser for the opening week.  Not too much of note, but a couple things.

I suppose the biggest thing is the program's "identity."  Last year, BG finished with wins because it stopped trying to Air Raid the ball all over the place and buckled down and ran the ball like crazy, getting multiple 100-yard rushers each week.  I think a lot of people wondered how indelible that identity was going to be once there were better receivers and a more experienced QB.

Coach said that the running game is going to be our identity.  We are going to run and by physical.  So that will be interesting to see.

He indicated that Matt Domer and Bryson Denley could see action as well.

Finally, he was big on Khole Coleman-Abrams.  This is the young man from Hoover High in AL.  He's a true FR LB.  Coach says they'd like to redshirt him, but "he won't let us."  He's on the two-deep as backup MLB.  This is pretty interesting.  He certainly wasn't a highly recruit player, but he's making his mark very early for BG.  With Locke a SR, Abrams has the ability to lock that position down.

Special Teams Preview

As you know, I am a big believer in the importance of special teams.  They might not win you a game, but they can certainly lose you a game.  You need to be able to defend a kick, punt the ball, make a field goal to ice the game.  Or win it.  It's just important.  I still have PTSD from the Brandon years.

I think BG's special teams are in very good shape, in fact.

Start with the punting game, because it is the easiest.  BG simply has one of the best punters in the country.  Joe Davidson is just incredible.  He can punt it high or he can rugby punt it.  He is an athlete.  He gets it inside the 20.  He's also an academic all-american.  He's a credit to our program.

Next is placekicking.  Jake Suder--now the nation's most famous walk-on--is back.  He struggled early last year and BG spent a lot of time going for it on 4th.  However, late in the year, and in every live situation he's been seen in, he has really improved.  I feel a lot more confident with him now than I did mid-way through last year and I think the team feels that way, too.  I'm not sure he's going to be the best kicker in the MAC, but he's going to get the job done for us.

The return game should improve as BG brings more athletes in.  Matt Wilcox might be expected to make a contribution here.  BG was 5th last year in kickoff returns, so that's pretty solid already.  They were 4th in punt returns, which is also good.  Because punters kick to minimize returns, you don't see very many punt returns anymore.  BG had 15 in 8 MAC games last year.  It is still important.  One thing you don't measure is when a guy runs up to fair catch the ball before it hits the ground and rolls for 10 more yards.  And, in both cases, of course, not fumbling.  Don't make any mistakes, and once in a while break a big one.

Kickoffs.  This is interesting.  BG was 7th in kickoff coverage last year.  First, BG led the MAC with 15 touchbacks.  That's my favorite one.  They were 11th in depth of the kickoff for ones that ended up on the field...but allowed only 7.5 yards per return, which is the best in the MAC....by a lot.  Just one thing to keep in mind...if you chip a high kick and the guy catches it at the 18 and you tackle him at the 23, that's the same as kicking it to the goal line and him getting to the 23 and maybe better.

In general, you'd expect kick coverage to improve as the depth and talent in the program increases.

So, I'm optimistic about the special teams.  They were above average last year and should be better this year.

Falcon NFL Update

NFL Update....

Some less than good news.

Jude Adjei-Barimah (TB) and Gabe Martin (AZ) were both waived/injured.  You can see below what that means...they could do on IR (which would be best case) but it is possible that it also signals their release from their teams.

By my count, that leaves Chris Jones (SF) and Roger Lewis (NYG) as the Falcons in the NFL.  (UPDATE:  By my WRONG count, FYI.  Izaah Lunsford is on the Packers roster and listed as the #3 DE in a 3-4.   Gehrig Dieter also remains in the KC camp.

4. Up until the final cutdown date, injured players with less than four years of service cannot go onto IR without first passing through waivers. Those players are released with the “waived/injured” designation. Known as “injury waivers,” this process exposes the player to waivers, but warns other teams that the player is injured. If the player clears injury waivers, the team can then either place the player on IR or agree to an injury settlement (paying the player for the weeks that he is expected to be recovering from his injury) and then release the player.

