I've been saying this same thing for years:
http://www.limaohio.com/sports/article_1...0f31a.html

Of course Usher's writing has suggested a touch Alzheimer's in recent years, so that doesn't encourage me, but he points to some specifics worth paying attention to.

I agreed that I was shocked no MAC team came after Bruns.

My thought has been that MAC teams need to build better rapport with area high schools, and get more media coverage. Get students wanting to play for MAC teams, and some of these will show up as walk ons. SEC and Florida schools did this for years, and to some extent still do.

I read the article and maybe the GLIAC was a big winner Wednesday?

This is kind of, I guess, off topic to subject directly at hand, but EMU gave out 21 NLIs Wednesday but apparently has room for five more.

Word is that EMU will be looking for kids who were possible preferred walk-on or gray shirt candidates at BCS schools OR kids who might qualify but are still questionable or maybe JUCOs who who were question marks to complete their degree this spring.

My guess is that whomever we sign here out might be better than some of our Feb 6 signees.

NOTE: EMU got three kids like Canty from Lansing who Tubberville at Cincy didn't honor a verbal and a kid Bell from L.A. who was a verbal who met NCAA but not Tulane academics and Barnes, a kicker who had preferred walk-on looks from teams who play in BCS bowls.

Our last commits were not reaches but very good prospects who 'fell to us'.

EMU is still REALLY looking for DL help, esp. some big JUCO DTs who can plug up the running lanes. (anyone who watched EMU might have noticed the need).

I guess I take a different view of the article. In my view it shows what low regard the author, Tom Usher, has for the MAC and reflects how many residents of Ohio, Michigan, etc. view the MAC.

These student-athletes of which he writes, who supposedly are good enough "for the MAC", did not garner interest from any other Division 1 schools, including 1AA. Yet they are apparently good enough for the MAC - or perhaps the MAC is low enough for them.

(02-08-2013 02:47 PM)IULurker Wrote:  I guess I take a different view of the article. In my view it shows what low regard the author, Tom Usher, has for the MAC and reflects how many residents of Ohio, Michigan, etc. view the MAC.

These student-athletes of which he writes, who supposedly are good enough "for the MAC", did not garner interest from any other Division 1 schools, including 1AA. Yet they are apparently good enough for the MAC - or perhaps the MAC is low enough for them.

You could look at it that way, and there's probably a bit of truth there. But he does point to specific outstanding HS athletes, some of whom were record setters at Div II.

And in that regard, I think he's right. Sure, a Big 10 school may mistakingly overlook them, not b/c they can't play, but b/c the Big 10 has as good or better athletes by comparison.

MAC teams need depth, and they need unfound gems. Usher thinks they'll find these in the little-MAC and similar conferences. If nothing else, his region is in the dead center of MAC territory, and should be scouted and mined rigorously.

It's surprising to me that EMU, or even UMass, doesn't give Bruns (for example) a go. And did those other guys even get discussed as preferred walk ons?

(02-08-2013 02:47 PM)IULurker Wrote:  I guess I take a different view of the article. In my view it shows what low regard the author, Tom Usher, has for the MAC and reflects how many residents of Ohio, Michigan, etc. view the MAC.

These student-athletes of which he writes, who supposedly are good enough "for the MAC", did not garner interest from any other Division 1 schools, including 1AA. Yet they are apparently good enough for the MAC - or perhaps the MAC is low enough for them.

I agree. He seems to forget about the whole FCS subdivision

(02-08-2013 03:02 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(02-08-2013 02:47 PM)IULurker Wrote:  I guess I take a different view of the article. In my view it shows what low regard the author, Tom Usher, has for the MAC and reflects how many residents of Ohio, Michigan, etc. view the MAC.

These student-athletes of which he writes, who supposedly are good enough "for the MAC", did not garner interest from any other Division 1 schools, including 1AA. Yet they are apparently good enough for the MAC - or perhaps the MAC is low enough for them.

