A.J. Dillon (image via Boston Herald)
TRANSFERS
Devin Asiasi, TE (UCLA): Asiasi sat out the season due to NCAA transfer rules. He will presumably stick around to play for Chip Kelly as a redshirt sophomore in 2018.
Kyle Bosch, OG (West Virginia): Bosch has started 11 games for West Virginia, who suffered a 59-31 loss to Oklahoma. The Mountaineers went 7-5 in the regular season.
Ross Douglas, LB (Rutgers): Douglas made 4 tackles in a 40-7 loss to Michigan State. Rutgers is 4-8 and won’t play in a bowl game, so Douglas finishes his final college season with 37 tackles, 4 pass breakups, and 1 quarterback hurry.
Shane Morris, QB (Central Michigan): Morris completed 19/37 passes for 247 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception in a 31-24 win over Northern Illinois. He also had 6 carries for -37 yards.
Dan Samuelson, OG (Eastern Michigan): Samuelson was a part-time starter for EMU this season. They went 5-7 after a 34-31 win over Bowling Green to end the season.
Wyatt Shallman, DE (Ohio): Shallman did not play in Ohio’s season finale, a 31-24 loss to Buffalo. At 8-4 the Bobcats will presumably play in a bowl game. Shallman has only played during a five-game stretch in the middle of the season, totaling 13 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 1 pass breakup so far.
Hit the jump for news on former commitments and coaches.
FORMER COMMITMENTS
George Campbell, WR (Florida State): Campbell is out for the season after suffering complications from the abdominal injury that also ended his 2016 season. He made 6 catches for 122 yards in four games before the re-injury.
Chris Clark, TE (Pittsburgh): Clark made 2 catches for 25 yards in a 24-14 win over Miami. Pitt finishes the year at 5-7. He had 16 catches for 122 yards and 1 touchdown this season.
Shaun Crawford, CB (Notre Dame): Crawford made 1 tackle in a 38-20 loss to Stanford. Notre Dame is 9-3.
Messiah DeWeaver, QB (Michigan State): DeWeaver played but did not record any statistics in the 40-7 win over Rutgers. He finishes the regular season with 4 rushing attempts for -1 yard.
A.J. Dillon, RB (Boston College): Dillon ran 23 times for 193 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 42-14 win over Syracuse. Dillon has 1,432 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns in his true freshman season. Boston College is 9-3.
Dele’ Harding, LB (Illinois): Harding did not play in the season finale, a 42-7 loss to Northwestern. Harding finished the 2-10 season with 32 tackles.
Damien Harris, RB (Alabama): Harris had 6 carries for 51 yards in a 26-14 loss to Auburn, the first loss for Alabama this year. Alabama will now miss the SEC championship game and may not make the College Football Playoff.
Darrin Kirkland Jr., LB (Tennessee): Kirkland missed the entire season due to injury. He will presumably return in 2018 as a redshirt junior.
Chase Lasater, TE (Florida Atlantic): Lasater redshirted this season at FAU. He’s listed as a 6’2″, 235 lb. tight end after being recruited as a fullback/linebacker by Michigan.
David Reese II, LB (Florida): Reese made 14 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, and 1 quarterback hurry in a 38-22 loss to Florida State. That dropped Florida to 4-8, so their season is finished. Reese finished the year with 102 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 1 interception (for 4 yards), and 1 quarterback hurry.
Antwaine Richardson, CB (Maryland): Richardson made 7 tackles in an embarrassing 66-3 blowout loss to Penn State. He finished Maryland’s 4-8 season with 24 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 pass breakup.
Erik Swenson, OT (Oklahoma): Swenson has played in three games this season for Oklahoma.
Garrett Taylor, S (Penn State): Taylor made 1 tackle in the 66-3 victory over Maryland.
Vic Viramontes, QB (Riverside City College): Viramontes’s season is over. Overall this season, Viramontes was 92/151 (60.9%) passing for 1,243 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. He also ran 146 times for 1,210 yards (8.3 yards/carry) and 16 touchdowns. In perhaps more significant news, he committed to Minnesota and will be playing in the Big Ten next year after all.
