FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

Weren't you replaced last minute for the role of The Volleyball in the Tom Hanks movie "Cast Away".

Spalding came in and got Hanks drunk and stole the part...

[jaypeter]

hscoach, you could prolly have a new tat of the swoosh done right over the old one.  Kind of like that Pats fan who's probably thinking about changing to a sox logo right about now...

Man I love that my Giants won the Super Bowl!

[JK]

Anyone else follow DI signing day yesterday?

Nice haul for the Buckeyes.  Not a huge class (19), but more 5-star prospects than any other school (5), and 8 top 100 guys, which is tied ofr the most in that category.  Now if Terelle Pryor would just end the suspense and commit to the Buckeyes over that team up north, we could close the book.

I know there are quite a few Catholic school guys here as well, so I guess I ought to mention that ND did very well with thier class as well.  It would appear that the fat man in South Bend finally got some athleticism on both sides of the ball with this class.

[Knightstalker]

Anyone else follow DI signing day yesterday?

Nice haul for the Buckeyes.  Not a huge class (19), but more 5-star prospects than any other school (5), and 8 top 100 guys, which is tied ofr the most in that category.  Now if Terelle Pryor would just end the suspense and commit to the Buckeyes over that team up north, we could close the book.

I know there are quite a few Catholic school guys here as well, so I guess I ought to mention that ND did very well with thier class as well.  It would appear that the fat man in South Bend finally got some athleticism on both sides of the ball with this class.

Including another Golic.

[reality check]

Checking the old hometown paper at daytondailynews.com and I see a signing list for local footballers in the Miami Valley.  There are a few D-III mentions of kids who signed their letter of intent yesterday (not sure there is such a thing at the D-III level in the first place).

Dunbar HS, one of ther city league schools had ten students sign letters of intent.  One is going to Muskingum in DL/LB/OL Charles Johnson.

The only D-III commitments on the Dayton Daily News list were from Dunbar and of the ten Dunbar students, 1 is heading to Muskignum, 2 are heading to Bluffton, and 2 are heading to Thomas More.  I wish there were more news for D-III kids but I know it's mostly too early to expect that.

[reality check]

Anyone else follow DI signing day yesterday?

Nice haul for the Buckeyes.  Not a huge class (19), but more 5-star prospects than any other school (5), and 8 top 100 guys, which is tied ofr the most in that category.  Now if Terelle Pryor would just end the suspense and commit to the Buckeyes over that team up north, we could close the book.

I know there are quite a few Catholic school guys here as well, so I guess I ought to mention that ND did very well with thier class as well.  It would appear that the fat man in South Bend finally got some athleticism on both sides of the ball with this class.

Including another Golic.

Discluding another Golic, the athleticism comment is indeed accurate.   

[HScoach]

hscoach, you could prolly have a new tat of the swoosh done right over the old one.  Kind of like that Pats fan who's probably thinking about changing to a sox logo right about now...

Man I love that my Giants won the Super Bowl!

That's the problem.  It's a BRANDING, not a tatoo.

Like I said, my negotiation skills are severely lacking.

[HScoach]

.....  Now if Terelle Pryor would just end the suspense and commit to the Buckeyes over that team up north, we could close the book.....

As long as it's not Michigan, I could care less where he goes. 

It's 11:28:57, and Michigan still sucks!

[seventiesraider]

I gotta agree with the columnist from the Akron Beacon Journal: National Signing Day is the biggest piece of non-news in the entire sports year. The point was clearly made by the kid who held a major press conference to announce his choice between two schools that never called him.

It's not sports news till it's happening between the white lines.

And ESPN dedicated several of their "sports personalities" for the whole day covering the silliness

Nobodies covering nothing.

[seventiesraider]

Now here's some sports news:

BOARDMAN, OH.- In conjunction with the arenafootball2 League Office, the Mahoning Valley Thunder is pleased to announce that Fullback/Linebacker Patrick McCullough has been assigned to the team. McCullough (5'11, 265) is an af2 rookie.

McCullough, of Wyoming, MI. joins the Thunder after a stat-filled career at Mount Union College. As a Purple Raider, Patrick lettered in his final three seasons and played a key role in helping Mount Union win back to back Division III National Championships in 2005 and 2006

FULLBACK? I gotta see that.

[reality check]

FULLBACK? I gotta see that.

Arena leagues have a history of reporting some interesting positional information.  Justin Stickley was listed as a FB too if I remember correctly.  Wes Hostetler, when he signed with Rochester, was listed as a DT which was interesting given his sub-200 lb frame. 

In other arena/indoor news, I see ONU alum JR Cipra has signed on to kick with the Pittsburgh River Rats in the AIFIA.  And I got a kick out of the fact that there's a poll on the River Rats website regarding "favorite returning players" and Cipra leads the way with 40% of the vote.  Who doesn't love a kicker?!?

Port Huron, where ONU's Shane Franzer has spent the last few years as QB appears to have folded its franchise.  The future of the franchise and its players appears to be in question.  I know that many of these small arena teams fold but it's surprising because the Pirates have been the best team in the league for the last few seasons.

The Canton Legends don't yet have roster info but I'm sure we'll see a couple guys on the roster from OAC schools.

OTT's Ricardo Lenhart will be catching balls for the AF2's Louisville Fire but it appears ONU's Rusty Midlam is no longer on the Fire roster.  OTT's Michaeux Robinson is not on the Orlando Predators any longer either.

I'm sure there will be more to come as the arena leagues kick into action if anyone cares.

[JK]

I gotta agree with the columnist from the Akron Beacon Journal: National Signing Day is the biggest piece of non-news in the entire sports year.

I do agree that the whole thing is overblown by the "major" media outlets, and there will be many recruits who never even come close to living up to their billing.  But, it is nice to at least take a look and see who's coming in and what they potentially have to offer.

[Small but Slow]

Talent evaluation is not an exact science, by any means.  How many times over the past few years have we heard that the Fighting Leprechauns have had a top five recruiting class then at the time they should be their most productive the media and coaching staff complains that they they simply aren't athletic enough to compete against the big boys?  A recruiting class can't be evaluated completely until the end of the sophomore year.  It takes that long to determine who can actually contribute.  Look at all the walk-ons and small college guys playing in the NFL.

[JK]

Anybody watch Pros vs. Joes on Spike? 

The guy who won last night in New Orleans to move on to the finals in the Rose Bowl was Derek Schaefer, a former WR on UW-LAX's 92 championship team, according to his bio.  It wasn't pretty by any means, but he was the only guy to tackle Rocket Ismail on a KOR.  Of course, Rocket had already returned 4 punts and 3 KO's by that time.

[Small but Slow]

Great show! but I can't stay up that late.  I'll catch the rerun this weekend.  It seems they get better athletes (Joes) each year.  Wasn't Bill Schroeder, the former Packer, also a Wisc. LAX guy?  He may have been on the '95 team.  Rocket was on a cowboy reality show on CMT.  If he's not careful he's going to end up thought of in the same way as a Brett Michael or Anna Nicole Smith.