MAC Football Pod

EPISODE 10

It's NFL Draft week, which means that's literally the only thing we want to talk about this week. This is the second part of a two-part NFL Draft preview series that focuses entirely on the Mid-American Conference players in the draft pool. Joined with me to talk about these players is Kaleb Carter (@Kaleb_M_Carter on Twitter). I've created a 10-player "big board" so to speak, and this episode will cover the players listed at 7-10 since players listed at 1-6 were talked about in Sunday's episode. After that, we look at the rest of the players not listed and highlight a few names there. 

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• Matthew Hammond

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EPISODE 9

It's NFL Draft week, which means that's literally the only thing we want to talk about this week. This is the first part of a two-part preview episode of the MAC players in this year's draft pool. Joined with me to talk about these players is Kaleb Carter (@Kaleb_M_Carter on Twitter). I've created a 10-player "big board" so-to-speak, and this episode will cover the top six players from that list. Wednesday's episode will cover the other players listed at 7-10, as well as the best of the rest. 

Players we focus on in this episode (in order): 1. WR D'Wayne Eskridge (3:31), 2. TE Quintin Morris (10:47), 3. EDGE Malcolm Koonce (15:13), 4. CB Antonio Phillips (21:26), 5. RB Jaret Patterson (25:24), and 6. WR Antonio Nunn (32:52).

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• Matthew Hammond

SUPPORT THE SHOW FOR JUST $3/MONTH:

If you enjoy the show and want to help fund this thing grow, please consider donating via Patreon! for $3/month, I'll...

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EPISODE 8

We've got three positional previews to get to this episode!

Kent State WR: Isaiah McKoy's gone, but the Flashes still bring in an All-ACC return man from Syracuse to help fill the gap. Nykeim Johnson doesn't have the size advantage McKoy had, but that speed is dangerous.

EMU QB: Preston Hutchinson had his first season as the starter in 2020, and wasn't the most impressive (even though he scored 8 rushing TD). Ben Bryant comes in as a graduate transfer from Cincinnati, and he has the arm to contest for the starting role.

Ohio DB: Straight up, who's the playmaker out of this group? Jett Elad's probably my best pick, but who's to say?

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• Matthew Hammond

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If you enjoy the show and want to help fund this thing grow, please consider donating via Patreon! for $3/month, I'll...

• Send you the detailed notes that I use to record these episodes with (which usually contains more info than what I say on the mic) with each new episode.

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EPISODE 7

Time to talk about some big guys.

I had the pleasure of catching Godzilla vs. Kong in IMAX recently, and to celebrate, I want to look at how current MAC football linemen would stack up against one another. The new movie lightly gets discussed early on, but then (7:17) I rank my top 5 MAC offensive line units, rank my top 5 MAC defensive lines, then sort of imagine how the contrasting units would do in a battle against one another.

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If you enjoy the podcast and want to help support, consider becoming a monthly donor through Patreon! For just $3/month, I'll credit all donors in all of the podcast notes, and I'll add Discord benefits once we reach a community of 30 people! --> https://www.patreon.com/alvaradoonmaction

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• Matthew Hammond

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EPISODE 6

Did you know that college football's first-ever 3,000-yard passer came through Northern Illinois?

Kaleb Carter (@Kaleb_M_Carter on Twitter), formerly of the DeKalb Daily Chronicle and Hustle Belt, currently 1/2 of MAC Football Forever on YouTube, joins the show to talk about the legend of George Bork and what his impact on NIU football has been ever since he played football there 50 years ago. Bork was the first player in CFB history at any level to throw for 3,000 yards in a season, and had 32 touchdown passes as a senior. He was an All-American in both football and basketball, and is also NIU's first player to ever be inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1963, Bork helped lead NIU to an undefeated season (10-0) to be the #1 small college team in America. NIU maximized its potential to grow from that by building Huskie Stadium (22,500 person capacity) in 1965, and used it to move up to the Division-1A ranks.

Also, Julian Edelman retired from the NFL after a decade-plus of pesky receiver play. He wasn't a natural receiver out of college, just a football player at Kent State that kept being overlooked until Bill Belichick made him a 7th-round draft pick in 2009. Edelman was never an All-Pro selection, but he ended up having one of the most historic postseason careers of any NFL receiver in history. Edelman is the first, and only, MAC graduate to win a Super Bowl MVP award. 

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If you enjoy the podcast and want to help support, consider becoming a monthly donor through Patreon! For just $3/month, I'll credit all donors in all of the podcast notes, and I'll add Discord benefits once we reach a community of 30 people! --> https://www.patreon.com/alvaradoonmaction

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• Matthew Hammond

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EPISODE 5

The Mid-American Conference came out with some fairly big news on Thursday in regards to intraconference transfers. The old intraconference transfer policy which included a bunch of additional hoops for student-athletes to transfer was thrown out, and the MAC will now defer to the NCAA for its regulation on the matter. The transfer portal has helped speed things up for everybody and, while still imperfect, has been more progressive for the student-athletes. For the sake of making the kids' lives easier and having one less annoying job for a transfer committee to deal with when they already have bigger things to worry about.

I forgot there was a draft-eligible quarterback out of the MAC that we'll have to keep tabs on in a few weeks, and that someone is Central Michigan's David Moore. He's been so out of sight, out of mind that it's easy to glance over him, but he also only played 11 games at the FBS level between two schools and coming back to CMU for the 2021 year might have hurt his chances of getting to the next level. And it's not like he has many opportunities to waste at this point. Sure he looked good when he was able to play some in 2019, but who in the NFL is going to take the time with this project QB as (what I assume he'll be) an undrafted free agent?