You could look at it that way, and there's probably a bit of truth there. But he does point to specific outstanding HS athletes, some of whom were record setters at Div II.

And in that regard, I think he's right. Sure, a Big 10 school may mistakingly overlook them, not b/c they can't play, but b/c the Big 10 has as good or better athletes by comparison.

MAC teams need depth, and they need unfound gems. Usher thinks they'll find these in the little-MAC and similar conferences. If nothing else, his region is in the dead center of MAC territory, and should be scouted and mined rigorously.

It's surprising to me that EMU, or even UMass, doesn't give Bruns (for example) a go. And did those other guys even get discussed as preferred walk ons?

No way could EMU have taken Bruns.

We took Roback (our star recruit) and another good QB prospect, Bossard (from Pa.) and took other players who played QB in h.s. but will play WR, S, or athlete.

Big MAC (Mid American Conference) meet the Little MAC (Midwest Athletic Conference).

Being from Coldwater, I am a little biased but.....I'd love to see the MAC recruit more MAC high school kids. There are a lot of good student athletes in the little MAC (Coldwater, St Henry, Marion Local, Delphos St John etc....). However, it is tiny town football and that means most D1 coaches do not pay close attention to them as athletes so I understand why they do not get a lot of offers. Coldwater is the biggest little MAC school and we have about 100 kids in each class (boys and girls combined).

I'd like BG to take a more active role in recruiting students from those smaller schools like the little MAC. Itsa great fit and easy transition. It would also help get more of their athletes as walk ons and later develop into very good players.

When I was in high school 30+ years ago, Coldwater routinely sent 10-12 students to BG, Toledo, Miami and Ball St each year. Now the area seems to be overwhelmed with Buckeye love.

Don't think so. As far as UMass is concerned, we recruit in a different area and will compete with schools in the Northeast. Heistated to post the signing day video, as have seen no other posters do the same for their schools. We recruit primarily from Scranton PA through the northeast. In this years class have 5 players from New Jersey and Florida. We got the speed back that was mentioned in the video, who had not commited but we fans were tweeting him and Lorenzo Woodley said it was an influence.

The fact is that bunches of capable H.S. kids get missed every year by D1 programs........ and yes, normally because they don't quite meet all the "measurables". I think it's because it's really hard to measure willpower and things like football savvy.

It's why D1 programs at all levels almost always have multiple walk-ons that earn scholarships and many supposed studs washout. The whole recruiting process is something of a crapshoot, but bottom line - most coaches just aren't willing to take chances with kids that don't meet all the criteria or sometimes just come from a smaller school.

(02-08-2013 02:47 PM)IULurker Wrote:  I guess I take a different view of the article. In my view it shows what low regard the author, Tom Usher, has for the MAC and reflects how many residents of Ohio, Michigan, etc. view the MAC.

These student-athletes of which he writes, who supposedly are good enough "for the MAC", did not garner interest from any other Division 1 schools, including 1AA. Yet they are apparently good enough for the MAC - or perhaps the MAC is low enough for them.

I agree. He mentions a player that was cut in the Miami Dolphins rookie camp. There are plenty of players out there that play division III that could play DII and FCS that could play FBS and Sun Belt that could play SEC, etc. The fact of the matter is that FBS teams can only hand out a total of 85 scholarships at any time.

An FBS coach gets paid to put a team together that is going to provide results. If they don't provide the expected results, a coach loses his job...his livelihood. This guy gets paid to write articles. A coach is an expert in his specified field, a writer is an amateur in that field. I'll take our coaches' decisions over his.

Toledo had over 1500 juniors and sophomores on campus over the last 12 months evaluating them and could only take less than 25 of them. Two of those players played for Team USA a few nights ago against the World Team in the International Bowl and one of those players scored a touchdown and the other never came off the field the whole game on defense. I know for a fact that none of this guy's players were invited to that game. I would hope our coaches would be fired if they turned down proven players like the ones that we all signed for some risks on undersized or underperforming players because of the chance that they may have been overlooked.

