RECRUITING GURU RATINGS

Aaron is  a universal two-star prospect, with ESPN liking his abilities the most, they specifically praise his instincts. Scout lists Aaron as 6’1″ and 180 pounds, Rivals lists him as 6’0″ and 185 pounds, and ESPN lists him as 6’0″ and 180 pounds. I’ll go with the majority opinions here and say he’s 6’0″ tall and weighs 180 pounds.

OFFERS

Aaron chose Ball State over offers from Gardner-Webb, Georgia State, Ohio, Toledo, and Western Carolina. He also received interest from Georgia Tech and Navy.

STATS

Maxpreps lists Aaron as having made 55 tackles and forcing one fumble.

40 TIME

None of the recruiting sites can agree on a 40-yard dash time; ESPN lists him as running a 4.84 40, Rivals lists him as running a 4.78 40, and Scout lists him as running a 4.65 40.

VIDEO

Youtube Highlights:  

PREDICTION

Aaron is a bit light and, if ESPN and Rivals are to be believed, a little slow to play right away as a freshman. Those two factors, along with Coach Lembo’s preference to redshirt as many freshmen as possible, means Aaron will almost certainly redshirt his freshman season and then start working his way into special teams and the rotation at safety.

IMPACT ON THE REST OF THE CLASS

Ball State had a huge hole to fill at safety, with two starters and their backup graduating, five safeties creates good competition for the two starting spots in summer and fall camps and will allow the staff to redshirt several of the incoming safeties. The Cardinals should be done with safety for this class.

Go Cards!!

RECRUITING GURU RATINGS

The experts are largely in agreement about Tyree’s abilities, with ESPN as usual being the most optimistic and having him as a high two-star with praise for his instincts. All three sites differ however on his height and his weight. ESPN lists him at 5’10″ and 155 pounds, Rivals lists him at 6’1″ and 165 pounds, and Scout lists him at 6’0″ and 160 pounds. I’ll split the difference and say he’s 6’0″ and 160 pounds.

OFFERS

Tyree chose Ball State over offers from Bethune-Cookman, Central Michigan,  Georgia Southern, North Carolina Central, Stony Brook, Toledo, and Washington State. He also received interest from Boston College, Buffalo, Duke, Maryland, Michigan State, North Texas, Northwestern, South Florida, UConn, West Virginia, and Western Kentucky.

STATS

Tyree made 24 tackles, two interceptions, and recovered two fumbles as a senior.

40 TIME

Rivals lists Tyree as running a 4.55 40-yard dash, a pretty respectable time for a corner.

VIDEO

Youtube Highlights:  

PREDICTION

It’s no secret that Ball State struggled defending opposing defenses through the air last season, partly because the secondary resembled a MASH unit more than a functioning secondary. He has a pretty impressive list of schools who were interested in him but didn’t offer, he could challenge for playing time early if he hits the weight room hard when arrives on campus.

IMPACT ON THE REST OF THE CLASS

The class is almost full, with two cornerbacks already in the class the staff has added needed depth and is likely done with adding any more cornerbacks to this year’s class.

Go Cards!!

In what can only be described as bad news for a defense short on playmakers, sophomore linebacker Aaron Morris has been suspended from the team for academic reasons and is no longer enrolled at Ball State after failing to meet the school’s academic requirements for the fall semester. Morris was second on the team and fourth in the MAC with 115 tackles, a team-leading ten tackles for loss, two sacks, an interception, and two forced fumbles in the 2011 season.

It’s certainly possible for Aaron to go to a junior college or community college and get his grades up and be readmitted into the university and rejoin the team, defensive Matt Mosley just accomplished this task. It sounds like Coach Lembo is leaving the door open to Morris returning to the team, as long he demonstrates a commitment to improving his academics. Hopefully Aaron gets it together and is back in school in time for 2012 season, we need him on defense.

Go Cards!!

The football team recently held their annual team banquet where Coach Lembo announced this year’s award winners.

The John Magnabosco Award, which is named after the winningest coachin Ball State history and is the team’s Most Valuable Player Award, was awarded to senior wide receiver Briggs Orsbon and senior safety Sean Baker. Orsbon was the team’s leading receiver with 66 receptions for 649 yards and four touchdowns and was named second team All-MAC. Baker was the third leading tackler on the team with 95 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble, and two interceptions. Baker leaves Ball State with the record for most interceptions in a career and was a team captain as both a junior and senior.

