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It was an extremely hectic weekend on the recruiting trail for some programs in the Mid-American Conference. For others, the best is yet to come. Here’s an update on where each team stands:
Akron
Note: There are conflicting reports on what class Beasley is in. Scout lists him as a 2017 recruit while his own Twitter profiles classifies him as the class of 2018.
Beasley’s only reported offer came from Akron, however it looks like he could be considered a 2018 recruit. This means Akron will have to keep his verbal commitment for the next 13 months, which can prove to be difficult at times. Beasley projects to play center at the next level and could help the Zips immediately after another year of development.
Current Akron commit, LB Will Barto will be taking an official visit next weekend according to his Twitter page. It is very possible that Akron will be hosting loads of recruits in the next few weeks. But that information is not out there yet. Each program usually has one big official visits weekend so there isn’t reason to be alarmed at the shortage of recruiting news on Akron’s end.
Ball State
Huntley is a six-foot 210 pound running back from Locust Grove, Georgia. The 3-star running back had reported offers from Minnesota, Kansas, Elon, Western Kentucky, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, and Mercer. Huntley originally was supposed to visit coach Fleck in Minnesota for an official visit next weekend, and Kansas the following weekend. However,
Huntley is a rather elusive running back, as you can see in this GIF below, who could turn into a nice complement to James Gilbert sooner rather than later.
The six-foot-one 205 pound outside linebacker from Kettering, OH shows good speed and size at the position. According to Scout, Ball State was his only reported offer. Ball State has been in on Rueth since offering him back in November. Clearly the staff sees something they like in Rueth and it will be interesting to see how he develops at the next level.
Bowling Green
Jackson is a six-foot four inch 245 pound defensive end from Jones High School in Orlando, Florida. The 3-Star recruit had reported offers from: Buffalo, FIU, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State, Ohio, UTSA, Troy, Western Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, Tulane, and UCF.
CMU
3-star WR Nick Robinson was in for an official visit this past weekend. He has reported offers from some big-time programs including three SEC programs Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Texas A&M. He would be a huge addition to an already solid class. His commitment would help catapult the Chippewas into the conversation for the best class in the conference.
EMU
Hunt originally was committed to BG before flipping over the weekend on an official visit. Here’s what we had to say about Hunt back when he originally committed to Bowling Green.
Kent State
A decent amount of current commits have already taken their official visits, so anyone who visits Kent State from here on out will be likely be an uncommitted player. It will be interesting to see how this class comes together, and what offensive playmakers coach Haynes adds to the mix.
Their class overall is looking extremely strong in the secondary and on defense as a whole. To round this class out, look for them to try to add some more fire power on the offensive side of the ball.
2-star WR CJ Turner out of Louisiana is a wide receiver that could make an impact. He recently took an official visit to Idaho.
Miami
3-star DB Darrick Forrest received an offer from Cincinnati over the weekend. Other than Forrest, Miami’s class is pretty much done for now. Assuming there are no de-commitments, Miami does not seem to be going after any uncommitted players. I could see them going after one of these Western Michigan commits if they wind up losing Forrest to Cincinnati.
NIU
There isn’t much news on the recruiting trail for the Huskies right now, which can be seen as either good news or bad news depending on how you look at it. NIU has a solid class intact, so little to no news is good as no one is trying to flip their recruits (...yet). Most importantly, NIU is set to sign two high school QB’s in this class which is something they’ve lost late in the recruiting process for the past few years. Alec Ingold specifically comes to mind. His late decommitment, and Landon Root’s transfer plus a flurry of injuries at quarterback put NIU in a tough spot last season. Bringing in two QB’s in this class will help solve the depth issue at the position.
The only recent news that has developed was that 2-star DE Daviyon Nixon was offered by new head coach Jeff Brohm and Purdue recently. Nixon was a player who has gone pretty much under-the-radar, but is extremely talented. If NIU can hang onto him, he could turn out to be this class’s diamond in the rough.
Ohio
Tusha a six-foot five inch 305 pound offensive lineman out of University Christian High School in Jacksonville, Florida. He had reported offers from: Southern Miss, Purdue, Cincinnati, Toledo, Coastal Carolina, Colorado State, Florida Atlantic, Massachusetts, Middle Tennessee State, North Texas, Duke, North Carolina, South Carolina, UCF, USF, and West Virginia.
Vonnie Watkins is a six-foot five inch 218 pound defensive end from Lusby, MD. An under-the-radar guy, Watkins played both tight end and defensive end in high school but will line up on defense in college.
A six-foot 200 pound line backer from Jacksonville, Florida. His reported offers include: Appalachian State, FIU, Colorado, Western Michigan, Kentucky, Syracuse, and Middle Tennessee State.
Hayes currently attends Hutchinson community college and chose the Bobcats over reported offers from Eastern Kentucky and Georgia State.
Toledo
3-star LB Derrick Barnes took his official visit this weekend. Right now Toledo has the best recruiting class in the MAC so far. It will be interesting to monitor their ablility to keep it that way however.
With 4-star RB Mike Warren recently receiving an offer from Cincinnati, it will be interesting to see if Warren actually winds up playing in front of his hometown or spurns the Rockets for the Queen City.
WMU
Multiple commits took their official visits this weekend. Most of the players have at least reopened their recruitment, and plan to visit another school as of right now. It will be interesting to monitor if that situation changes at all now that the Broncos have hired a new coach.
3-star DB AJ Thomas and 3-star DT Chris Elmore confirmed to us that they took official visits to Kalamazoo this past weekend. Plenty more recruiting news to come on Western Michigan over the next week or two.