This guy needs some perspective.

I suspect many were scared off after UT won the recruiting battle for the last Bruns from that area back in 1971. Turned out he was evrry bit as mediocre in college as his HS stats indicated he would be. Of course there are a ton of Bruns folk in Coldwater and none are related to me.

(02-08-2013 03:58 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(02-08-2013 03:02 PM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(02-08-2013 02:47 PM)IULurker Wrote:  I guess I take a different view of the article. In my view it shows what low regard the author, Tom Usher, has for the MAC and reflects how many residents of Ohio, Michigan, etc. view the MAC.

These student-athletes of which he writes, who supposedly are good enough "for the MAC", did not garner interest from any other Division 1 schools, including 1AA. Yet they are apparently good enough for the MAC - or perhaps the MAC is low enough for them.

You could look at it that way, and there's probably a bit of truth there. But he does point to specific outstanding HS athletes, some of whom were record setters at Div II.

And in that regard, I think he's right. Sure, a Big 10 school may mistakingly overlook them, not b/c they can't play, but b/c the Big 10 has as good or better athletes by comparison.

MAC teams need depth, and they need unfound gems. Usher thinks they'll find these in the little-MAC and similar conferences. If nothing else, his region is in the dead center of MAC territory, and should be scouted and mined rigorously.

It's surprising to me that EMU, or even UMass, doesn't give Bruns (for example) a go. And did those other guys even get discussed as preferred walk ons?

No way could EMU have taken Bruns.

We took Roback (our star recruit) and another good QB prospect, Bossard (from Pa.) and took other players who played QB in h.s. but will play WR, S, or athlete.

I once read an interview w/ Steve Young who said when he got to BYU he was 8th on the depth chart.

Maybe EMU wasn't the place for this kid, but you can never ignore depth.

I'm only going by stats, so maybe he's not Div IA material, if Siborg or anyone else knows more, I'd listen. I still think the MAC can find a little more talent near home. And it can make a difference.

Torch, I'm not trying to be funny but can you find one player on BG's 2013 commit list that you'd rather not see there and instead would rather place one of these kids in that position?

BTW, there is a junior in Lima that Toledo, Akron, and Bowling Green have already offered. We'll see if he chooses to play in the MAC. His name is Darius West.

(02-09-2013 09:00 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  I suspect many were scared off after UT won the recruiting battle for the last Bruns from that area back in 1971. Turned out he was evrry bit as mediocre in college as his HS stats indicated he would be. Of course there are a ton of Bruns folk in Coldwater and none are related to me.

I think there was a Bruns from St. Henry that was an excellent wr for UT in the 90's. Scott, maybe?

(02-09-2013 03:13 PM)Campbell4President Wrote:  Torch, I'm not trying to be funny but can you find one player on BG's 2013 commit list that you'd rather not see there and instead would rather place one of these kids in that position?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. If BG's class is sound, doesn't mean that every MAC team's is.

But, I'd be delighted to see any of these players go to BG as "preferred walkons" or "grayshirts."

(02-08-2013 03:02 PM)The Optimist Wrote:  

(02-08-2013 02:47 PM)IULurker Wrote:  I guess I take a different view of the article. In my view it shows what low regard the author, Tom Usher, has for the MAC and reflects how many residents of Ohio, Michigan, etc. view the MAC.

These student-athletes of which he writes, who supposedly are good enough "for the MAC", did not garner interest from any other Division 1 schools, including 1AA. Yet they are apparently good enough for the MAC - or perhaps the MAC is low enough for them.

I agree. He seems to forget about the whole FCS subdivision

To the best of my recollection, the MAC has had only one recent year when some team didn't lose to IAA/FCS. So, I see no reason why it's an insult not to believe these players could contribute to the MAC.