Rashad Weaver, DE (Pittsburgh): Weaver made 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 pass breakup, and 1 quarterback hurry in a 24-14 upset of Miami.
Mike Weber, RB (Ohio State): Weber had 12 carries for 57 yards and 1 touchdown in the 31-20 victory over Michigan. He also had 2 kickoff returns for 27 yards.
FORMER COACHES (AND PLAYERS WHO BECAME COACHES)
Adam Braithwaite, Defensive Coordinator (Richmond): Braithwaite and the Richmond Spiders went 6-5 this season, his first year as Richmond’s D.C.
Tony Dews, Running Backs Coach (West Virginia): Dews returned to WVU this year after coaching at Arizona. His top two Mountaineers running backs, Justin Crawford and Kennedy McKoy, combined for 1,625 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns on the ground.
D.J. Durkin, Head Coach (Maryland): Durkin and the Terrapins fell to 4-8 with a 66-3 loss to Penn State. He’s now 10-15 over two seasons with the Terrapins.
Ron English, Safeties Coach (Mississippi State): English’s head coaching career at Eastern Michigan came to an ignominious end in 2013, and he spent two years out of football. He spent 2016 as San Jose State’s defensive coordinator, and this year he was the safeties coach for the Bulldogs. His job situation is up in the air now that head coach Dan Mullen is headed to Florida.
Dan Ferrigno, Wide Receivers/Special Teams Coach (Cal-Poly): Ferrigno coached wide receivers and special teams as the Cal-Poly Mustangs went 1-10.
Jedd Fisch, Offensive Coordinator Head Coach (UCLA): Fisch was elevated to interim head coach at UCLA after the Bruins suffered a 28-23 loss to USC, resulting in the firing of Jim Mora. The Bruins then eked out a 30-27 win over Cal in the final week of the season, putting them at 6-6 for the year. Fisch, however, will not be UCLA’s long-term head coach, as that job was awarded to Chip Kelly. Fisch will be a “free agent” coach after their bowl game.
Darrell Funk, Offensive Line Coach (Indiana State): After spending 2016 as Purdue’s offensive line coach, he wound up at Indiana State for the 2017 season.
Tony Gibson, Defensive Coordinator (West Virginia): In his fifth year as defensive coordinator at WVU, Gibson’s Mountaineers rank #111 in total defense (424.5 yards allowed/game) and #93 in scoring defense (31.6 points allowed/game).
Mike Hart, Running Backs Coach (Indiana): Indiana went 5-7 this season, ending the year with a 31-24 loss to Purdue. Hart’s top running back, Morgan Ellison, ran 143 times for 704 yards (4.92 yards/carry) and 6 touchdowns.
Jeff Hecklinski, Offensive Coordinator (Indiana State): Hecklinski, who worked with the tight ends and special teams at Illinois in 2016, spent the 2017 season as the offensive coordinator for the Indiana State Sycamores.
Brady Hoke, Defensive Line Coach Head Coach (Tennessee): Hoke is now 0-2 as the head coach at Tennessee after Butch Jones got fired. The Volunteers suffered a 30-10 loss to LSU and then a 42-24 loss to Vanderbilt, a 5-7 squad. Tennessee tried to hire Greg Schiano but that deal fell through, and they don’t appear to have any attention of retaining Hoke for that job.
Jay Hopson, Head Coach (Southern Mississippi): In his second year as head coach, Southern Miss is 8-4 and bowl eligible for the second year in a row. He’s 15-10 in two seasons there after going 32-17 in four years at Alcorn State.
Calvin Magee, Offensive Coordinator (Arizona): Magee just completed his sixth year as Arizona’s offensive coordinator with Rich Rodriguez.
Curt Mallory, Head Coach (Indiana State): Mallory just completed his first season as Indiana State’s head coach, where he hired former Michigan colleagues Darrell Funk and Jeff Hecklinski. The Sycamores went 0-11.
