Topic of Ohio State QB’s is interesting. Urban Meyer wanted a running QB who could also pass. Kind of in the Tebow style. So he took the best QB OSU ever had and set him for 4 years . I do not think Ohio State deserves any credit for the development of Burrough they actually suppressed him and slowed his development.
Now to me CJ Strowd looks like the first true franchise QB that Ohio State has developed. He might end up being a Hall of Fame QB. Fields is still struggling to get over the hump with the Bears. They are debating whether to sign him up long term for big money or get rid of him and try someone else, which is basically what happened to all the other OSU QB’s who played in the NFL.
Miami adds Purdue RB/Edge Mondrell Dean. Played RB at Purdue, but was a talented edge rusher in High School. Given we already have a RB committed, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up at DE. Claims he had 4 years of eligibility left
I noticed the different spellings. Not the first or last time.
Been a while, but my son (at OSU) often played XBox with Joe. He was a good player! He still played after leaving OSU and before Bengals training camp started.
RB Dylan Downing (Purdue)
WR Andre Johson (Arizona State)
RB/DE Mondrell Dean (Purdue)
Which means we have at least in terms of bodies/position, replaced the holes left by Amos, Gage, and Woullard. Not saying these three are as good as the three we lost, (that remains to be seen on the field) but the staff quickly filled the holes.
Also a midwestern college town with a red brick campus, easy adjustment from that perspective.
Based on this staff’s track record for the transfer portal lately I’ve got some mild optimism with three P5 additions. Keep in mind the Purdue guys were probably recruited out of high school by a decent Brohm coaching regime before he left a year ago.
Saw an interview with new Washington AD Troy Dannen. He had lots of success at UNI and hired Willie Fritz and built Tulane into a legit program over the last six years. Troy made it a point of emphasis that NIL is quite valuable but as a reward for high performing players currently on the roster. He does not like NIL as a recruiting tool and says it has been a dismal failure most places it’s been used that way.
Couple things about Dannen and how Tulane is using NIL. First, with the exception of their reasonably new stadium, MUs facilities are light years better than Tulane’s (they are prob worst in AAC and would be toward bottom of MAC). They have however embraced NIL and have a very active collective that has raised in the $3-4M range/yr. They use it to retain a few key guys like Pratt last yr and several key guys this yr. Also used to get a couple portal guys, but not really for HS recruiting. Has worked well and I’d say best model for G5 & lower end P5 schs not flush with $10-15M in cash like Ole Miss, TXAM, UT, etc. Dannen didn’t build it tho and is not considered a great AD by most (built NO facilities during his tenure and that’s what Fritz used as reasoning to leave).
In fairness let me say up front the Dannens are good friends with my brother (Miami ‘73) and sister-in-law from their days in Iowa. Dannen did a great job at UNI at partnering with local community organizations. My brother was the hospital administrator there.
Dannen did hire Fritz who turned Tulane’s football program in to a top G5 team within four years and he kept Fritz there for the ‘22 season after he beat USC in the NY6 bowl.
I’m guessing part of the reason Fritz left is also because the AD who hired him left. That’s almost always a contributor to a decision to move on. Increased money from Houston was probably the other significant driver of the move.
Washington has a strong rep for having solid ADs, going all the way back to Kent State hire Mike Lude, who hired the legendary Don James. The only one I consider a misfire there was Barbara Hedges, who they brought in from Southern Cal and who left to go back there.
I’m pretty certain a big time program like Washington vetted Dannen pretty thoroughly before they hired him. He’s walked into a pretty solid situation in Seattle.
Yep- hired Fritz - Tulanians would also provide you with the list of other coaches he hired and haven’t succeeded. He’s not a builder. UW has great facilities and infrastructure, so all he needs to do is administrate (for now). Again, his knock is that he couldn’t raise $, promised Fritz facilities and nothings been built (or even ground broken). Fritz used that publicly as reasoning when he left. Tulane proactively offered him $4.5M before he went to Houston and he took the exact same to leave. UW has a good NIL program and FB coach tho, so should continue to win.
