FB: Midwest Conference

[rome]

When will the Little General aka Coach Purtill leave SNC

Seems he has accomplished all he can at SNC--DII or bigger DIII program?

[Pat Coleman]

Can someone tell me how MWC TV will work? Will all games be shown?

In basketball they showed all of the conference games and there was a pay per view price.

[MWCSID2005]

Information in regard to Midwest Conference football broadcasts on MWCTV will be released in early August.

[fmrredwarmer]

Quick rumdown of the MWC

St. Norbert...Always the favorite until somebody knocks them off.

Ripon...Alot returning, and gettiing better with the new schemes.  Continuity counts

Monmouth...Reload for another shot

Lake Forest...Coack Becker needs to have a good year

Illinois College...Should be at the top every year with the area they can recruit

Lawrence...Could be a surprise team here

Carroll...Needs to show consistency, it is possible but they need to step it up

Knox...Don't know what to think here

Grinnell...Good coaching, average players

Beloit...Too hard to recruit here to put a decent squad on the field.

There is the first shot.  Tell me (and I am sure people will) where I am wrong.

[fightintitan2006]

I agree with your top two, but think IC, MC, CC, LFC and IC all have legitimate chances to win the conference. On paper this seems to be one of the deeper years for the league.

I think the latter five will beat up on each other, with KC and LU probably getting at least an upset apiece against some of those schools.

I want to say that the league champ will have at least one conference loss this year, but thats been said before and SNC has reloaded and buzzsawed everyone.

[fmrredwarmer]

Does anyone have any recruiting information from around the league?

Only 3 schools have anything on their websites...
Grinnell has 18 recruits this year.
Monmouth has 59 recruits this year.
Ripon has 40 recruits (had to count the freshmen on their roster)

No other schools have anything listed.

I believe that quality is definately better than quantity, but, if you get enough players to work through, you are bound to find a couple of players that will work out for you.

One philisophical question.  As a coaching staff, how do you evaluate 59 or even 40 freshmen, while also preparing for a conference season.  I would imagine that for a freshman to be an impact player he has to impress immediately, or else he has to bide his time and hope for his sophomore year.  That probably isn't a bad thing for the development of Freshman, but, I would think that it may be frustrating for kids who go from being studs in high school to kids who are standing on the sidelines a year later.

[WLCALUM83]

Does anyone have any recruiting information from around the league?

Only 3 schools have anything on their websites...
Grinnell has 18 recruits this year.
Monmouth has 59 recruits this year.
Ripon has 40 recruits (had to count the freshmen on their roster)

No other schools have anything listed.

I believe that quality is definately better than quantity, but, if you get enough players to work through, you are bound to find a couple of players that will work out for you.

One philisophical question.  As a coaching staff, how do you evaluate 59 or even 40 freshmen, while also preparing for a conference season.  I would imagine that for a freshman to be an impact player he has to impress immediately, or else he has to bide his time and hope for his sophomore year.  That probably isn't a bad thing for the development of Freshman, but, I would think that it may be frustrating for kids who go from being studs in high school to kids who are standing on the sidelines a year later.

Regarding your question, see several posts I made (Replies 1937, 1939 and 1941 on the previous page.) All 3 of those reference links to recruiting information posted from one of the Milwaukee. papers.  After clicking on each link, scroll down a ways, and it'll be there.

[warthog]

Wartburg  opens at Monmouth this year.  The Knight  fans enjoy a good pregame tailgate party.  How do the powers to be view such activities on the Monmouth campus grounds? 

[fightintitan2006]

DuckDuckGoose posted picks and his post has disappeared...what gives?

[fmrredwarmer]

I had read your postings on individual players who were coming to the Midwest Conference; my question was more about how successfully the schools in the conference were recruiting, numbers wise.

Since my last post on August 4th, no other schools, other than the three that I listed originally have posted a 2007 roster or have mentioned recruiting numbers.

I always like to see 300- 500 new football players in the MWC; it helps increase the level of play and it keeps the MWC schools strong in a general sense.

St. Norberts is at the top of the coaches poll and Knox is eighth.  Other than that I missed them all.     Give me a little (very little) credit, I missed everybody else by one spot in the polls (I switched 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 9-10) so I really can't complain about the coaches poll.

In response to Rome's post about Coach Purtill...I can't believe that he is still at St. Norberts.  With his sucessful track record he has to have had offers.  If Jeff Voris can get a job with 1 winning season under his belt, you have to know the Coach Purtill has had some offers.  So that begs the question, "Is he jest comfortable being the big fish in a little pond (The MWC) or is he just not interested in taking on the challenges of running a larger program?"

[Duck Duck Goose]

OK, I tried to switch my email and all heck broke loose with my account.  Anyway.......The 2007 MWC standings will be as follows......

1) SNC- Put it this way.  If someone put a gun to my head and told me to pick the winner, I couldn't pick against the Greenbacks.  Could anyone?

2) RC- Tons of talent returning, only need to answer a few questions up front to solidify themselves as a contender.

3) MC- I really don't know where the points are going to come from, but the defense is fast and physical as any.

4) LFC- I like the cut of this team's jib.  My gut tells me they could creep up another spot.  Played SNC and RC tough last year, and stunned MC, so you know they can play with the big boys.

5) IC- High octane passing attack could carry them higher.  We'll just have to see.

6) CC- I'm sure somewhere someone has them as a sleeper.  Rogers coming back will be huge towards making that happen, but I see them sleeping again this year.

7) LU- Speaking of trendy sleepers........Still a year away.

8) KC- I will say this, their new facility is pretty sweet.

9) BC- Buc Yuck

10) GC- With Pfalzer gone, its looking like a long year is in store.  On the bright side, I saw that Grinnell was #11 among nationwide liberal arts schools according to US News.

[Hawk Sighting]

Ripon has the big red white scrimmage this weekend.  Any other news around the area.  I haven't been on the board all summer, kind of feel lost.  I look forward to the season getting started and now that I am back in WI I will be able to see more games.  I would agree with Duck Duck's rankings however, I wouldn't be suprised to see the Red Hawks give SNC a run for their money.  We play them deep enough in our schedule to have the majority of the kinks out.  With who we have returning and the ones that are stepping up to fill the spots this should be an outstanding season for Ripon.  I will fill you all in after the red white scrimmage.  I am looking for a bigger and better showing this year against UW-0. 

[fmrredwarmer]

I have heard that the Hawks have been hit by the injury bug; both starting corners from last year, 1 starting running back and more than their share of backups.  The red and white should be interesting to see who is going to step up into those spots.

I think that the injuries could hurt the defensive secondary the most;  in their system, an average back who is physical can excel and get the job done.

[Duck Duck Goose]

The Hawks have tremendous depth at RB, and I've heard through the grapevine that they will be fine there.  The secondary is somewhat of a concern though, but the depth there is fine too.

As far as the UW-O game, Hawk Sighting, I also expect a much better performance.  Things were going alright for a while last year, it "should" have been 14-7 at the half, then the roof caved in in the second half.  This team now has the athletes in the starting lineup to at least compete with the big bad state schools, though as always the depth that UW-O can produce for the purpose of special teams is always a huge advantage.  Obviously the expectation is that Oshkosh will win, but it should be a better game.

Now I'm going to stop talking about the WIAC before I get into a rant about their place in DIII.

[fightintitan2006]

Any specific names to the injuries? I agree Ripon appears to have depth, but you wont be able to replace guys like McGuire, Kellett or Kraemer.

Anyone know how the Ripon QB looks or if any freshman are challenging for PT?