(h/t) Perry Boise x2

BG with yet another LB Verbal

100% C O M M I T T E D🙏🏾 #AyZiggy18 pic.twitter.com/oUzeJstaoS

— Deandre Fitz-Henley (@WhosThatNumber1) July 29, 2017

So, the commits keep rolling in for Falcon football.  The young man is named Deandre Fitz-Henley and he is from Clearwater, Florida. He's a 6'0", 220 pound ILB and another highly ranked player.  247 has him listed as a 3-star recruit, the #37 ILB in the country and the #150 player overall in Florida for the class of 18.

He is a highly sought after player.  He had reported offers from Akron, App State, Cal, Colorado State, UMass, Southern Miss, UT and Washington.

He's a huge get for BG on signing day.  Combined with Antwuan Johnson yesterday, that's two very highly ranked ILBs for BG...forming the future nucleus of the BG defense.

He is BG's 11th verbal, by my count.  Six of them have been defensive players.

Some more on Mr. Fitz-Henley.

Here are some interesting numbers...representing his Freshman and Sophomore years...

After totaling 60 tackles as a freshman, he earned a starting spot at outside backer, adding 124 tackles (eight for a loss), two sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery last season.

He was also 2nd team FHSF Class 3A All-State Elite Team that year.

Interestingly, his hometown paper said he had narrowed his choices down to App State, Colorado State and UT...and was going to announce his choice tomorrow, which he pre-empted with this tweet.

He also had 101 tackles and 4 sacks as a junior.

Clearly, quality programs were trying to get this guy, and BG has the commit.  He'll look great in orange and brown.

Welcome to the Falcons, Deandre.

BG has new verbal, 3-star LB

Wayne senior (former Springfield and Dunbar LB) Antwuan Johnson commits to Bowling Green. Once again adding to that 937 to BG pipeline. https://t.co/qxElmo3eUu

— James Rider (@JamesRRider) July 29, 2017

BG's Dayton-area recruiting pipeline continues to flow, as the Falcons picked up a verbal commit from one of the higher ranked players we have gotten...Antwuan Johnson, an ILB from Dayton.  He had played at Dunbar but is transferring to Wayne for his senior season of HS.

He's a 3-star recruit on 24/7 and is the #32 ranked player in Ohio and the #30 ILB in the nation. He stands 6'1" and 232 pounds.

He's had an interesting HS career.  He started at Springfield and committed to UM while a sophomore.  He transferred to Dunbar for his junior year and de-committed from Michigan with the arrival of Harbaugh.  They had a big year, going 9-1 but then the Dayton Public Schools told them to throw their last game.  As a result, the entire DPS system is on 3-years probation for all boys and girls sports.  So, Johnson, along with other athletes, are seeking to play elsewhere.  For him, it was Wayne HS in Huber Heights.

(The Dayton thing is pretty amazing.  You can see a video of them trying to throw the game here).

Matt Wilcox, a true FR WR, is also from Wayne, as well as transfer LB Dorian Hendrix and transfer WR Tristan Davis.  (Also Rodrick Caldwell of the Men's Basketball team).

According to 24/7, he had offers from Kentucky, Michigan, CMU, UC, Indiana, Iowa, Louisville, Miami, OU, Purdue, Toledo and WVU.

He was second-team all-district.  I can't find a lot of stats, but in a game early in his junior year, he had 22 tackles, a QB hurry and interception.

Here's what his coach at Dunbar said about him:

“He’s the leader of our defense and makes everything go,” Powell said of Johnson. “He’s the engine of our defense and the leader who we needed. He steps up in meetings. He makes our job a lot easier. You bet I’m glad to have him back.”

Welcome to the Falcons, Antwuan.

