Football Verbal---Antonio Smith

Excited to announce my commitment!! pic.twitter.com/HThBPVMDQl

— Antonio Smith (@antoniovsmith) July 12, 2017

There's another new football verbal...Antonio Smith, a  strong side DE from Westerville South, which of course is in the Columbus Area.  He's 6'4" and 213, and a 2-star recruit from 24/7.  They rank him as the #101 SDE in the country.

He's reported to have offers from Air Force and Georgetown, which tells you he's a good student.  Also, Buffalo, UT, Kent....and Youngstown State and a set of other FCS offers.

He was honorable mention all-conference as a junior.

We had another player named Antonio Smith,  famous for taking one of the most brutal hits in program history, but he was from Miami.

One thing this Antonio Smith had to know is that he's sliding into a position of needs, especially the DLine, but end in particular.

So, anyway, welcome to the Falcons, Antonio.

Football Verbal: Raveion Hargrove

My time is now!!!!!! 🙌🏾 #3kRay pic.twitter.com/8QA9AhufCr

— 3kRay® (@iam_ray22) July 4, 2017

There's a new verbal for BG, and it iss another highly recruited and rated player.  This is Raveion Hargrove, an all-purpose back from Trotwood-Madison, down in Dayton.  He's 5'7" (listed anywhere from 5'5" and 5'8z") and 162, so he might sort of be a Josh Cleveland type guy, which I think is the type of player that can be really dangerous if we're in some of our more spread sets.  He's a 2-star on 24/7 and 3-star composite.  They ranked him as the #60 player in Ohio and the #104 RB in the nation.

He had attracted a lot of attention on the recruiting trail.  He had offers from Akron, Ball State, EMU, Kent, Miami, OU, UT and Youngstown State and EKU in FCS.

He's an interesting player and he's highly productive.  He brings speed to the equation--this article on Scout says he is among the fastest players in Ohio and put up "video-game" numbers in HS.  As a sophomore, he rushed for 3,039 yards and 31 TDs.   Those were Dayton-Area records.  He ran for 1,700 yards as a junior with 21 TDs.  He's rushed for 300 yards in a game 4 times.

He was first-team all-state in Division III of Ohio as well as being first team all-district.

Also, Trotwood-Madison is one of the state HS football powers, making 6 straight state semis.

Obviously, most of the MAC was offering this young man and he is highly productive on the field, which I always like to see.  Nickname is "Shock."

Welcome to the Falcons, Raveion.

Pinegar DeCommits

After a long consideration I've decided to decommit from Bowling Green and seek into other options. Thank you to everybody that's supported!

— Jake Pinegar (@jpinegar10) June 29, 2017

Well, that was fast.  For the second time this month, a BG commit had been a BG commit for about a week or so and then de-committed.  Tommy Rush went to row the boat and this young man is just seeking his options.

(Thanks to the alert commenter who pointed this out to me).

Anyway,  no hard feelings.  Best of luck to all.

Falcon Football With Another Verbal: James Lachey

Extremely excited to announce my commitment to Bowling Green State University! #AYZIGGY2018 pic.twitter.com/CclBNUlAL0

— james (@Jlachey23) June 23, 2017

Bowling Green football has another verbal...this one is a young man with a famous name.   James Lachey, whose Father, Jim, was a big star at OSU, played in the NFL, won a Super Bowl, and is apparently now a radio announcer for OSU.

Swear to god, until today his name was not familiar to me.

Anyway.  James Lachey plays DE and TE at Grandview Heights, which is in Franklin County.  It seems as if he's projected to play DE in college. He was first-team all-state and the district defensive player of the year in D-6, which is the second smallest classification in OHSAA.  Even so, he did all that as a junior.  I don't see any additional information on other offers or any stats.

He's 6'4" and 235 pounds, which is a good size for a high school junior.  Obviously, he's got football genes.

Welcome to the Falcons, James.

Update:  Had this additional information provided to me on twitter.  Peters was an all-MAC and All-Academic MAC offensive lineman for BG in 1994.  Here's a story on his big success as a coach.  Always a Falcon.