Running back Jahwan Edwards earned the John Hodge Award, which is given to the team’s Most Valuable Freshman and is named for a past president of the Cardinal Varsity Club. Edwards rushed for 786 yards and 11 touchdowns, his three-touchdown performance against Army was the most rushing touchdowns by a Ball State player since 2009.

Punter Scott Kovanda and wide receiver/return man Jamill Smith are co-recipients of the Bill Reynolds Special Teams Award,which is named in honor of a long-time football volunteer employee. Kovanda punted 61 times for 2,654 yards and a 43.5 yard average, 18th best in the country. He was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, which is awarded to the country’s best punter, and was named to the third team All-MAC. Smith led the team with a 23.3 yard kickoff return average and was named second team All-MAC as a punt returner after averaging 10.9 yards per punt return.

Defensive end Ryan Hartke was awarded the Gene Booker Academic Award, which is named after a member of the 1949 Ball State football team, the only team in school history to go undefeated. Hartke earned a 3.40 GPA as an accounting major and was an honorable mention to the All-MAC academic team.

Safety Joshua Howard received the Mark Hays Inspiration Award, which is given to the player who demonstrates the greatest ability to motivate and inspire his teammates. The award is given in the memory of a son of two supporters of the athletic program. Howard was fourth on the team with 84 tackles (one for loss), had a team-leading three interceptions, and recovered three fumbles this season.

The Bill Meitzler Scout Team Players of the Year were wide receiver Jared Scaringe and cornerback* Keenan Noel. Scaringe is a redshirt freshman who did not see any playing time this year and Noel redshirted his freshman season. Meitzler is a former member of the Cardinal Varsity Club and a longtime supporter of Ball State football.

The football program had two new awards this season, the Paul Schudel Strength and Conditioning Award and the Dave McClain Leadership Award. Defensive tackle Adam Morris earned the Schudel Award and center Kreg Hunter and defensive end Andrew Puthoff were co-recipients of the McClain Award. Schudel was the Cardinals head coach from 1985-1994 and led the Cardinals to two MAC Championships and two bowl appearances during his tenure. He is second in team history with 60 wins and won 47 MAC games, fifth best in conference history. McClain was the Cardinals head coach from 1971-1977 and led the Cardinals to a 47-25-3 record as head coach. He guided the Cardinals as they entered both Division I-A football and the MAC, his team won the MAC Championship in only its second year in the league.

Kevin Gall, Torieal Gibson, Jerrod Gray, Kyle Hoke, Zac Jordan, Rayondon Kennedy, Richard Saint-Victor, Steve Spence, Cory Sykes, and Lorren Womack all received the Ray Louthen Senior Participation Awards. The award is named after Ball State’s head coach from 1962-1967 and athletic director from 1970-1981. Cory Sykes receiving this award likely means his Ball State career is finished.

*Noel is still listed on the official roster as a fullback, unless he lost a lot of weight and has impressive speed for a former fullback, he’s more likely a linebacker or defensive end.

Go Cards!!

Will the Arena Football League turn around the career of Nate Davis?

Four of the five offensive star players from the 2007 season have signed with the Kansas City Command of the Arena Football League for the 2012 season, which kicks off on March 16th. Quarterback Nate Davis, tackle Robert Brewster, guard/tackle, and tight end/wide receiver Darius Hill have not had successful NFL careers to date, the AFL may be the best chance some of them have at staying in football.

Robert Brewster has had an interesting career to say the least. He played for the Dallas Cowboys for several seasons as a backup player but spent most of the 2011 season on the suspended list. If he has a successful season with the Command, he could get a chance with the Cowboys or another NFL team next season.

Nate Davis has struggled to stay in the NFL despite having a cannon for an arm. He landed in the doghouse of former San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary and was cut after two seasons with the team. He then was signed and quickly released by the Seattle Seahawks and the Indianapolis Colts and spent last season out of the NFL. What Nate needs is for a coaching staff to give him a chance and have the patience not to expect immediate results while he learns the playbook.

Darius Hill signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted rookie free agent but was cut in training camp and has not been with a NFL team since. He played tight end for the Cardinals and the Bengals but is listed on the Command’s roster as a wide receiver. He had a reputation among NFL scouts as a poor blocker but good receiver and has the height to be a valuable target in the red zone.

Andre Ramsey has bounced between multiple NFL teams in his career, he has played for the Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, and New York Jets. He might not have stuck with a NFL team, but he has the size to be a talented and dominate AFL player.

Go Cards!!

