1. Gabe Miller has left head of S&C
2. RB Coach left post spring
3. Matt Symmes appears to be on a monthlong tour of Texas recruiting
Very good NFL Draft Diamonds interview with WR Solomon Davis going into the 23 Fall season. The kid has a lot of confidence. Now, if Mikey can just get the ball to him more often........
https://nfldraftdiamonds.com/2023/05/solomon-davis/
Interesting and good for him!
Read the interview, happy for him. :)
Former Syracuse DL Curtis Harper coming on board as DT coach. Not sure what means for Vernell Price
Quote from: valpofb16 on June 08, 2023, 11:04:54 AM
Former Syracuse DL Curtis Harper coming on board as DT coach. Not sure what means for Vernell Price
Looks like he just finished playing. Maybe he's more of a grad asst.
https://twitter.com/CoachHarpDT/status/1666506848353112065
Per his tweet yep it looks like it's a Graduate Position
Valpo has scheduled Youngstown in 2023,24,28 with a payout of 125k each game.
Quote from: valpofb16 on June 13, 2023, 09:42:39 PM
Valpo has scheduled Youngstown in 2023,24,28 with a payout of 125k each game.
125k seems a little light. We got a LOT more for playing ND St, but then again, we actually might have a chance to beat YSU!
Valpo Director of Football Operations position posted on footballscoop in case any of you are looking for a new gig:
Valparaiso (FCS - IN): Valparaiso University is accepting applications for the position of Director of Football Operations / Recruiting. This is a full-time, 12-month position with benefits. Reporting directly to the Head Coach Football, this position will coordinate the day-to-day logistical processes and recruiting operations for the program. Please send resume, cover letter, and references to Landon Fox at landon.fox@valpo.edu.
I'm assuming this means Coach Offit has moved on. He had the position in the Spring.
Valpo had two guys on the preseason roster last year that were actually out of eligibility and removed.
Keylan Chapman - Fort Hays State
Michael Byrd - Colorado
Bit of mess up there in terms of operations
Did they not realize they were out of eligibility or was it a situation where they were working to get them granted another year and it didn't work out?
Quote from: FBFan22 on June 14, 2023, 05:22:13 PM
Valpo Director of Football Operations position posted on footballscoop in case any of you are looking for a new gig:
Valparaiso (FCS - IN): Valparaiso University is accepting applications for the position of Director of Football Operations / Recruiting. This is a full-time, 12-month position with benefits. Reporting directly to the Head Coach Football, this position will coordinate the day-to-day logistical processes and recruiting operations for the program. Please send resume, cover letter, and references to Landon Fox at landon.fox@valpo.edu.
I'm assuming this means Coach Offit has moved on. He had the position in the Spring.
Offit is now the DC at Moravian a D3 in PA
Quote from: IndyValpo on June 16, 2023, 02:29:56 PMOffit is now the DC at Moravian a D3 in PA
Good gracious! We must really be paying our assistant coaches terrible wages!
Quote from: vu72 on June 16, 2023, 03:29:14 PMQuote from: IndyValpo on June 16, 2023, 02:29:56 PMOffit is now the DC at Moravian a D3 in PA
Good gracious! We must really be paying our assistant coaches terrible wages!
DC is a "higher" position than a director of FO. That may have a lot to do with the move.
Quote from: JD24 on June 16, 2023, 03:51:10 PM
Quote from: vu72 on June 16, 2023, 03:29:14 PMQuote from: IndyValpo on June 16, 2023, 02:29:56 PMOffit is now the DC at Moravian a D3 in PA
Good gracious! We must really be paying our assistant coaches terrible wages!
DC is a "higher" position than a director of FO. That may have a lot to do with the move.
24, you've hit on one of the downsides of a small university playing with the big boys in D-I (except for Wake, maybe). We can pay the head coaches reasonably, but not crazy, yet that leaves the assistant salary pool virtually dry in comparison to bigger unis. The result: constant turnover, little continuity and difficulty in developing solid, winning programs in the bigger sports. On the other side, the niche sports, it is not that big of a deal cuz reliance on assistants is not as important. Thanks for that observation.
Per their twitter it looks like the 2 new quality control coaches now list RB and DB coach. McConnell and Chandler.
Keyon Turner landed at South Dakota, Matt Ross at Indiana State.