The head coach at Grandview is ex Falcon Jason Peters. I'm sure Coach Pete had a little to do with steering him to the Falcons.

— Coach B (@CoachBrenner) June 24, 2017

BG Lands Kicker Commit

Bowling Green has picked up a commitment from the No.13 ranked #KohlsKicking kicker, Jake Pinegar. #BGSU

Eval: https://t.co/2vsL39vQMP pic.twitter.com/hckrMM3a4x

— Kohl's Kicking Camps (@KohlsKicking) June 17, 2017

So, more news in recruiting land...BG has a kicker committed.  His name is Jake Pinegar of Ankeny, IA, which is just north of Des Moines.  BG's current kicker is Jake Suder, who will be a JR when Pinegar arrives.  Suder appears to be improving after a slow start, but the internal competition will be good for everyone.

Pinegar isn't a kicker, he's a football player (and athlete) who happens to kick.  He has been an all-state defensive back and district MVP in Ankeney, which plays in the largest classification of Iowa HS football.  Also, he is an all-conference soccer player and a state champion hurdler.

Kohl's Kicking says he is the #13 ranked kicker in his class in the nation.  He has a good leg on kickoffs and is accurate, according to their report.

Given all this, I assume he's a scholarship recruit as opposed to a preferred walk-on, but time will tell.

Welcome to the Falcons, Jake.

New Football Verbal

So, BG has its newest football verbal.  This one is an Ohio boy named Tommy (Thomas) Rush of Marysville, OH.  He is 6'3" and 205 pounds and is known as a RB in HS.  Some profiles talk about him playing FS as well and I have no idea where he projects in college.

He was first-team all-league and second-team all-district for a 3-7 Marysville team.  He was a productive runner.  He had 1,400 yards on 261 carries for a 5.4 yard average and 9 TDs.

24/7 has nothing on him.  Rivals has him as a 2-star player with offers from Brown, Davidson and Notre Dame of Ohio.

Welcome to the Falcons, Tommy.

Falcon Football has second '18 verbal

BG has picked up its second football verbal, and this one is a young man who should be familiar to Mike Jinks, since he plays at Steele HS in San Antonio, the program that launched Coach Jinks into the D1 coaching ranks.

This young man is WR Onyx Smith. He's 6'0" and 196 pounds and listed as 2-stars on 24/7.  He's clearly a good student with offers from Air Force and Navy, which were his only FBS offers.

He was second-team all-district last year.  (By the way, BG has Joshua Croslen coming from Steele in the '17 class and he was district defensive player of the year).

He had a very productive junior season, catching 50 passes for 801 yards and 8TDs, which seems pretty good for a HS team. The QB was Xavier Martin, who is going to Texas Tech and this article indicates that he was prone to take off and run.  Also, they played 16 games on their way to making the state finals in Texas.

He had the second most catches on the team.  They completed about 181 passes, so he was in the 30% range of their overall catches.  This article says that he may play QB at Steele this year.

Anyway, Coach has said that we need something like 8 playable WRs at all times, so that's going to be a non-stop need, day in and day out.

Welcome to the Falcons, Onyx.

Falcons Have First '18 FB Verbal

Belleville 2018 CB/RB Patrick Lupro has committed to Bowling Green State University https://t.co/bG8wFj0wtt pic.twitter.com/hd0LUISwOJ

— The D Zone (@TheD_Zone) April 18, 2017

Belleville (Mich.) High CB Patrick Lupro commits to #BowlingGreen. He's lockdown every time I see him: https://t.co/2uuQH3nxby

— Steve Wiltfong (@SWiltfong247) April 18, 2017

So, the recruiting season is upon us.  The Falcons are back to work with an early commit for the '18 class.  This one continues in the '17 class tradition of being a 3-star player.

His name is Patrick Lupro of Belleville, MI, which is up in the Ann Arbor and Ypsi area.  He's 5'8 and 184 and apparently projects to be a corner, though he also played RB in HS. 

