So, with the spring signing period, the Falcons inked two additional young men to national letters of intent.
One of them is Josh Crolsen, who we posted about recently. The other is James Carolan, who we had written about back in late December. To refresh, he is from the school Jinks coached at in Texas, he's very highly ranked and was committed to MinnesotaHe's the #3 long snapper in the country and would be slated to be long-term player at that position.
Well, today he signed. The BGSU release notes that he will have four years of eligibility. He played two years in prep ball, so I am interpreting that to mean that he has used his redshirt year. Anyway, the release notes the importance a player like this--who scores inside and out and can guard against 2-4s--would make in the MAC. Huger waxes poetic when describing his "soft, feathery stroke."
More:
This past season, while serving as a team captain, the Latvian averaged 18.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists for the Raiders. He also shot an impressive 40 percent from three-point range as a senior, while shooting 55 percent from the floor overall. In Kulackovskis' two seasons at Archbishop Ryan, the Raiders won 39 games, made two appearances in the Philadelphia Catholic League (PCL) semifinals, which are staged at the famous Palestra, while also making a run this past season to the PIAA Class 6A state semifinals.
Kulackovskis was named First Team All-PCL in 2016-17, and earned Second Team All-City honors, on top of being named to the All-Southeastern Pennsylvania Third Team. Archbishop Ryan finished the season with a 23-6 mark this season. In Kulackovskis' first season at Archbishop Ryan, the Raiders went 16-8.
So, right now, BG's team looks like this. Players with * have not played any significant game time for the Falcons.
Made it down for most of the spring game today. Actually some of the best weather for a spring game that I can recall. Some years it is as cold as a November game, but today was actually pretty nice.
As always, scrimmages are hard to judge. For instance, if I told you we didn't have anybody who could cover Scottie Miller, you'd think that could be a good thing, a bad thing, or both.
And we didn't have anyone who could cover Scottie Miller.
I think it was 100% clear that Doege is in position to be the backup QB. He threw 2 TD passes including a dazzling throw to Guyton in the corner of the end zone. He appears to be a natural born QB. Loy did decently and Cunningham appeared to have a tougher day.
James Morgan, I am assuming, will end up starting. He had the game's only turnover for completed his other 4 passes in limited action.
In general, it was a "clean" scrimmage. The offense had some big plays--including a huge run by Cleveland--but in my view, the defense won more than their fair share of the possessions. And, given that our bigger concerns are on that side of the ball, I'm OK with that. Coach called out his JUCO transfers--Guyton and Garth--as making big contributions among new players, which given that they are not right out of HS is not surprising.
It seemed like we blitzed a little more from the edges than I remember seeing last year, and the guys did seem to get home. D back play on the corners seemed strong to me, except when guarding Scottie Miller.
Having said that, Guyton and Miller have the potential to form a very strong WR duo, with other guys filling in the gaps. If Morgan is improved over last year and keeps his turnovers down, the offense could be good.
For my frequent Jake Suder correspondents, yes, Jake had a big game hitting a 46 yarder and a 49 yarder, both longer than his longest last season.
After the game, in the video below, Coach noted that BG had played mostly base...which teams to because their Spring Game is shared. However, he says you will see BG in some "10" per, which is 10 personnel, which is 1 RB and 4 WR, he seemed to indicate it might not be that common because BG was to "control the clock" to help the defense out, which is a big switch from what we heard a year ago.
So, again, just a scrimmage. Great to be out at the Doyt.
Oh, and I didn't see anyone injured. Which is perhaps most key. In fact, I have not heard about any serious injuries.
Anyway, Ryan Downard is moving to an on-field position. Downard was the Director of Football Operations (initially named as Chief of Staff). Before that, he had been a defensive assistant (like an assistant to the assistants) for the Browns. FWIW, I have heard good things about him.
He will coach safeties. Matt Brock, who was coaching special teams and nickel backs, will now coach the LB. The story doesn't say what will happen with special teams but Coach Jinks has talked a lot about having a special teams coordinator, something I am a fan of as well.
Update: Brock will continue to coach special teams.
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.
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.
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.
Had a chance to watch Coach Jink's video from Friday about the scrimmage they had. There were a couple of interesting takeaways.
The first and most newsworthy is that the team has a scholarship available and is out looking for a K, mostly likely coming as a graduate transfer. (just to be clear, coach just said we were hoping to resolve the K position and I have inferred he is talking graduate transfer. I guess it could be JUCO too.)
For the record, I'm for it. Special teams are important and PK is probably the most important part of it. Yes, he says we are working on the return game, including both returner positions...for PR we need somebody who will catch the ball...anyway, the PK isn't a prelude to points, he represents points. We were OK last year, but some additional range would be huge.
The second part of the scrimmage was that James Morgan is playing really well, based on the comments. Not that he'd talk about him playing poorly, but he did provide a lot of discussion that would suggest he's on board. It is enough that if he gets another week like that out of Morgan he will allow the backups to work with some #1 reps to help see who the backup will be.
And not with a bang, but with a whimper. The Zips lost by 16 to Texas-Arlington in the NIT to finish 27-9.
It was not a great post-season for the MAC. Kent got hot and won the MAC tournament but got a really poor seed due to its pre-hot performance and therefore a very tough assignment in the first round.
That's five straight opening round losses for the MAC. The last team to get any wins was OU in 2012, when they made the Sweet 16.
MAC Basketball is pretty much stuck right in the middle of D1 right now. There are 32 conferences and the kenpom ranking has the MAC #14. That's behind the Southern and ahead of the Sun Belt and Summit.
We are pretty much in the middle where we have been over the past 15 years. MAC Basketball hit a low point in 2009 (the year BG won the regular season title) and did not begin to rebound until 2012, when the whole thing got on an upward track...which has regressed the last two years.
As currently constituted, there's a ceiling on how high the thing is going to go. Simply put, it is a challenge for schools with our size and finances to maintain good football and basketball programs at the same time. Of the teams that won byes to the tourney--Akron, OU, Buffalo and Ball State--only OU had a strong football team. Similarly, the eventual champion and traditional power...Kent...is not good at football.
On the flip side, NIU, BG and WMU have won the most football titles in recent years, and of them only WMU was even passably good in basketball.
Small sample, I know. But I think it holds up. Also, the top 4 seeds in the NCAA tournament are Kansas (lousy football), UNC (average football), Villanova (FCS football) and Gonzaga (no football).
Yes, I know the Big 10 does it. No, I don't have an explanation for that.
Anyway, just an annual note that the MAC was once a "thinking man's" basketball conference, and now I just think we're average.
By the way, one thing is interesting. For a LONG TIME people have said "it is hard to win on the road in the MAC." And by people, I mean coaches who just lost a road game. The home team won only 54% of the games this year in the conference, with was the 26th ranked winning percentage. There were only 6 conferences where it was lower.
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