mat1992

The fact that Stover missed most of the spring is not a good thing and that Flacco is a more mature leader is what gives him the edge. And don't leave out Jeff Miller. None of this matters until they take the field and show their stuff. But my sources say Flacco has the early edge, but again, it's very early. When they get in pads is when we'll see the real competition. But Rob's words about Stover after spring practice pretty much said it all. The best quarterback could be Miler, who knows. Rob can't afford to go with the second-best. He has to go with the best to win the job. As for Flacco, he spent time with two FBS schools, not jucos or FCS. He may have a lot of untapped talent that hasn't been utilized. He could be Enders-lite or Enders-like, which is fine with me if we have a strong running game. He's a lot faster than Stover and while shorter, he's close to 210, so he's not small. BTW, Joe Flacco barely played at Pitt and was stuck behind the great Tyler Palko. I think he did okay at Delaware for his two years. Not saying Tom will have the same success, but just because these guys rarely played at FBS, doesn't mean they'll end up like Joe Brennan.

Miller

Yes more players are coming. Just don’t know how many

Yes he does, but it won't be another QB.

Welcome to the board as a first-time poster. I think Stover is QB3 unless they decide to redshirt Miller. He's more athletic than Miller but not as athletic as Flacco. I'm curious to see if they keep Rose at quarterback or more him to WR. He's a great athlete. Not as high on Stover after his "issues" in the spring. Had 13 picks in his first season. Sacked just 18 times behind an O-line that wasn't great but I thought they did a decent job pass blocking and not very decent job run blocking. I think with Miller in the fold he really has to up his game. But I'll hopefully see a very interesting QB competition next week. I think Flacco is the guy to start out. We'll see after the first few weeks. I do like the WRs. Don't forget Chris Greaves. He's another burner and has put on about 15lbs. Love Jabari Allen. Greenwood is solid. I do like Rutkowski but I don't know where he fits. You have Greenwood, Allen, Leatherbury as likely starters with Gallahan, B.Richardson, Dorsey/Greaves in the mix.Then Rutwowski, Staub, B. Allen, C. Smith, etc. The biggest addition literally and figuratively is Chris Clark. He's a beast with athletic ability. If he lives up to his potential at TE, nobody will be able to check him.

https://towsontigers.com/news/2018/8/4/football-energy-and-excitement-fuel-first-day-of-practice.aspx

I understand the reticence to having any faith in this program this year. However, let me say this. Ambrose has been backed into a corner and basically told, now or never. They can't get rid of any more coaches aside from his brother. They've done the housecleaning and all early reports are that it appears to have re-energized the team. Who knows what the means for the season but in terms of early recruiting, the changes have been good. Bring in a guy like Justin Harper, who was just in Ravens camp nine years ago. He's 33 now and even though he didn't have much of a career in the NFL, he knows what it takes to get there and it helps to be 6-3, 225. I'll just say this, the roster on the website is still not complete. Why am I excited about this team? I'll know more next week when I see them in pads. I can only say what I've heard and seen on paper. You can pick 4-7 or 0-11, it doesn't matter or make any sense with 80% of the team returning. If we are going to have a downgrade at quarterback after Stover, I get the pessimism. That's highly doubtful. Everybody says this he is the real deal but I have to see him first. Flacco might be a slightly shorter Enders. We shall see. Another 5-6 season? 4-7? 2-9? Of course that can happen if we lose those two QBs.

My point was we have eight players who didn't play last season who are 2, 3 or 4 stars. And that could change as well. But I get it, nobody cares. I'll see this team next week and to be honest, this is the most anticipated summer practice in years.

http://towsontigers.com/news/2018/7/29/mens-basketball-overseas-and-professional-update.aspx

http://towsontigers.com/news/2018/7/26/mens-basketball-morsell-signs-pro-contract.aspx