24/7 ranks him as the #20 player in Michigan and the #72 CB in the nation.  He had offers from Syracuse (yup), Toledo, (yup), UC, Buffalo and EMU.  Beyond that, if you google him you see him excelling at a bunch of camps and being on the lists for MSU.  He's not terribly tall, but maybe that's what you need to guard the slot WR and he claims to have a big vert.  He also was in track and field.

Welcome to the Falcons, Patrick.

Falcons Land 3-star 2017 Texas DL

So recruiting was not over for the Bowling Green Falcons when signing day came, as they landed a non-April fool surprise when they landed DT Josh Croslen from Steele HS, which, I suspect you know, is the school where Coach Jinks made himself into what he is today.

Here's the story.  First, Steele was a good team last year, playing for Steele HS making it all the way to the Class 6A Division II State finals last year before losing.  They had 9 players go on to play some kind of post-HS football, but the local writer thinks Croslen might have been the best of them.

He was set to go to Minnesota...under the previous regime.  He apparently dropped his verbal during the bowl boycott scandal stuff.  Fleck would still have taken him, but he opted out.  Unfortunately, most of the teams interested in him didn't have a scholarship available, but Coach Jinks stayed with him and landed the young man.  He has signed.

This is one to put a pin in.  BG hasn't had a homewrecking DT since Chris Jones left and it just can't be described how much a guy like Jones would open stuff up for others AND cause carnage himself, even when double-teamed.

He is 6'1" and 280 pounds and was the San Antonio Express-News Defensive Player of the Year.  He had offers from Minnesota (obvi), Houston, Air Force, Navy, Colorado State, La-Monroe, North Texas State, SMU, Southern Miss, Texas State, and Texas-San Antonio.

Croslen registered 75 tackles, including 28 for loss, and 10 sacks as a senior.  Those are not misprints.  28 for loss.

And, he's an honor roll student, if you didn't get that from the service academy offers.

It would be ironic if this was Austin Valdez's scholarship.

Anyway, this was a big one.  Will say it again...we haven't seen if Coach Jinks has the full game to be a successful D1 coach but he clearly can recruit highly ranked players.

Not sure if Josh plays in year one, but it is possible, in my opinion.

Welcome to the Falcons, Josh.

Update:  Hey, one other thing I should have mentioned.  Josh is actually one of THREE 3-star DLs BG has in this class.  Caylon May, who comes in at 6'1" and 308 pounds and Jamari Rouse, who is smaller at 6'2" and 262.  BG investing in the front D-line, which I am for.  Nothing breaks down an offense faster than chaos on the line of scrimmage and when it comes from the middle, it opens the ends up and keeps one potential receiver in to block on pass plays.

National Signing Day Eve....

So, things will mostly be settled by tomorrow morning.  Just got back from the men's basketball game....post on that coming later.  For now, a couple updates at least on recruiting.

The biggest news is that Noah Harvey is going to MSU.  You had to worry when he took the visit up there.  He would have been very good for us, but this is what happens when you recruit at that level.  I always say...it is his life and he should go to college where he wants.  Wish him nothing but the best.

BG also now has a verbal from Derek Downs, a 6'7" 305 OT from Westerville North.  According to this, BG was his only FBS offer, but he had a dozen other offers and until today he was a commit to Youngstown State, which has a pretty good coach and program.  Usually I try to find more about guys, but frankly we will see all that tomorrow.

There might be some other changes....there were hints of a lot of movement from John Wagner today.  It will all be clear soon.  Your best source of info is BGSU tomorrow, they will do a great job updating you as each signee's letter comes in.  I have a widget set up here that you can use to watch their feed if you prefer.

Falcons Land Highly Ranked JUCO O-lineman

🚨Committed!!🚨@JUCOFFrenzy @JuCoFootballACE @CoachRasoolEAC @BGathletics pic.twitter.com/xruoc98itz

— 〽️atthew Tanner (@matthewgtanner) January 31, 2017

And this has the potential to be a big one.  And in this case, that pretty much can be taken two ways.

His name is Matthew Tanner and he's a 6'7" and 345 lb offensive guard.  Here's what's interesting.  He had an offer to Auburn.  And visited last weekend.  The offer from Auburn was said to be meaningful on the blog, and he certainly seemed excited.  In fact, he said he was 99 percent going to Auburn.

