2015 MVFC Notable Recruits

[GopherHole]

I've been watching what some of the other conference schools have been doing regarding recruiting and thought that maybe it would be good to have a conference thread here. Obviously we sometimes follow NDSU and USD recruiting closer and I like those threads too. Here goes on some early thoughts:

• As Hip2daHop posted on our recruiting thread, ISU Red is hitting the FBS transfer market hard this year. I'm guessing that they've struck gold recently and thought that they'd expand upon that. If they can carve out a niche market and be exceptional with it, good for them. No doubt it worked this last year.

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/col...f0f6c948d.html

• NDSU continues to be our biggest competitor/thorn in our side when it comes to recruiting. Of the 16 offers we had out that chose another FCS school instead, 8 of them went to NDSU. Sure we out did them on some of our prized commits, but it still hurts.

• Youngstown State could be interesting to follow in years to come. No doubt, with Pelini as their new head coach they could have some recruiting momentum in the next couple of years, especially for Ohio recruits that don't go big time. Having a successful track record at a BCS school has to create some awe for these recruits and their families. What I think was really interesting is that Pelini was able to get Ron Brown to follow him as assistant head coach/running backs coach. Ron Brown is a major coup for Pelini! He is extremely respected and has been with the Huskers on and off dating back to their glory days under Tom Osborne. He brings the high moral ground and ethics that helps temper Pelini's emotions that have gotten the best of him in the past. Moreover, Brown has been a huge closer on recruits for all Husker sports. Whenever a potential recruit may have been on the fence regarding issues that affect faith, race, or just personal commitment to the individual, Brown was often involved. He's helped recruit and coached some very successful skill position players for decades. In Nebraska, he is the one assistant that most were hoping would stay with the new coaching regime. I also don't like the idea that they could definitely pull some Nebraska high school students to Ohio. Frank Solich has done that for years at Ohio University.

• YSU also got a highly prized transfer in DE Avery Moss. Moss was banned from UNL in January of 2014 for public indecency and his appeal was denied last month. Moss was expected to compete for a starting position for the Huskers last year as a redshirt sophomore. Now they expect him to be immediately available to play this next fall for YSU since he sat out this last year. I'm not sure how much eligibility he will have, but he should be an impact player at the FCS level.

[GopherHole]

Re: 2015 MVFC Notable Recruits

It appears that the Coyotes have made a pretty good push in January to shore up some holes. They only had a handful of verbals three weeks ago and now have 23 commits. Looks like running back, WR, and TEs were priorities. Take a look at their fan forum for a synopsis of their commits. If they close the deal on their running backs they will not only have some depth, but it looks like a very talented group too. They've locked up the NE offensive player of the year and they are close to getting the CO offensive player of the year too.

[UWMandSDSU]

Re: 2015 MVFC Notable Recruits

It appears that the Coyotes have made a pretty good push in January to shore up some holes. They only had a handful of verbals three weeks ago and now have 23 commits. Looks like running back, WR, and TEs were priorities. Take a look at their fan forum for a synopsis of their commits. If they close the deal on their running backs they will not only have some depth, but it looks like a very talented group too. They've locked up the NE offensive player of the year and they are close to getting the CO offensive player of the year too.

Will Calvin Strong meet academic requirements? If he does, it looks like to be a good pickup for them.

[GopherHole]

Re: 2015 MVFC Notable Recruits

Will Calvin Strong meet academic requirements? If he does, it looks like to be a good pickup for them.

That is still in doubt, but it still appears to be a good calculated risk on recruiting him. Sure glad we find guys like Zenner that are often overlooked, but are never outworked on the field or in the class room.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: 2015 MVFC Notable Recruits

I know they had a ton of injury problems at RB last year, but every USD-SDSU game I've watched we've pushed them around on the LOS. Thought they might hit that area a little more.

[Hip2daHop]

Re: 2015 MVFC Notable Recruits

Good thread- thanks Gopher

[HandoEX]

Re: 2015 MVFC Notable Recruits

I believe NDSU has 7 commits that have turned down FBS scholarship offers, including a B1G offer from Purdue.

[GopherHole]

Re: 2015 MVFC Notable Recruits

It looks like NDSU may have reloaded on defense. While they have balance in numbers, I tend to believe their 13 recruits on defense are the strength of their recruiting class. I'm envious of the defensive line recruits. Three of them are recruits we went after and I believe they would have helped our defense out. I also wish we would have landed either of Jaxon Brown or Robbie Grimsley for safeties. I think Lorenzo Williams has tons of upside, but Grimsley and Brown have been tested at a pretty high level in their high school careers.

One area that I'm pleasantly surprised at is Nebraska. NDSU had made some headway in the Cornhusker state recently and they had 9 on their 2014 roster. That group had a huge impact on their success not only this last year, but in years past. Kyle Emmanuel, Nick DeLuca, Christian Dudzik, Jesse Hinz, and RJ Urzendowski are all from Nebraska and I would have bet against them repeating with out these players. This year, NDSU had no recruits from Nebraska and Coach Jackson and SDSU had a very good year landing six very good recruits. You could argue our top linemen on both sides of the line of scrimmage came from Nebraska.

NDSU made hay in their traditional stomping grounds of Minnesota (11) and Wisconsin (6). North Dakota (2) was the only other state that they had multiple recruits from. They have proven that you can build championship teams by staying close to home, but I would have thought their growing national brand with ESPN Game Day and four consecutive championships would have helped them pull more recruits from a larger base.

NDSU certainly has raised the bar for other MVFC teams for recruiting, but I like how are class matches up, specifically on offense.