Kaplan / Contreras - Illinois State
Merklinger- Western Illinois
Grguric - Bowling Green
Randall - Arizona
Dristiliaris - Butler
That's 8 guys that'll be on other Division 1 rosters at various levels of competition.
Very interested to see how this batch of guys do. If they are successful, could see flood gates, if non successful, need to preach that and show evidence to guys on fence.
Merklinger, Grguric, and Randall didn't or barely played at VU they're not going to get on the field at their new schools either but there's lots of other reasons to change schools wish them success.
The others hurt, hate to see Turner leave the most but I'm shocked he didn't leave after that Freshman campaign of his so glad we had him for a few extra years.
Dristiliaris transfer to Bulter is sorta wild from he's the east coast with no ties that I can tell to Butler. DL is probably our most stacked position group so maybe he'll have a lot more PT... idk. Who transfers to Butler out of the program, has to be something else going on here.
Re: Distilliaris: Maybe a POed player who wants to stick it to Fox?
OR
No other DI options?
OR
He really likes the Midwest 🙄
No kidding, I came to Valpo from NY 😱. Went back after graduation and lived in the northeast for 40+ years, but where am I living the rest of my life? Wis freakin consin. Midwest can get in your blood.
FWIW , Merklinger started every game at guard and Grguric played in every game at receiver. Randall played in 7/11.
Merklinger was probably our biggest loss. Turner started losing playing time to Rao once he started getting repeated personal fouls
Quote from: valpofb16 on June 20, 2023, 08:30:19 PM
FWIW , Merklinger started every game at guard and Grguric played in every game at receiver. Randall played in 7/11.
Merklinger was probably our biggest loss. Turner started losing playing time to Rao once he started getting repeated personal fouls
Turner's issue was not skill - it appears it was anger management/attitude. 🙄
Didn't realize Merklinger started every game, not in bio or 2022 stats, that is a large loss, need all of the OL help we can get. The other two barely had numbers on the stat sheet so can't imagine it's a huge loss, still losing any contributor at this level and our position is not good.
Wasn't Madison Soliday Director of Football Operations last year?
Quote from: valpo tundra on July 02, 2023, 09:43:27 PM
Wasn't Madison Soliday Director of Football Operations last year?
Yes she was. She is now a Meeting Event Planner for Elevate Management Company in Minnesota.
Quote from: vu72 on July 05, 2023, 03:58:28 PM
Quote from: valpo tundra on July 02, 2023, 09:43:27 PM
Wasn't Madison Soliday Director of Football Operations last year?
Yes she was. She is now a Meeting Event Planner for Elevate Management Company in Minnesota.
Good for her. And going to her Linked-In page tells us that the annual football travel budget is $300k. ::)
Symmes just just tweeted out they have a "paid" WR coach avl. That means 4 RB coaches and 4 WR coaches since the New Mexico State game.
Symmes May come out and be a savant offensively, I get that those are low paying positions but there seems to be 0 tree or loyalty there.
Butler just added xfers from
Brown, Harvard , Nichols, Eastern Kentucky, Ball State, Cornell, Yale.
Along with multi year starters from Warren Central and Brownsburg.
Uremovich isn't messing around....
James Doerer to Eastern Michigan.
Doerer was a big loss. Had some great games. Eventually was replaced by Birmingham when D started slipping.
Time will tell
Seeing the recruit/xfer-in news from the school down south, all the xfer-out Valpo news, and not much Valpo xfer-in news does not produce a ton of confidence going into August camp. :(
Neither does this informal preseason pick list from the PFL Fan Board (Lindy's Sports picks)
1. St. Thomas
2. Davidson
3. Dayton
4. San Diego
5. Butler
6. Marist
7. Stetson
8. Valparaiso
9. Drake
10. Morehead St.
11. Presbyterian
Promising WR Jacob Stewart has Xfered to a JUCO in California.
Things could get really ugly if OL has not picked up anything from spring.
Is it not really late to have not heard anything yet? Feel like in years past we already knew additions months ago.
New transfer:
Mohamed Kamara 6'0 205 LB -Hope College (D3). SR
70 tackles last year, All-Conference 2nd Team
Onye Nwosisi 6'5 235 DL - Muskingum (D3). SO
9 GP as a true FR
New Commit: 6'2 220 LB Angeni Jacobs North Carolina Post Grad class of '22
Had offers to Davidson, Presbyterian, Butler out of HS.