So, something happened to turn that around.  We may hear more about what it was.  For now, honestly, who cares?

And he also had reported offers from Mississippi State along with UAB, Georgia State, and Louisiana-Monroe.

24/7 has him listed as a 3-star recruit and as the #4 JUCO G available.

He's from Jacksonville originally but was playing at Eastern Arizona College.  He was first-term All-Western State Football League and second-team All-Arizona Community College Athletic Conference.

So, however you slice it, this would appear to be a guy who can step right in on day one and play on a line that has lost players to graduation.  He played for a triple option team at Eastern Arizona, so run blocking is a strength and that's our new identity and all.

Anyway, Tanner has the potential to be one that we are really happy about.  Welcome to the Falcons Matthew.

BG Football Verbal" Caylon May

"BG is the place for me." -Caylon May (@CaylonMay) on his commitment to Bowling Green. https://t.co/uXfV5ZQkAk

— Hustle Belt 'Crootin (@MAC_Crootin) January 24, 2017

Credit here to Hustle Belt, where I saw this first.  BG has another verbal on the defensive side of the ball.  This young man is a 3-star recruit and very highly regarded.  His name is Caylon May and he is a 6'1 1/2", 305 pound D-tackle from Illinois.  Scout lists him as one of the top 5 DTackles in Illinois and #75 in the country. This report has him as the #34 recruit in Chicagoland.

According to what he told Hustle Belt, when he made his visit to BG, he decided it was "the place for me."

He had reported offers from CMU, WMU, Ball State, Buffalo, Illinois State, Miami, and Colorado State.  Even more importantly, he's been heavily recruited since the year after his junior season.

The Hustle Belt article mentions that BG is currently #2 in the recruiting ratings and could go to #1 if UT loses Michael Warren.  You all know how I feel about recruiting ratings.  At the same time, clearly we are getting guys that other schools want.  You also know my concerns about this staff, but on the recruiting front they do appear to be showing their mettle.

Stand by.  Week from tomorrow!!!

Welcome to the Falcons, Caylon.

Falcons Get Additional New Verbal

It's Over !!!God is Good #nestsup17 💪💯🏈 pic.twitter.com/A25pEfmrOw

— Calvin Clater⚡ (@Clater911) January 23, 2017

BG has another verbal for this year's class.  This young man is Calvin Clater of South Hills HS in Fort Worth, TX.  247 has him ranked as a 2-star recruit.  They also report he had D1 offers from Texas State, UMass, and Nevada.   In fact, until a couple days ago he was committed to Texas State.  He de-committed and then he committed to BG.  Actually, before that he was committed to Stephen F. Austin.  Texas State was moving him to D-back.  No idea if we are thinking that way, but see below.

He's got good size.  He's 6'3" 1/2.  This coaching staff appears to have an interest in tall WRs.  There's more than one site out there that thought he would end up at Texas Tech for that reason.

Welcome to the Falcons, Calvin

New Football Verbals

Commitment...🔸🔶🔸 #nestlevel pic.twitter.com/gkkgYqrC6l

— Noah Harvey (@harveyn11) January 22, 2017

So, we are seeing two new verbals for the football team off the most recent official visit weekend.  There maybe be more....just follow what I see online....

Anyway, the first is Noah Harvey.  He's listed a 3-star recruit on 24/7.  He's 6'3" and 210, and ranked as the #10 player in Wisconsin, which is pretty good.  His only other reported offer was from Lance Leipold, MR WISCONSIN.

Noah is from Hartland, WI, (of course he is) where he attended Arrowhead HS.  Hartland is due west of Milwaukee a piece.  He was named second team all-area and also second-team AP All-state and made the Wisconsin Football Coaches All-state team.

The second is Matthew Guevremont, a Canadian-born  OL who is 6'4" and 300.  He had a serious knee injury in his first season at Chabot College in California. He red-shirted and then after his next year at JUCO he signed with Arkansas State.   No idea what happened, but he ended up back at Chabot, where he had a good enough year to be named first-team All-California.