Coach Lembo announced today that three players have joined the football program as mid-year signees and one player has rejoined the team after missing the 2011 season for academic reasons. Safeties Selwyn Frazier and Chris Pauling, along with defensive end Oga Igbinosun are the early signees and defensive end Matthew Mosley rejoins the program after getting his grades in order. All four players are desperately needed help for the defense, Mosley and Frazier could both be key parts of the 2o12 defense.

Frazier is a junior college transfer from Independence Community College who earned two letters and was a team captain in 2011. He ranked second on the team with 63 tackles and was named to the All-Jayhawk Conference team as a sophomore. He was a team captain as a high school senior and was all-conference as well while playing at Wichita East High School.

Igbinosun earned three letters in football at Rahway High School before spending the 2011 season at Fork Union Military Academy to improve his grades. As a senior, Igbinosun made 98 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, and 12 sacks and set a new school record for tackles for loss in a season. Igbinosun was named to the second team all-state as a senior and was the MVP of the North-South All-Star Game and had 18 sacks in his high school career.

Mosley played in all twelve games as a true freshman to earn a letter. He made thirteen tackles and had six multiple tackle games. I’m not sure if this season counts as a redshirt for Mosley or not, he will either have two or three seasons left in his Cardinals career.

Pauling earned three letters while playing for T.W. Andrews High School and made 86 tackles, forced two fumbles, and blocked a punt, which he returned for a touchdown as a senior. For his career, he made 260 tackles, eight forced fumbles, 20 sacks, three blocked punts, and two interceptions. He was an all-conference selection as both a junior and senior and was also named to the South Carolina/North Carolina Shrine Bowl as a senior.

Go Cards!!

Igbinosun is the player tackling the offensive player

RECRUITING GURU RATINGS

I don’t know where or how the coaching staff found Oga and decided to recruit him, but kudos to them. To say he is an under the radar prospect is an understatement, only Scout has a profile for him while ESPN and Rivals don’t have a profile for him this year or last year when he was in high school. Scout and his Ball State bio both list him as 6’1″ tall and weighing 240 pounds. 

OFFERS

Scout doesn’t even list Oga as having an offer from Ball State or from any other school for that matter.

STATS

In the 2009-2010 season, Oga made 38 tackles, one fumble recovery and averaged 4.8 tackles per game.

40 TIME

I couldn’t find a 40 yard dash time for Oga.

VIDEO

Youtube Highlights:

PREDICTION

The Cardinals are thin at defensive end, so Oga has a good chance at playing right away. His addition may allow Wes Johnson to redshirt to add badly needed weight.

IMPACT ON THE REST OF THE CLASS

Oga gives the Cardinals two defensive ends in the class, they likely will not take another defensive end to fill one of the few remaining slots in the class.

Go Cards!!

The MAC traditionally serves as a conference where both assistant coaches and head coaches attempt to prove themselves in order to move on to jobs in more high profile conferences. It’s not a surprise some of the big boys in college football would be looking at poaching a coach or two off Coach Lembo’s staff, the assistants played a huge role in the quick turnaround of the football program. Coach Strollo previously served as the offensive line coach at Duke when Coach O’Brien was the Blue Devils offensive coordinator, those previous ties probably played a big role in Coach O’Brien hiring him again. Good luck to Coach Strollo at Penn State, I would expect a successor to be named soon by Coach Lembo since we’re coming up on the end of recruiting season.

On a side note to Daily News writer Teddy Cahill, Coach Lembo specifically mentioned in his first email newsletter and reiterated the point in today’s version that he does not want to see the contents of the newspapers used on blogs and all over the internet. I don’t know what your journalism plans are post-graduation, but you might want to use Google next time to help you write a story. A quick Google search of Coach Strollo’s name would have given you the same information and you wouldn’t annoy the Ball State football coach by citing his newsletter as your source.

Go Cards!!

MAC East

Akron

Buffalo

Kent State

Massachusetts

Miami

Ohio

Temple

MAC West

Ball State

Bowling Green

Central Michigan

Eastern Michigan

Northern Illinois

Toledo

Western Michigan

There is a major competitive imbalance currently between the two divisions and that will continue until Terry Bowden rebuilds Akron and Massachusetts stocks its roster with Division I recruits. As it stands now, Ohio and Temple are the clear favorites in the MAC East, Miami also has a chance to be competitive if this season was an anomaly under Don Treadwell. Bowling Green rejoins the MAC West for the second time, they’re unlikely to contend for the MAC West title in 2012. The favorites in the MAC West will again be Northern Illinois, Toledo, and Western Michigan although Ball State will be a strong contender as well.