Roy Manning, Outside Linebackers Coach (Washington State): Manning and the Cougars fell to 9-3 after a 41-14 loss to the Washington Huskies in the Apple Cup.
Jerry Montgomery, Defensive Front Assistant (Green Bay Packers): Montgomery is in his third season as an assistant for the Packers.
Rich Rodriguez, Head Coach (Arizona): The Wildcats had a disappointing end to their regular season with a 42-30 loss to Arizona State. Quarterback Khalil Tate was 11/13 for 132 yards passing, and he ran 8 times for 28 yards and 1 touchdown.
Scott Shafer, Defensive Coordinator (Middle Tennessee State): Shafer and Co. closed out the regular season at 6-6 with a 41-10 win over Old Dominion.
Nick Sheridan, Quarterbacks Coach (Indiana): Quarterbacks Richard Lagow and Peyton Ramsey split time this season. Altogether, Sheridan’s quarterbacks completed 306/501 passes (61%) for 3,188 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions.
Rod Smith, Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach (Arizona): Smith is in his sixth year as Arizona’s quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator. His quarterback, Khalil Tate, is doing a pretty excellent Denard Robinson impersonation.
Steve Stripling, Defensive Line Coach (Tennessee): Stripling just completed his fifth season as Tennessee’s defensive line coach, and he worked with (and under) Brady Hoke this year. The staff at Tennessee is up in the air with no new coach hired following the Butch Jones firing.
Bruce Tall, Defensive Line Coach (West Virginia): Tall was hired to coach WVU’s defensive line prior to the 2017 season.
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Thanks for this work you do. A few random thoughts:
– Asiasi, Bosch, David Reese are players that I think really could have helped us.
– Dillon, could he have excelled given the OL here? Would they have let him carry the ball?
– Lasiter. Although I thought he would have been a good ball carrying FB for us I think I prefer Mason. Still Lasiter might have excelled on special teams.
– Virimontes. Will he remain a curiosity or will he find a way to haunt us?
– Will Roy Manning work his way back here someday?
– Will I ever get over the Rodriguez regime and his defensive clown show?His OL recruiting?
– I never thought of Ron English as a football genius, but I liked his fire. I’ll never forget the look he gave Rodriguez mid field. Put them in a cage, sell tickets and donate the proceeds to Chad Tough.
– not sure what that last one says about me.
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I think we’re all fortunate to have several years of data from the University of Arizona RichRod experiment. He’s been just an OK coach by their historical standards. IMO his positives (some decent ability as an offensive coordinator, maybe some ability to identify spread-offense talent) have been outweighed there by his negatives (mostly a clown show on defense, erratic and overall mediocre recruiting, etc.).
I think his OL recruiting at Michigan was a mixed bag. The numbers weren’t there, but his hit rate (Lewan, Schofield, and Omameh most of all) was much better than MANBALL Hoke. Who knows? Maybe Frey did all the hard work at that position.
Careful with that Ron English fire. He did some bad things at EMU: http://www.mlive.com/eagles/index.ssf/2013/11/listen_to_the_profanity-laced.html . His apologists claimed that no one could ever win there, but the current coach has outshined him. I think English (who, don’t get me wrong, has some virtues as a coach) benefitted greatly from his DC timing (’06) at Michigan. People forget that he was in charge when Appalachian State was working on its historical upset. I’ll never pine for the RichRod years, but hiring DeBord or English would’ve been a screw-up, too.
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Julio no argument about English losing it at EMU.
I based my comments about him as a Lloyd Carr defensive back coach and DC. Yes, he had some horses to work with here.
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Regarding Devin Asiasi … is Chip Kelly’s offense TE-friendly? Or is Asiasi looking at being on the outside looking in under Kelly’s typical scheme?
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Ed Dickson had 42 catches for Oregon under Chip Kelly, and now Dickson plays for the Panthers. Otherwise, the top guy had 25-30 or so. So it’s not unfriendly toward the tight end. Sean McKeon made 29 catches this season, while Jake Butt was up around 50.
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