Harvey steps onto a defense with only 6 or 7 scholarship LBS and with senior LBs Austin Valdez, Aaron Banks, and Nate Locke.  He has the chance to play a bunch of games if he turns into a player.

Guevremont might be able to help us right away.  BG had graduation losses at OL and he might be able to start right off the bat.  If he does start, 40% of our o-line will likely be Canadian-born.

Noah, Matthew...welcome to the Falcons.

CJ Hunt Decommits from BG, heads to EMU

🦅Couldn't be more proud to call eastern Michigan university my new home‼️#Letsroll #truemu 💚💚💚 #goeagles❤ pic.twitter.com/vQ3W54rbLZ

— CJ_99 (@cj_hunt99) January 16, 2017

Back in May, CJ Hunt, a DT from Indiana, committed to BG. (Here is what I said at the time). He's decided, as you can see, to play at EMU.

We wish him the best.  This is a big decision...one of the most important a person makes, so he gets to pick the school that's best for him.

Football for the new year....

So, a very big month coming up for Falcon football.  Signing day is February 1 and the weekends in January are big official visit weekends.  These are huge for the program.  With our shortage in numbers and our shortage in talent at certain positions, this class has got to be a win.  A miss this year and the cycle just gets placed back even farther. It is always important, but this year is more important than ever.

Think 2010 class....Adjei-Barimah, Beck, Fllewellyn, Foster, Gates, Lynch, Martin (Gabe), Montgomery, Thomas, Ward.

Or 2011...Tate, Huettel, Sutton, Johnson, Samuel, Greene, Baird, Turner, Colvin.

That's what's needed and the coaches know it.  They have chosen--correctly--to build through HS recruiting, just as Clawson did.  Only 2 JUCOs.  So, it takes times.  And you can't have a class miss, it just takes longer and coaches don't get that kind of time and the cycle can get reinforced...it can take years to dig out.

There are going to be some tight stomachs in the Sebo Center. This is as much pressure as any game.  To me, this has to be the worst part of being a college football coach.

One trend to look out for is Florida.  The MAC--including BG--has recruited there because there is a shortage of mid-major schools there.  Both FAU and FIU now have high-profile--as in former NFL--coaches and they will be working their own state hard, including commits to MAC schools.  So, it might be a good time to have contacts in Texas.

Anyway, it happens largely below the radar, but this is the biggest month yet for the Jinks regime.  We will have an idea on February 1 how it went, but it will take time.  Coach Jinks and his team have shown themselves to be effective in the very early parts of recruiting, but that game is only in the first quarter.

Football Signs Two JUCO players

So, the football team announced today that it had signed two JUCO players who will be enrolled in January and eligible for the Fall season.  As I understand it, the top JUCO players--the ones with strong playing records and their academics in line--sign in December, after their JUCO graduation and before the start of winter semester.  Both players will have two years of eligibility.

So, BG has two of those guys, one of them a S and one of them a tall WR.

The S is Fred Garth of Northwest Mississippi Community College.  Based on the BGSU press release, he "became a starter for the Rangers as a true freshman in 2014. He started all ten games and led the team's defensive backs with 52 tackles. He also had five pass break-ups, two forced fumbles and a blocked kick. As a sophomore in 2016, he led the team with 81 tackles (55 solo) and posted two interceptions, which he returned for 84 yards."  He's 6'1" to 6'3" and 190 pounds.

That's a pretty high level of productivity.  The only odd thing in there is the 2015 season...I don't know if he red-shirted or if he was injured or what that year.

Anyway, this Northwest Mississippi Community College is not messing around.  They won the 2015 national championship and have a 168 page media guide.  This is a strong JUCO program.

The other is WR Datrin Guyton.  One thing Falcon fans are going to enjoy is the fact he is 6'5", which makes him an immediate force in the MAC.  He started his career at Oregon State, where he caught 14 passes as a R-FR.  He was dismissed from the team during the season for violating team rules.  The same story reports that he was put onto the scout team for a week and argued with an official at another point.

What's interesting is what his Coach had to say...