In more Cardinals specific news, the MAC also announced the MAC teams Ball State will face in 2012, game dates and times are still to be announced. Ball State will play at home against fellow MAC West teams Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, and Western Michigan and will play against MAC East team Ohio as well. The Cardinals will travel to MAC West teams Bowling Green, Central Michigan, and Toledo and MAC East team Miami. I’ll have more thoughts about this schedule when game dates are announced.

Go Cards!!

The Departed

• Tim Beckman: It’s an inevitable fact that when a MAC program hires a young coach and he builds the program into a consistent winner and one of the best teams in the MAC, he’s going to get phone calls from lower level BCS teams hoping he can turn their fortunes around. About all you can do as a program is hope your coach decides to stay like Joe Novak did at Northern Illinois, but Novak was and is an anomaly, most coaches are packing their bags as soon as they receive that phone call. Illinois finally lost patience in the Ron Zook experiment and came calling after Beckman led Toledo to an 8-4 record. Beckman joined Toledo after serving as Oklahoma State’s defensive coordinator under Coach Mike “I’m a Man!” Gundy. He leaves Toledo with a 21-16 record and zero MAC championships.

• Rob Ianello: Akron was Ianello’s first head coaching gig and the Zips hoped some of Charlie Weis’ offensive genius had rubbed off on Ianello at Notre Dame. Ianello was infamously fired while on the way to his mother’s funeral, so Akron might want to think about sending the athletic department to sensitivity training. Still, it’s hard to argue Ianello deserved more time to turn things around at Akron. A 2-22 record makes it almost impossible to believe the program was headed in the right direction. Ianello is still young enough he might get a second chance at being a head coach someday, right now he’s probably dialing Charlie Weis hoping to get hired onto the Kansas coaching staff.

• Kevin Morris: UMass hasn’t even officially joined the MAC or even Division I football yet, but they’re already acting like an impatient BCS team. They fired Morris after three seasons and a 16-17 record. UMass 5-6 twice in three seasons, so I guess you could make the argument that the program wasn’t decisively moving forward and it would make selling tickets at Gillette Stadium even more difficult if the program was consistently mediocre under Morris. Morris was promoted to the head coaching position after serving as UMass’s offensive coordinator for five seasons under Don Brown. Morris never coached at a Division I program in his career, perhaps UMass was worried that would hurt their recruiting efforts.

The New Guys

• Terry Bowden: You’ve got to hand it to those Zips. After they make national headlines for the way they fired Rob Ianello, they’re back in the national headlines after hiring Terry Bowden, a nationally known head coach who instantly becomes one of the MAC’s top head coaches, if not the best coach in the conference. Bowden reached out Akron to express interest in the job after building North Alabama into a FCS powerhouse in only three seasons. It’s hard not to like this hire for the sake of the long-suffering Akron fans, Bowden’s been a consistent winner at Salem, Sanford, Auburn, and North Alabama. If you have to pick one thing about the hire not to like, you would have to go with Bowden’s probably gone in two or three seasons to a BCS school.

• Matt Campbell: Like Ball State after Brady Hoke left for San Diego State, Toledo didn’t look far before deciding to promote offensive coordinator/interim head coach Matt Campbell to head coach permanently. For the Rockets sake, I hope Campbell isn’t a younger version of Stan Parrish. Unlike Parrish who was a retread, Campbell is the youngest head coach in Division I at only 32 years old. Campbell built the Rockets’ offense into one of the most explosive offenses in the MAC and in the country, the team was eighth in the nation in scoring. Campbell has previously coached at Bowling Green and Mount Union, where he won two national championships as an assistant head coach. If Campbell can find a defensive coordinator who can find a way to make his defense make some stops in the game, he will be moving on to bigger in better things in several years.

• Charley Molnar: Charley Molnar gets the task of bringing UMass into the MAC and Division I football from the FCS level, UMass had better hope that he’s the next Skip Holtz, who successfully transitioned UConn from FCS to Division I, and not the next David Elson, who couldn’t do the same for Western Kentucky. Molnar left Notre Dame, where he served as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. I don’t know a lot about Molnar, but he’s obviously someone who has no problem working for a coach who looks borderline psychotic on the sidelines as he’s worked under Brian Kelly at Notre Dame, Cincinnati, and Central Michigan. He has additional MAC experience from being an assistant coach at Kent State, Eastern Michigan, and Western Michigan. If the whole coaching business doesn’t work out for Charley, he could always head to Hollywood and get gigs in films and TV shows about the Italian mafia.

Go Cards!!