Leatherneck Nation

Had the opportunity to listen to Coach Fisher's review of this years recruiting class. Then I went over to the USD website and low and behold, there was Coach N. talking with the media about his class of recruits. Sat and listened for as long as I could stand it. Sure happy Coach Fisher is a Leatherneck and Coach N. is a coyote!!!

Also, Pat Ostermann did a tremendous job with all of the signing day reports and organization. I liked the fact that Coach Fisher and the appropriate area coach was on hand to talk about each recruit as their LOI arrived at Western Hall. They did a very good job talking about the 4 transfers also. The whole day was just handled in a classy manner imo. Wish I was in town to attend the Sports Corner festivities. jc

The live/up-to-the-minute broadcasts were very well done. Would love to pick Coach Fisher's brain on a couple of questions. One, when you bring in these big trench guys, just how hard is it to get them to shed that belly fat from high school and replace it with muscle? Two, would he ever take a gamble on a kid who never touched a football in high school but was a real speed-burner in track or maybe had no organized athletics at all? I would think if you could teach that kid to catch punts and kickoff, he would pay huge dividends as a returner.

sealhall74 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 01, 2017 5:25 pm The live/up-to-the-minute broadcasts were very well done. Would love to pick Coach Fisher's brain on a couple of questions. One, when you bring in these big trench guys, just how hard is it to get them to shed that belly fat from high school and replace it with muscle? Two, would he ever take a gamble on a kid who never touched a football in high school but was a real speed-burner in track or maybe had no organized athletics at all? I would think if you could teach that kid to catch punts and kickoff, he would pay huge dividends as a returner.

Don't think you'd take a guy just for speed. Plenty of track studs already playing football. Had a few come through and end up just running track. Xavier Levy being one and just recently DeVante Clark. Don't know if he's coming back to FB after dealing with injuries and not playing.

Have had that thought before though. Usually take a look at our track guys each year to see if any of the top sprinters have football experience. No experience catching punts or taking a huge hit and I'd pass.

Removed Suni Lane from my list. Not a huge loss most likely...I'm much more impressed with the WRs we did bring in: Eli Watson, Devon Mondy, and for some short-term help, senior transfer Jarid Brown from Ohio.

Plus, there's still kids out there that haven't signed/decided. Yesterday was just day 1 of the signing period (that goes for two months), so the coaches could still be out working on guys who just haven't made their decisions yet. There's also the possibility of other transfers as well...so if the coaching staff feels there's a need for anyone else to fill in a couple of gaps, you can bet they've got their eyes out for options.

If I hear anything, I'll let you know.

Western Illinois brings in 24 football recruits.

From today's Peoria Journal-Star:
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/20170201/w ... l-recruits

Here's a bit about new signee Matt Ricketts: http://www.galesburg.com/sports/2017020 ... r-ricketts

A closer look at Western Illinois' 2017 recruiting class.

From the McDonough County Voice:
http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/sports/20 ... ting-class

Why the constant dissing of Coach Nielson? He built our program into a playoff contender every year and one that should have went long into the playoffs this past year but didn't even make the playoffs and losing to a bad SIU team to end the season. If Jack Thomas would have giving any commitment to the football program Coach Nielson would still be here. Now we lose recruits from our own back yard to SD (two from Sacred Heart Griffen plus EIGHT recruits from Iowa from as close as Muscatine to Iowa 4 straight champion WDM Dowling all because of relationships Coach Nielson and his staff built while at Western and have continued at SD.

Depends on your definition of huge regarding Bettendorf's Suni Lane but heard UNI Mark Farley talking about his class on the radio. Lane is 6'4" WR and defending Iowa H. S. High Jump champion at 6"8" UNI flipped him within 48 hours of signing day. We used to be able to get at least one player every year or so from Bettendorf or at least the Quad Cities. We were shutout this year 60 miles away.

Different sport but the QC area also being overlooked in basketball IMO. Ethan Happ only got offers from Wisconsin schools (Wisconsin, UW-Milwaukee and Green Bay). What were the Illinois schools thinking?