"I'm excited for his future when he decides where he wants to go, and I'm here to help him. I'm not excited that he's not with us. He is a good kid. It's just, it is what it is.

Then, he transferred to Copiah-Lincoln Community College  (in Texas) where he caught 31 passes for 474 yards.  According to 24/7, there were offers from Syracuse, Iowa State and Mississippi State.

Anyway, clearly Mr. Guyton has physical skills and if he's matured he could be a contributor for us.

Welcome to the Falcons, Fred and Datrin.

Football Verbal: Jamari Rouse

Officially Commited to Bowling Green pic.twitter.com/pY4YkG7hL2

— Jamari Rouse Ⓜ️ (@JamariRouse) November 27, 2016

Coach Jinks told the media after the Buffalo win that the coaches had Saturday off and then it was on the road to recruit for them.  This is huge for BG.  The Falcons simply must restock the program with players--and then hope the coaches get better in the meantime.  But you have to have them both in place.  So far, recruiting has appeared to be a strength for these guys, but that game is only in the first quarter.

So, they nabbed a quick commit yesterday, right on the heels of the Buffalo win.  The young man is Jamari Rouse, a DT from Deerfield Beach, FL.  He's 6'2" and 262 and listed as a 3-star composite recruit on 24/7. He had offers from Temple, Syracuse, North Carolina, Buffalo, Charlotte, Georgia State, Idaho, Middle Tennessee, Ohio, Southern Miss and Youngstown State.  They have him ranked as the #7 DT in Florida, which sounds pretty good to me.

This is good to see.  Coach has made it clear that his vision for the program is to win in both phases of the game...unlike a coach we won't name (rhymed with Shmino Shmabers).  We definitely need bodies on the d-line.  Graduation is OK to us this year, but you need 8-10 rotation lineman.  Of the recruits we know about, there are four D-lineman now and maybe a fifth depending on how Walter Haire is classified.

Rouse is a big upside get for a team that can use guys like him--fast, athletic and football-saavy d-lineman.

Deerfield Beach is still playing, making their way into the state semi-final last Friday.

Falcons Land Jordan Murphy Verbal

Bowling Green lands commitment from 3-star DE Jordan Murphy from Crestview (OH). Heck of a get for the Falcons.https://t.co/GU33wGcCXP #BG

— Bill Greene (@BillBankGreene) August 6, 2016

So, we have not even seen our new Coaching staff coach a game yet, so there is a lot to be left to be proven, but one thing they are good at is getting highly ranked recruits.  The rest is open...can they be turned into players in a system that wins?  We shall see.  But, they seem to be able to recruit.

The latest young man is Jordan Murphy, a DE from Crestview, Ohio.  Crestview is over between Youngstown and Steubenville.  Based on 24/7, he's a 3-star recruit, the #79 DE in the country and the #64 player in Ohio.  He is 6'3 and 241 pounds.

He had offers from Eastern Michigan, Iowa State and Toledo.  I'll just leave that right there.

Last year, he made 79 tackles, 16 for loss and had 6 sacks. He was first-team all-district and special mention all-state, for Division V.  Here, with more info, we see he blocked a couple of kicks, too, and might have had an offer from Yale.

Welcome to the Falcons, Jordan.

Falcon Football Verbal

pic.twitter.com/cSPgVJhHVi

— Forrestgump (@GregoryMontre) July 23, 2016

So, BG has a verbal commit from Montrey Gregory.  (Assuming it is the same guy, sometimes it appears to be spelled Montre.)  He's a JUCO D-back who plays for Monroe Community College in New Rochelle,  NY.  He's 6'1'" and 190 pounds.  He's originally from Baltimore, where he graduated from Poly High School in 2014.  From as far as I can see, he has only played one year in JUCO and will be a '17 recruit.  Based on this, as a FR, he only played in 4 games and only was in on 7 tackles.

There's not a lot of other stuff out there on him, unless you could find it.  It's an odd signing--you usually don't see JUCO guys committing to early.  Having said that, if it is odd, there has to be a reason, right?

Welcome to the Falcons, Montrey.