Sure looks like a lot of talent on D. Still no word on OL help...
New Commit: Johnny Foley 6'2 195 WR SR+ Lehigh , 27GP 300 yards.
Tezzo, Jimenez , Barthel, Davis, Foley. Group is shaping up better than Jan 1.
Still no OL
New WR Coach is Bryan Parker who was a GA at Kent State.
Bunch of players on the Pre-Season All PFL team which, I guess, is better than having no players on the Pre-Season All PFL team.
http://www.valpoathletics.com/football/news/2023-24/22183/half-dozen-valpo-players-recognized-as-phil-steele-announces-preseason-all-pfl-picks/
This is the Phil Steele pick. It'll be interesting to compare his to the PFL coaches preseason team poll.
Roster is out. Few more transfers
Kalil Brown 5th DB- Albion
Chris Gundru RSFR- Eastern Michigan
Jashon Butler RSSR RB-Arizona
Mike York TE- UAB
Kobey Fitzgerald 6th LB-UCLA
No OL help.... Promising FR Andy Cole does not have a # hopefully no injury or transfer. Will cross reference to see whose left later today
Quote from: valpofb16 on June 08, 2023, 11:04:54 AM
Former Syracuse DL Curtis Harper coming on board as DT coach. Not sure what means for Vernell Price
Price is not on the coaches list. He seemed like a solid recruiter.
@valpofb16 sent u a message
I don't see the giant freshman kid from Evanston on the roster.
It appears he is no longer with program. We always had a saying that if someone had FBS measurables at Valpo there is a reason they are at Valpo
Ah, does that mean he was FBS big but not good and didn't fit for VU - OR - and was definitely FBS caliber. And if the latter, where did he go?
Rosen still has Valpo listed on his twitter page. At his size, if his feet don't work his size won't do him any good. If his feet do work he wouldn't be at Valpo.
I believe 1st practice is this week. Does anyone know if practice is open to the public?
Quote from: GaryCrusader on August 02, 2023, 02:20:45 PMI believe 1st practice is this week. Does anyone know if practice is open to the public?
I don't think any practice is unavailable to the public.
Scrimmage is scheduled for Saturday, Aug 12 from 4:00-7:00 PM at Brown Field. What do you want to see? What questions need to be answered?
Quote from: FBFan22 on August 10, 2023, 08:38:10 AM
Scrimmage is scheduled for Saturday, Aug 12 from 4:00-7:00 PM at Brown Field. What do you want to see? What questions need to be answered?
Oline, Appel and the running game. Could Jashon Butler be "the guy"? Overall impressions.
With Valpo returning 6 starters from a PFL sack leading defense , and Youngstown returning 11 of their top 12 D-Lineman (not a typo).
I'm afraid it'll be tough to really gauge the OL until Indiana Wesleyan.
In terms of camp stuff.
QB: Should start and end with Appel
RB: my guess by committee Vercher, Labus, Mann all have had moments. Jashon could move up here
WR: think this is quietly a loaded position
TE: Loaded for the PFl. About 4 deep
OL: replacing 3 starters on the worst offensive unit. Hope for the best but been a sore in the Fox era.
Defense:
DL: 7 of top 8 back
LB: return Birmingham / Annis add, Nabers (Fresno st), Fitzgerald (ucla), Pouba (Juco) look to help
Db: Geiman looked great in spring. Rao came on late. If Chilton and Graves can prevent big plays this is a top 2-3 defense in PFL.
Moral of story, this season starts and ends with the OL. Defense should be good enough to keep us in 8/11 games alone (@Davidson,@Saint Thomas, @YSU are exceptions)
If OL is able to let Appel get/maintain comfort/health. This could be a 7 win season tops (look at road schedule, it's brutal). If they cannot, this could look like Drake last season with 2 or 3 wins. (Sorry Marist, SW Minnesota, and Morehead)
My guess is 5-6 with offensive progression!
I would have to think that even though he didn't really do anything at Arizona, just being on an FBS P5 roster should lean towards Jashon taking over RB.
Valpotx. While I don't disagree Tyler Days was a 3* transfer at safety from Boston College last year and couldn't crack starting lineup.