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If you enjoy the podcast and want to help support, consider becoming a monthly donor through Patreon! For just $3/month, I'll credit all donors in all of the podcast notes, and I'll add Discord benefits once we reach a community of 30 people! --> https://www.patreon.com/alvaradoonmaction

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• Matthew Hammond

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EPISODE 4

Today's episode of Alvarado on MACtion features a pre-recorded interview with newly-hired offensive line coach/run game coordinator for the Miami RedHawks: James Patton. Patton has over 20 years of coaching experience who has worked his way up to a top college program for years, and has since come back to coach in the league he graduated from. Miami is Patton's second MAC job since his days at the Power 5 level, and this new job also brings him and his family back to where he and his wife met: Oxford, Ohio. 

The Athletic's Dane Brugler puts out an annual booklet of information, and it's filled with scouting reports on hundreds of NFL prospects. Since we're talking about the new Miami OL coach, let's close with the Miami OL prospect to look out for in the NFL Draft, especially since Brugler's The Beast was published today. Brugler has Tommy Doyle as this year's #16 ranked OT, and has a 4th round grade. 

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If you enjoy the podcast and want to help support, consider becoming a monthly donor through Patreon! For just $3/month, I'll credit all donors in all of the podcast notes, and I'll add Discord benefits once we reach a community of 30 people! --> https://www.patreon.com/alvaradoonmaction

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• Matthew Hammond

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EPISODE 3

Buffalo's wide receivers were a big reason why the Bulls finally got back to the MAC Championship scene for the first time in a long time back in 2018. Anthony Johnson, K.J. Osborn, Charlie Jones all left after that year, but Antonio Nunn stuck around for his junior and senior seasons. The team threw the ball less, ran the rock more, and Nunn was used more than any of the other receivers on the few pass plays UB did call over those two years. Now that we're in 2021, Buffalo doesn't have a ton of leadership/experience in this position group, so now we're left wondering who the best playmakers will be out of this position? Trevor Wilson might be the best pass-catching option, but how much more important will run blocking be again for receivers to even see the field?

The NFL Draft begins at the end of this month. Like any year there are MACtion prospects who will most likely have their names heard on Day 3, either as late-round draft picks or undrafted free agent signees. Whether things go as planned for them or not, the draft weekend is not always the most important weekend of their lives. For most of these guys, it's just a starting point for them to see how far they still have to go. And guys like Mathew Sexton, former EMU receiver, just might have to wait a year after the draft before an NFL team finally signs them (in his case, the Steelers). 

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If you enjoy the podcast and want to help support, consider becoming a monthly donor through Patreon! For just $3/month, I'll credit all donors in all of the podcast notes, and I'll add Discord benefits once we reach a community of 30 people! --> https://www.patreon.com/alvaradoonmaction

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• Matthew Hammond

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EPISODE 2

With spring practices in our face, it's time to really look closer at how these Mid-American Conference teams have been built up over time, and what these groups might end up looking like once we get to playing games in a few months.

Toledo's quarterbacks are very talented, and it's a position group that, when it plays super well, can take this team from barely bowl-eligible to potentially 9 or 10 wins in a single season. Foundationally, Toledo should always be in the conversation for 9 or 10 wins in a season, but hasn't come close to that as of recent. It hasn't always been because of the fault of quarterbacks, but in other instances (2018, 2019) this is a position that probably should've performed better. 2020 could've been a fair year to not see much progression (new coach, pandemic year), but the Rockets actually saw improvement from the two QBs that saw the field most: Eli Peters and Carter Bradley. Both return and there are other talented bench guys that chose not to transfer out but rather stay and compete for Toledo's QB1 job, but will an incoming transfer freshman have something to say about that?

Bowling Green has struggled to be halfway decent ever since its three-year run at MAC Championship appearances in the middle of last decade. Now we're in year three of Scot Loeffler as the head coach to help clean up any excessive damage the Mike Jinks hire had to BG football, but news from the transfer portal hasn't helped him at all to this point. This offseason, 7 starters from last year have hit the portal, and only 22 guys still on the current roster are non-freshman eligible. A lot of freshmen will see the field in 2021, but why should we expect any superstars-in-the-making to stick around if we keep seeing the portal work out for all these other Falcons that want to leave?

SUPPORT THE PROGRAM VIA PATREON

If you enjoy the podcast and want to help support, consider becoming a monthly donor through Patreon! For just $3/month, I'll credit all donors in all of the podcast notes, and I'll add Discord benefits once we reach a community of 30 people! --> https://www.patreon.com/alvaradoonmaction

A SPECIAL THANK-YOU FOR DONATING TO THE SHOW

• Matthew Hammond

SOCIAL PLUGS

• Blog: https://medium.com/alvarado-on-maction

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Welcome to the first episode of Alvarado on MACtion! I've got a quick intro for this program (and myself by proxy), but I really want to just get into the main topic I have to start looking forward to the 2021 season, which is my current spring power rankings. 

My spring 2021 MAC football power rankings, which you're not allowed to be mad at:

1. Ball State

2. Western Michigan

3. Toledo

4. Buffalo

5. Miami

6. Central Michigan

7. Kent State

8. Ohio

9. Eastern Michigan

10. Northern Illinois

11. Akron

12. Bowling Green

Agree? Disagree? Let me know via Twitter or by email, would love to hear your thoughts on this preseason list. 

If you enjoy what you're listening to, consider becoming a monthly donor through Patreon! For just $3/month, I'll credit all donors in all of the podcast notes, and I'll add Discord benefits once we reach a community of 30 people! --> https://www.patreon.com/alvaradoonmaction

Contact, links:

• Blog: https://medium.com/alvarado-on-maction

Listen to Alvarado on MACtion:

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