Football player update, including new transfer

Along with the materials for MAC media day, we had the release of the new two-deep and then a graduate transfer coming in.

We'll start with the two-deep, comparing it to the spring.

On the o-line, there's one change...the starters now are Hunter, Taborn, McAuliffe, Bright and Labus, with Bright being the new starter, replacing Jack Kramer who is now back up C.  Note that Taborn played T as a true Fr last year due to injury but has been moved into G.  The backups are pretty much the same just shuffled around a little.  Often, a line doesn't have a true two-deep...there's usually a guy who is next up and you'd move people around.

Also interesting is that Grant Loy is now listed as the backup QB.  Loy came here as a walk-on and you'd have expected Elijah Cunningham or even Seth Doege to be the backup.  They probably want to redshirt Doege, but Loy did beat Cunningham out for an important spot.  Most teams end up using their backup QB.  Also, we still have camp to go as well.

There's also interesting developments at WR, where the starters are Guyton, Redding and Miller, with Pough, Phatavoung and Jared Wyatt backing them up.  What's interesting is that Marquis Zimmerman, who had 22 catches last year, is not on the two-deep.  I have literally no news on this...he could be injured.  He'd even be a candidate to redshirt. See below... Also, Matt Wilcox who enrolled early is not on the two-deep at WR but is listed as returning kicks.

Wilson and Cleveland are at RB and Folkerstma and Skattebo are at TE/FB.

On the d-line, the biggest issue is that Tyrik Jones was on the depth chart for Spring and has now left the program.  Brian Sanders, a JR from Cass Tech who appeared in 11 games will start the fall opposite David Konowalski, with R-FR Diron Hutchins and Jr. Jonah Harper as backups.  Hutchins is making his first game appearance.  Jonah Harper played first at Notre Dame College and then was here last year and red-shirted.

On the inside, Schweiterman and Smith with Lautenen and Junior backing up remains stable.

At LB--a position with high profile losses--BG returns Nate Locke in the middle with Aaron Banks and Brandon Harris on the outside, just as they had in the spring.  The backups now are R-FR Amari Posey, Jerry Judd and Nilijah Ballew, with Posey replacing KY transfer Dorian Hendrix on the chart.
In the d-backfield, Jeffries and Jackson remain starting CBs, with Milton and Stephens remaining backups.  At S, JUCO Garth has moved into starting Rover (no surprise) with Bozeman at the other safety.  Tavarous Wade and Ben Hale (returning from injury) are backups, with Jerry McBride not on the current depth chart.

On special teams, you have Matt Wilcox and Josh Cleveland on KRs and Wilcox on PRs.  Suder and Davidson are solid at K.

Finally, BG did add another graduate transfer, and this could be an impact player.  His name is John Kurtz.  He did not redshirt at UC, so he has two years to play his one season at BG.  Jinks says he has an opportunity to make an impact right away.  He doesn't appear to have played a lot at UC, but Jinks says he could play right away, or provide depth and allow a younger player to be red-shirted.  Or saved for next year.  Obviously something to keep an eye on.

Thanks to the commenter who pointed me here...

#BGSU football: Roster note ... #Falcons WR Marquis Zimmerman has left the team for personal reasons.

— John Wagner (@jwagnerblade) July 26, 2017

Media Day Catch Up

Was out of town for a couple days, so just now catching up on the media day stuff for the football season, which is growing bigger every day in the windshield.

You've heard by now that BG was picked to finish 3rd in the East.  This is probably about right and on the optimistic side of the bubble, which is fine.  Coach Jinks agreed, saying that given last year, this is a reasonable place.  Of course, as pointed out by the same Coach Jinks in the Blade, we were picked to win the East last year and most people were wrong so let's hope they are wrong again this year...though that's only partly comforting....they could be wrong low too.

UT is the overwhelming favorite to break their struggles and win the MAC Championship this year.  All the stars are aligning, including PJ Fleck leaving, NIU continuing to rebuild, etc.  Whether it happens, that remains to be seen.  But they are the favorites.