(02-09-2013 10:59 PM)DICK Wrote:  

(02-09-2013 09:00 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  I suspect many were scared off after UT won the recruiting battle for the last Bruns from that area back in 1971. Turned out he was evrry bit as mediocre in college as his HS stats indicated he would be. Of course there are a ton of Bruns folk in Coldwater and none are related to me.

I think there was a Bruns from St. Henry that was an excellent wr for UT in the 90's. Scott, maybe?

Don't recall him but could be. St. Henry has a pretty big German influence but none related to me.

(02-10-2013 10:42 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  

(02-09-2013 10:59 PM)DICK Wrote:  

(02-09-2013 09:00 AM)H2Oville Rocket Wrote:  I suspect many were scared off after UT won the recruiting battle for the last Bruns from that area back in 1971. Turned out he was evrry bit as mediocre in college as his HS stats indicated he would be. Of course there are a ton of Bruns folk in Coldwater and none are related to me.

I think there was a Bruns from St. Henry that was an excellent wr for UT in the 90's. Scott, maybe?

Don't recall him but could be. St. Henry has a pretty big German influence but none related to me.

I think many smaller HS have kids who might need more development. They tend to play multiple sports and do not focus on one until college. In some ways that is an advantage, no burn outs & indicates they can have more upside.

There are a ton of Bruns in St Henry and Coldwater. I'm not sure which family Austin Bruns is from. He is similar in size to Keith Wenning (6-4, 220). I know he led Coldwater to 3 straight state finals winning the last one in a defensive struggle against Kirtland (Division 5). However, I think Coldwater only won the MAC once in that stretch. The MAC has averaged just under 2 FB state champions per year in the last decade or so. D4 through D6. Coldwater beat Youngstown Mooney twice in D4 finals before Mooney moved up to D3 and Coldwater moved down to D5 while many teams in the MAC moved down to D6.

To further my sale pitch for all things Coldwater... http://cavfootball.com

(02-10-2013 10:27 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(02-08-2013 03:02 PM)The Optimist Wrote:  

(02-08-2013 02:47 PM)IULurker Wrote:  I guess I take a different view of the article. In my view it shows what low regard the author, Tom Usher, has for the MAC and reflects how many residents of Ohio, Michigan, etc. view the MAC.

These student-athletes of which he writes, who supposedly are good enough "for the MAC", did not garner interest from any other Division 1 schools, including 1AA. Yet they are apparently good enough for the MAC - or perhaps the MAC is low enough for them.

I agree. He seems to forget about the whole FCS subdivision

To the best of my recollection, the MAC has had only one recent year when some team didn't lose to IAA/FCS. So, I see no reason why it's an insult not to believe these players could contribute to the MAC.

One loss is an anomaly. Over time, the MAC is better than the FCS on the whole. Yes, a top FCS team can likely compete with the MAC any given year, but for the most part MAC players are better than FCS players. Just like the talent level in the MAC is not on the Big 10's level every year.

(02-10-2013 02:34 PM)The Optimist Wrote:  

(02-10-2013 10:27 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(02-08-2013 03:02 PM)The Optimist Wrote:  

(02-08-2013 02:47 PM)IULurker Wrote:  I guess I take a different view of the article. In my view it shows what low regard the author, Tom Usher, has for the MAC and reflects how many residents of Ohio, Michigan, etc. view the MAC.

These student-athletes of which he writes, who supposedly are good enough "for the MAC", did not garner interest from any other Division 1 schools, including 1AA. Yet they are apparently good enough for the MAC - or perhaps the MAC is low enough for them.

I agree. He seems to forget about the whole FCS subdivision

To the best of my recollection, the MAC has had only one recent year when some team didn't lose to IAA/FCS. So, I see no reason why it's an insult not to believe these players could contribute to the MAC.

Yes, a top FCS team can likely compete with the MAC any given year,

Which is my point. And it validates why Usher can write what he did w/ legitimacy. He thinks they're good players...not that the MAC sucks.