Nightly Roundup: April 23, 2019

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22Apr 2019
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Self-Indulgent Post of the Week: It’s feeling a little drafty in here

MIke Leach (image via Coug Center)

What am I reading? I just finished reading The Last Patriot by Brad Thor, another Scot Harvath novel. I’m knocking these down left and right. This one seemed a lot like a Dan Brown novel, except with a lot better dialogue. On the side, I’m reading It by Stephen King. I really like King’s stories, but his books are often a little too wordy for me. But I’m giving this one a shot, and it’s enjoyable so far.

What am I googling? I’m looking up a bunch of stuff about the Air Raid offense. We’re making some offensive changes this year, and we’re introducing some (more) Air Raid concepts. We’re going to go all Mike Leach on our league! Okay, maybe not.

What am I looking forward to? There’s a little thing called the NFL Draft that’s starting up on Thursday. I look forward to it every year. Several friends and I get together over at a buddy’s house, and most of us are or were football coaches. So it’s fun to talk football with other people who actually know stuff about football, rather than random dudes at the bar or on Twitter who think their favorite team should draft their favorite college player, and if they don’t draft that guy, the whole front office needs to be fired.

22Apr 2019
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2020 Recruiting Update: April 22, 2019

Plainfield (IL) North RB Marcellus Moore (image via All Hawkeyes)

Please consider helping out your dear local blogger by making a purchase or two through the Amazon links here (LINK):

DECOMMITMENT

Kalil Branham – WR – Columbus (OH) Northland: Branham decommitted from Michigan (LINK).

ADDED TO THE BOARD: 2020

Marcellus Moore – RB – Plainfield (IL) North: Moore is a 5’8″, 165 lb. prospect with offers from Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, and Ole Miss, among others. He’s a 3-star, the #54 running back, and #723 overall. He claims a 4.29 forty, a 34″ vertical, and a 10.31 in the 100 meters. Please watch his highlight video and think about Josh Gattis’s #speedinspace mantra:

Sawyer Racanelli – LB – Brush Prairie (WA) Hockinson: Racanelli is a 6’3″, 200-pounder with offers from Cal, Oregon State, and UCLA. Shortly after he got offered by Michigan, the Washington Huskies jumped in with an offer, which immediately turned into a crystal ball pick coming in for the Huskies. He’s a 3-star, the #27 athlete, and #348 overall. I imagine he’ll probably end up in Seattle, but he’s an intriguing WR/LB/S combo.

Hit the jump for many more bits and pieces.

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21Apr 2019
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The 2019 Season Countdown is Coming!

(image via Giphy)

If you’re a regular here at Touch the Banner, you probably know what begins in the month of May. Every year since 2009, I have counted down from the least important player on that year’s roster to the most important player, including starters, scholarship players, preferred walk-ons, special teams players, student body walk-ons, and everyone in between. That’s right, this is the eleventh (11th!) annual season countdown.

In case you want a look back at last year’s countdown, here it is (LINK).

YEARLY DISCLAIMER: The countdown is by the player’s importance to the team, not his overall talent. A talented player at a deep position won’t necessarily be missed a lot if he gets injured, but an injury to a moderately talented player at a thin position could be devastating. For example, former Michigan quarterback Wilton Speight wasn’t supremely talented, but backups John O’Korn and Brandon Peters mostly struggled in his absence, resulting in a dropoff from 10-3 to 8-5 from 2016 to 2017.

Be ready for the countdown to begin on May 1.