If you are looking at the BG schedule, the Falcons play OU, Akron, NIU and UT at home in the MAC, and Miami, Buffalo, Kent and EMU on the road.  According to these rankings, probably the three toughest games are at home (see below) with two winnable road games.

Here

1 - Ohio (11 first place votes), 131 points
2 - Miami (12 first place votes), 129 points
3 - Bowling Green (1 first place vote), 88 points
4 - Akron, 79 points
5 - Buffalo, 41 points
6 - Kent State, 36 points

West Division
1 - Toledo (22 first-place votes), 142 points
2 - Western Michigan (1 first-place vote), 107 points
3 - Northern Illinois (1 first-place vote), 89 points
4 - Eastern Michigan, 74 points
5 - Central Michigan, 62 points
6 - Ball State, 30 points

As has been said here before, with the non-conference schedule, a 6-6/5-3 season would be a success for the Falcons at this time in the Jinks era and represent a step forward.  Anything above that means that we have guys who can win games...there will be a game by game look, but for right now, BG going 6-6 and to a bowl game would be enough progress for me to feel good about our future.  Less than that--like 4-8, which is possible--and you start to look at things a different way.

In the Blade, Coach said that the team needs to be more disciplined...cutting down on turnovers and "unexplainable" big plays on defense.  Isn't that an interesting word.  Unexplainable.  What has to happen for a big play to be "unexplainable?"

BG's new MLB, Nate Locke, had an interesting comment:

“[Defensive coordinator Perry] Eliano is doing a great job of catering his defense to the players we have,” Locke said. “We’ve had conversations about what he wants particular linebackers to do, what he wants different safeties and cornerbacks and other position players to do. We want to make sure the defense relies on the strengths of our different players.”

What's interesting is that when Jinks did his review of the team last winter, he said one of the biggest problems was asking players to do things they couldn't and continuing to do it way too long before adjustments were made.  One factor is that he said he didn't have enough evaluation time because he went to Texas Tech's bowl game...and he did note this Spring that he felt that he was getting much improved player evaluation.  Anyway, Nate is telling us that their building the team around the players who are there, which is the only way to go, especially with our young and unproven defense.

So, that's the media day update.  It's going to be an interesting year, to be sure.  As a fan, you can ee the guys can recruit.  Now you want to see them execute winning game plans, make adjustments, etc.  Some improvement this year and moving some of those recruits into their roles as time moves forward...and maybe we can get back on the track again.

Former Falcon Enjoying Breakout Year in CFL

You will remember Kamar Jorden from the Clawson years.  He played for BG in 2010-11 after transferring from Hudson Valley Community College, and they were big years.  He was first-team All-MAC both years and ended up on the Top Ten in career receptions (at the time) despite playing only two seasons.

He's certainly paid his dues.  He bounced around the Arena League, two Vikings training camps and then a couple years as a deep reserve with the Calgary Stampeders, where his perseverance has been rewarded.

In last night's game against Winnipeg, he had 6 catches for 97 yards and a score.  As of this morning, he leads the CFL in receiving yards and TDs...though not all the teams have played the same number of games.  It doesn't matter.  He's having a great season for one of the top teams in the league and he's played on one Grey Cup title team and played in the title game last year as well.

Always a Falcon.

Football Updates

So, considering we are sitting here in the middle of the summer, there was some news from the football program today.  We will summarize.

First, an alert tweeter noted that in the bottom of this article about RB Davieon Hargrove from Trotwood-Madison, that BG is getting two Dayton area transfers from high-level FBS programs.

The first is Roland Walder, a LB from UK who is transferring following his redshirt season.  He was a 3-star recruit---also at Trotwood-Madison---and is 6'3" and 220.  247 had him ranked as the #57 LB in the country, and he's listed as an ILB.  He was part of an exodus of LBs--4 have left Big Blue.  He also had offers from Nebraska, Syracuse, Pitt and UC before heading to Lexington.  He comes in at a position of need for BG and while I am leery of transfers, you have to believe he's got a shot to be a contributor.

