MAC Football Recruiting Power Rankings: Rockets Rising

It’s the second week of MAC Football Recruiting Power Rankings, and there hasn’t been a whole lot of movement last week as there’s still only six teams with commits. With that in mind, let’s see who is making some moves prior to the recruiting trail really heating up this summer.

T-7. Akron Zips

T-7. Buffalo Bulls

T-7. Bowling Green Falcons

T-7. Eastern Michigan Eagles

T-7. Kent State Golden Flashes

T-7. Ohio Bobcats

*thumbs down emoji* None of these teams have landed a commitment for the 2019 class, but it’s not for a lack of trying as four of these six teams have at least 110 offers out, higlighted by Bowling Green’s 197 (!!!) offers. It’s interesting to note that the programs in this group that have the most experienced head coaches in Akron and Ohio also has the fewest offers out (75 and 81 respectively), which makes one wonder if they’re slow-playing it until the nitty-gritty of recruiting season to make their moves.

6. Western Michigan Broncos

Despite having Boone Bonnema in tow, Western Michigan has not landed another commitment for nearly three months. However, the Broncos sent out six more offers last week, which brings their total up to 139. Connor Bazelak is a guy that a good portion of the MAC is targeting in 2019 and he is one of WMU’s four offers at quarterback.

5. Ball State Cardinals

Getting the in-state duo of defensive tackle John Harris and quarterback Mark Nondorf is a big deal for Ball State, but more needs to be done if it’s going to close the gap with the top teams in the MAC West. We’ll have to see if the Cardinals’ focus on the Midwest is going to pay off as 121 of their 200 offers are for prospects from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.

4. Northern Illinois Huskies

NIU has been busy so far for the 2019 class as it has landed a pair of three-star corners from Chicago Romel Goston and Mark Aitken. What should be encouraging to Huskies fans is that the team has 50 offers out on the defensive side of the ball, a phase of the game that has been lackluster in recent years at Northern Illinois. This particular cycle will be pivotal for Rod Carey and company in terms of attempting to return to late-2000’s/early 2010’s form.

3. Toledo Rockets

The Rockets are blasting their way through the recruiting trail as they have landed four three-star commitments for 2019, three of which will be playing at the line of scrimmage on offense and defense. Jason Candle knows as well as anyone that you build teams from the line of scrimmage out and while these aren’t the commits that everyone goes nuts over, these are the commits you need if you want to be in position to compete for a MAC championship for years to come.

2. Central Michigan Chippewas

CMU holds on to second place for another week as it has landed five prospects so far for 2019, four of which are offensive players highlighted by Dequan Finn, a dual-threat quarterback from Detroit. John Bonamego has offered 38 prospects from Michigan at this point, pointing to a commitment to build the program with the local talent that wants to be at Central Michigan for 4-5 years. Time will tell how sustainable this process is and if it results in any titles for the Chippewas.

1. Miami RedHawks

Miami still has a stranglehold of the top spot in our power rankings thanks to 15 commits, 11 of which are thre-stars. This class, which is rated as the 22nd-best class in the country per 247Sports.com, is highlighted by Brett Gabbert and the eight other commits on offense. The MAC is an offense-driven league and it’s far easier to find Division I-caliber offensive players than it is to do the same on defense (because everyone wants to play offense and score touchdowns). We’ll have to see if the RedHawks can hold this advantage as we roll into the “regular season” of recruiting.