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Another football recruiting class has been inked by MAC schools and MAC Report Online's recruiting analyst, Brian Golden, breaks them all down from top to bottom. Golden looks at who inked the top class, which players could start immediately and identifies some sleepers to watch.

http://www.macreportonline.com

Here's how the MAC was ranked:

1. Ohio
2. Toledo
3. Temple
4. Western Michigan
5. Kent State
6. Central Michigan
7. Buffalo
8. Miami
9. Akron
10. Bowling Green
11. Eastern Michigan
12. Ball State
13. Northern Illinois

It's a solid analysis overall. He realizes it's not a sexy class on paper per se due to the emphasis on the offensive line, but his criticism of the number of signings is not fair. We can only give out scholarships in proportion to what we lose, and we didn't lose a ton of seniors.

The variety of opinion on these matters continues to amaze: Ohio is #1 in these rankings but #9 on Scout.com, just one spot ahead of us.

I think OU got rated so highly based largely on a couple of high profile JUCO signings...that's a dangerous thing to hang your hat on given the propensity for JUCO kids to blow out.

I like our class...we needed DB's and OL..we got DB's and OL. Throw in a guy who's either going to start at QB or push the incumbent really hard, a sleeper QB and a couple of really nice looking DL prospects...hard not to be happy.

I don't follow everybody but the last real impact player from the JUCO ranks that I recall was Jones, the UT QB. I'm sure there have been others since but several have not panned out.

Our JUCO kickers saved our butts last year...and Eric Ransom was having a real impact before he got hurt, but the history before that was pretty spotty..at best.

If you rank conferences by their recruiting classes, the MAC comes in dead last. And of this dead last group, BG is near the bottom, something like 110th in the country. I don't think that this is anything to get too excited about since it's the second year in a row that this has happened. As they say, however, it's what happens on the playing field that counts.

Flipper wrote:Our JUCO kickers saved our butts last year...and Eric Ransom was having a real impact before he got hurt, but the history before that was pretty spotty..at best.

I was going to mention your kickers but kind of forgot. Still, I think there's a diff between a great HS recruit and a great JC recruit. There's usually a reason they ended up at a JC.

h2oville rocket wrote:

Flipper wrote:Our JUCO kickers saved our butts last year...and Eric Ransom was having a real impact before he got hurt, but the history before that was pretty spotty..at best.

I was going to mention your kickers but kind of forgot. Still, I think there's a diff between a great HS recruit and a great JC recruit. There's usually a reason they ended up at a JC.

Actually there a multitude of reasons why a young man might end up going to a JC. Finances, grades (sound familiar UT? ), family issues, relationships, personal preferences, and the least of which (probably what our friend H2 is referring to) is talent. Please don't jump to conclusions whenever you hear/read JC.

Dr. Reality wrote: As they say, however, it's what happens on the playing field that counts.

Great point. Brandon is 27-13 in the MAC, so I trust his evaluation of what type of players he needs to beat other MAC schools with.

I'm with Flipper: this class fills a bunch of needs and has a ton of potential.

h2oville rocket wrote:I don't follow everybody but the last real impact player from the JUCO ranks that I recall was Jones, the UT QB. I'm sure there have been others since but several have not panned out.

Don't forget WR Kenny Higgins (2003 and 2004). He had about 50 receptions and 5 TD's for Toledo in 2004.

Defensively for Toledo there was DE Robert Menefee in 2002 and 2003. He did a pretty nice job with about 30-40 tackles in 2003.

SicSic80 wrote: Actually there a multitude of reasons why a young man might end up going to a JC. Finances, grades (sound familiar UT? ), family issues, relationships, personal preferences, and the least of which (probably what our friend H2 is referring to) is talent. Please don't jump to conclusions whenever you hear/read JC.

Actually I meant all those things. And I believe all of them have some impact on a player's ability to compete. Missing two or three years of DI ball, whatever the reason, puts a player behind the eight ball compared to players of equal or slightly less talent who have two or three years in the system. Not sure about your qualifications to judge which of those is the least reason for a player to go to a JUCO but OK.

JoeFalcon wrote:

Dr. Reality wrote: As they say, however, it's what happens on the playing field that counts.

Great point. Brandon is 27-13 in the MAC, so I trust his evaluation of what type of players he needs to beat other MAC schools with.

I'm with Flipper: this class fills a bunch of needs and has a ton of potential.

Add me to the list. We got what we needed...and I love the players we have coming in.

Spring game is only 2 months away now! GO FALCONS