The other young man is Tyler Traylor from Centerville.  He was a star WR in HS who went unsigned on NLI day.  At 6'3" and 205, he has good height.  He went to UC and redshirted last year as well.  He was #54, which tells me that he was moved to LB, but who knows what position they envision him playing at BG.

Besides that, the roster is out with the freshmen now in the house.

I looked through the roster.  The only NLI freshman who is not listed now is TE Travis Koontz.  He could be a grey shirt, but would be an odd guy to do that with since he was a highly ranked recruit.  You may remember him as the guy who verballed to BG, then committed to UT and then ended up back with BG.  Anyway, I haven't been able to find anything about him online, let me know if you have anything.

Beyond that, o-lineman JC Bartok is no longer listed on the roster.  He had been with the program for two years and had yet to appear in a game.

Also. Calen Taylor is no longer listed on the roster.  He is a RB from Missouri who came to BG after a year the West Point prep school.  He was with BG for one year, red-shirting.

Finally, WR Tim Tupa is no longer listed.  He had appeared on the depth chart though he never appeared in a game and was out last year with an injury.  Yes, his Dad is Tom Tupa.

There appear to be three FR on the roster who are new to me.

The first is Denzel Norvell, a RB from Dayton Thurgood Marshall.  This one is a little harder to figure out.  BG lists him as a FR, but here you can see that he played two seasons at Mt. St. Joseph, which is a DIII school in Cincy.  Not sure how that all sorts out.  His second year he averaged 6 yards a carry.

There are two WRs.  Aidan O'Connor from Lima and Justin Sawmiller of Kenton.  Sawmiller's bio says he played one season at UC and is listed as a FR as well.

Anyway, that's a decent amount of news for early July.  Inside of two months to the opener!

Falcon Football Verbal

#AYZIGGY2018 pic.twitter.com/Y6UOrAJUh2

— Brad papez (@bpapez) June 22, 2017

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).

DeCommit: Tommy Rush

I can confirm the #Gophers have flipped BGSU RB commit @TRush_27 who will play linebacker at Minnesota. Earned an offer at camp on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/ISp9TLFvnU

— Ryan Burns (@RyanBurnsMN) June 21, 2017

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.

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

DE Tyrik Jones is no longer with the BGSU football team. He's heading to Arizona Western. Was expected to be a big piece for the Falcons. https://t.co/q4wa8cIDCe

— Thomas Schmeltz (@Thomas_Schmeltz) June 14, 2017

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.

David Briggs on MAC Football Scheduling and my two cents

So, there's no bigger issue to get MAC Football fans revved up then the #maction scheduling in November.  As noted earlier this year, the MAC has gone all the way in--there will now be absolutely zero weekend November games.

So, the MAC hears all this.  And they are trying to do some things to better educate the public.  That included a recent exercise where they invited the media in to do some mock scheduling.  The Blade's David Briggs was one of those people, and he had an excellent story in today's Blade.  Not going to steal the thunder, click here and check it out and then come back here and I'll have some comments.

OK.  As I said, the story was excellent.  He did a very good analysis and I agree 100% with his conclusion.

The MAC did get done what they wanted.  Sold.  There's more to it than I thought.  Teams can protect a home day and an away day.  And there are rules about consecutive road games, etc.  You saw it.  That's a much tougher job and I can actually see how completely getting rid of Saturday games makes the pacing of the weekday games easier to manage.

The point is (and this is where Briggs lands his best thoughts) all this complication is in support of something that just doesn't make sense.  The numbers you see for those BG games...the 0 ratings, the five-figure viewership...those are shocking.  We're playing in front of tiny crowds, freezing our season ticket holders (the only reliable asset the programs have) and we're doing it for a "national" audience that would, if all flown to BG, only fill the stadium a couple more times.

