BG Gets 7th MBB Transfer

𝕮𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖉⚫️🟠#AyZiggy #LL5 pic.twitter.com/FyeVqPOSoR

— DJ Smith (@Deangilo_Smith) May 12, 2023

BG has its 7th transfer to the Men's Basketball program, giving the team 11 scholarship players.  This is DJ Smith, from Arkansas-Little Rock.  He's a 5'11" PG who has 2 years left to play.

As a FR he started 20 and played 27 and this year he started all 31 games.  As a sophomore, he scored 10.4 PPG and added 2.8 APG with a 1.3 A/T ratio.  He has not been a great shooter.  He made 47% of his 2FGs and 31% of this 3FGs.  He is an 84% FT shooter.  He had some big games, including 20 against Indiana and 18 against Miami (Redhawks). 

He's from North Little Rock originally. 

Welcome to the Falcons, DJ!

Falcon MBB Lands 6th Transfer

Coach Simon teased a sixth signee and had everyone hanging on the wire, and then today it was revealed and it was a good one.

His name is Marcus Hill.  He is a JUCO transfer from Southern Union State Community College in Alabama. He was third-team All-American there last year.  According to JUCO Recruiting, he is the top JUCO transfer coming to the MAC this year. 

He averaged 26 PPG, which was 4th in the nation.  What's interesting is that he took 606 shots. For perspective, in the 18-19 season, Justin Turner took 489.

Even more interesting is that he took only 53 of those from 3FG.  He made 52% of his 2FGs, which is pretty high for a guard.  It's what RayJ Dennis shot from 2FG.  He averaged 4 APG.

He's a good rebounder, too, despite being 6'2".

He's from Chicago and he's the son of a coach.

The interesting thing here is that not only will BG be pushing the ball and give Hill the chance to get to the rim, but also if the offense is in a 4-out with Spurgin in the post, there's a lot of space to drive and kick.

Welcome to the Falcons, Marcus.

BG MBB Gets 5th Transfer

 BG has brought in their 5th transfer, giving them 9 players coming back for the next season.  Obviously, there's still time for more.  This young man is Da'Shawn Phillip, a 6'5" Junior G from the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore.

Phillip has one year left.  (I'm pretty sure).  He was MEAC All-Rookie as a freshman and third-team all-MEAC two years ago.  He was improved last season.  He went from 9.1 PPG to 9.8 PPG, but improved his 3FG shooting from 26% to 33%, which is about the D1 average. His turnover rate also improved significantly between the two years, despite playing more minutes. In fact he was 2nd in the MEAC in turnover rate and 6th in steals, while rarely fouling.

He had about a half-dozen D1 schools express interest in him in the portal.

Just a quick observation.  Four of the five transfers that Simon has brought it have been guards, and it appears we are making an effort to be longer at that positon.  (Spurgin is a different kind of long).

• Philip 6'5"
• Humphrey 6'4"
• Edwards 6'4"
• Thomas 6'0"

Wekcomed to the Falcons, Da'Shawn.

Football Gets LB Transfer

 BG has a transfer LB coming in...he's coming from Memphis... name is Davian Mayo.  

He's originally from Arkansas, where he was the #9 prospect.  He was a 3-star recruit...seems like we see that a lot.  He played both ways in HS.

At Memphis, he played the COVID year, a special teams player in 21 and made one start while playing 13 in 22.

Based on pff, here was the story to last season.

He played 262 snaps.  Of those, 94 were non-special teams, most of them in the box.  He played quite a bit in the first three games, with 72 non-special teams snaps.  He had a 45 grade in the 3rd game of the year and played special teams almost exclusively for the rest of the year.  

Overall, he had a  65 grade on defense, which would have made him BG's 2nd best LB.  He was strong every except pass coverage. 

He had a 64 grade on special teams.

Welcome to the Falcons, Davian

Football Lands WR Commit

100% commited #ayziggy pic.twitter.com/i0irFNJCxJ

— jared merk (@JaredEmerk) May 4, 2023

BG has a WR commit....Jared Merk.  Jared started his career at Cincinnati Moeller, where he caught 39 passes in his senior year.  He was also all-GCL, which is the Cincinnati Catholic schools.  He then went to IMG in Flordia, where he had 40 catches and 8 TDs.  Obviously, IMG has a lot of D1 players.

He's 6'2" and 185. Scrolling his Twitter feed shows an offer from Robert Morris.  He refers to his BG conversation as an "opportunity."  Make of that what you will.

Welcome to the Falcons, Jared. 

Football Has Transfer DB Commit

C O M M I T T E D..🟠🟤 #AyZiggy pic.twitter.com/tiOhCnVCft

— Jay Jack (@JordanJack21) May 1, 2023

 

Jordan Jackson will be joining the Falcons.  He's a CB who played at Stony Brook, an FCS program. He was there for three seasons, one of which was the COVID spring season and he played 3 games.  

He played in all of their games the last two seasons. He made 44 tackles last year, 1 INT and 1 sack.  He had 4 passes defended.

According to PFF, he played most of his snaps in the box and as a slot corner. He was also active on special teams. Last season, he graded out as an effective player, 63% overall, 70% on tackling, 60% on coverage.  He was significantly better his first year with a much lower snap count.  Just on a quick look, he played in the box a lot more in his 2nd year than his first.

In 2022, he had a 77 grade on special teams.

He's from Long Island.  His team won the Long Island Championship and he made big plays in the decisive game. 

Welcome to the Falcons, Jordan!

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.