Not exactly what we're told by the MAC.  Coach Jinks talks glowingly ("everybody loves football") of the #maction deal and its impact on recruiting.  Which would have to mean a significant number of that minuscule audience are three-star recruits with nothing else to do on a Tuesday.

Well, then, the money.  It has to be for the money.  Briggs reports that MAC gets $10M per year for all this nonsense...the 0.0 rating of the financial world.  That doesn't cover the subsidy any university provides to cover the deficit at one MAC school.  In fact, according to USA Today, the collective MAC subsidy for athletics was around $243.8M annually.

So, that $10M?  Yeah.

Here, Briggs says it and I can't say it any better.

At some point, the MAC needs to remember why its money-bleeding programs exist in the first place.

Is it to provide cheap national programming for ESPN? Or is it because of its special local connection with our campuses and communities?

I would just add one more, which is to provide "talkings points" to athletic directors and commissioners when their head hunting buddies call to get them jobs at bigger schools.

Anyway, the emperor has no clothes.  The MAC has built up this entire scheduling mythology to justify something that makes no sense.  That whole thing--the PR initiative, the mock scheduling workshop, the protected dates, the five-day turnarounds, all the gymnastics--could be eliminated simply by going back to Saturday games with no meaningful impact on the finances of the league.

Yeah, I get it.  Crowds in November wouldn't be great on Saturday either.  I am really sad to think about our athletic directors spending sleepless nights worrying about when Ohio State and Michigan are playing, but if November's going to be bad either way, why not play the game on Saturday and try to nurture your "local connection with our campuses and communities."

One last thing.  Have you had a chance to see what's up at ESPN?  Yes, there are a lot of new venues to get coverage but there aren't a lot of new advertisers hanging around and that mother's milk of subscription fees is getting snipped with the cord.  How sustainable is even the $10M?  And if that goes away and #maction is on Twitter and your hard-core fans have found something else to do...

Calvin Clater has Hops...

Blessed to WIN 1st Place at STATE in High Jump Clearing 6'11 💪💪✊🛫

— Calvin Clater™⚡ (@CalvinClater) May 12, 2017

Of course, we are in the quiet time of year, stretching from the spring game to the start of football camp.  There are still the occasional news flashes.

This one comes from Texas, where the state's high school track and field championships were held recently.

Calvin Clater, a BG signee coming in to play WR, won the state's high jump title with a jump of 6'11", one full inch over the second competitor.  He was in the 5A classification, which is the second highest classification in Texas, which I believe you know is a fairly large state.

I think we can all agree that kind of athleticism will look very good in orange and brown.

I looked it up, the MAC record is in the 7'4" range, so you get an idea where that might stand.  Looking forward to seeing that leaping ability being put to work against a d-back.  Too bad he can't be a two-sport star as a high jumper at BG.

Falcon Football Players Charged With Forgery--Updated

The Sentinel is reporting that two players on the football team have been charged with forgery.  The players are Malik Brown and Brian Jennings.  They were arrested on Friday.

BGSU told the Sentinel that they are aware of the situation and they are gathering more information before determining what the next steps might be.  Usual disclaimers exist...an accusation by the government does not make you guilty.

Both players are linked to Babers.  A HS 3-star prospect, Brown transferred from Tennessee during Dino's first year and played in 11 games last year with 6 tackles and a forced fumble.  He is listed as a R-Sr.

Brian Jennings II played for Babers at EIU then transferred to BGSU.  He has appeared in one game with the Falcons.

FWIW, I think Coach Jinks has been shown to be effective at handling issues like this.  He does seem to understand that we want to win the right way at BGSU and he does understand that it is part of his job to protect the dignity of the institution.  Not sure about his predecessor.

Update:  The Sentinel has further details on the allegations.