All comments from Rob Ambrose http://towsontigers.com/news/2018/7/24/football-fenner-and-kauffman-enjoy-imfactful-media-day-experience.aspx Ambrose on being picked 10th place It's always about how you finish but you need to start fast enough. Preseason is preaseason. It's kind of like pre-date. It's like you are dating somebody new. You have no idea how that date is going to go. I don't worry about it too much. But we don't have a player on the All-Conference team, we were picked 10th out of 12th and we were about .500. That's a large aspect of disrespect and that's fine. As a program, we've been in those shoes before and as a program we tend to respond quite well. On competition Is this a veteran team? No, it's an experienced team. We have tons of guys with experience in a couple of positions, it's going to be a brutal competition. With the new redshirt rules, that allows some of the young guys...usually if they think they aren't going to play early in camp, they shut it down. Basically practice is an All-Star game and everybody is involved. On redshirt rules (true freshmen can play four games) If you are good enough and I know you're going to get hurt, I'm not going to do it. But if you are good enough and not going to get hurt, you'll have a chance to play. This is the first year, I'm not giving the blueprint for this so we can discuss it later. I like what that brings in terms of number of guys that bring and makes practice more interesting. On quarterback It's been hard. The competition is going to be good. The goal is to give the keys to somebody and let them run with it. Tommy (Flacco) has played in games and has had success but hasn't worked within the system. Stover has proven that he can play and has had some success in this league. This will be probably the most interesting summer quarterback race since Grant (Enders) and Peter (Athens). On each QB Flacco brings experience and speed. Not his speed but the understanding on 1-A (FBS) game-speed, which is different. He was a baseball prospect. He's an athlete. He can throw and run. He brings maturity and experience, savyness with athleticism. I've seen him run and he's fast. He can also throw it. Rose is an experienced kid and juco. Can do both (run and pass). Haven't seen much of him on video. We'll see. He can play quarterback and if not, he can play about five other positions. (On Miller). I haven't had a quarterback his height since Dan Orlovsky. Jeff is bigger and he's technically more sound. He's a 4.0 type of student. He's a little bit of a throwback. He took a special needs kid to the prom, not for publicity, because that's who he is. We're lucky that we're going to have a guy representing our program that way. On now and coming out of the spring on the QBs? Oh God yes, not only do I feel better about it than coming out of the spring but I feel better about it for the next couple of years. With Morgan (Mahalak) not finishing last year and not coming back, it put a huge curveball into what we were doing at that position in terms of roster management. I thought the kids and staff did a solid job in-season adjusting but we had to re-set a plan at that position. I think we're going to be already. On Offensive line Garnett goes to left tackle. All those guys on the inside played a lot and in the second half of the season. Those five guys played together. Now at least four have played. They are all experienced and older. There is still some competition at left guard and center. (Player to be named later on the interior). On running backs Shane is healthy and Kobe is experienced. Jaelan Thompson had a good offseason and has a chance to play. Platt had experience. Thompson has to gain confidence and understanding. He's a smart kid and is great at certain concepts. On fullbacks Two true freshmen and Bryce Perkins moved to fullback. That was an experiment that turned out very well. Luke Hamilton and Fox. Luke played a Fort Hill and he's really good at hitting things. On tight ends Joe Green, Zach Herron. Zach was supposed to be the starter and got hurt right before the season. Joe has gotten better and will be the fifth-year senior. Add so much in terms of special teams. He might be our best teammate. Ellis Knudson can do some stuff at H-Back. We've added some players to that position as well (can't mention Clark, the Pitt/UCLA transfer). On WR corps We knew we were going to have to throw it, especially with Morgan. In the early part of the season, we did not get the best out of the wide receiver position with Ryan struggling. Give the kids and the staff a lot of credit, the second half of the season was an entirely different story. There's a lot of returners and competition and expectations. Chris Greaves He was one of the few true freshmen that had a chance to be in the mix. He had a bad hamstring right at the end of camp. That changed what he could do the rest of the year. He had a great offseason and his expectations are pretty high. He's one of the kids that people would say, you go him? How did you do that? On additions to the staff At some point of time, we only had so few people that were on the road due to the changes. Those guys did an exceptional job with the recruiting class. Matt Applebaum is the new offensive line coach. He played for more at Connecticut. Justin Harper is coaching wideouts, a former Ravens player. Has really done a great job. Tyree Foreman is coaching the fullbacks and tight ends. Local Maryland guy has done well. We lost D.J. but Scott Lakatos has replaced him. He's coaching the secondary at the FBS level for a long time. Was at Georgia and Rutgers, UConn. Colin Bauer is a Middletown boy that was at The Citadel, Rutgers. Is a Towson grad. Recruiting-wise that has paid off. We have more commits from big guys at this time than we ever have since I've been here. If the team that was in the locker room in 2009 that saw these guys that we committed next year, they'd be worried about the size of these guys. Constantly trying to move the needle. I think we've done a really good job in the offseason. On new enthusiasm from changes It kind of has. You put good guys together and they do good things for good people. Losing (strength coach) Jeremy (Pick) and John Donatelli was two of the hardest personal losses ever. I love both of these men. They are great leaders. Great coaches. Great men. This is a crazy business. It's not for normal people. We've been lucky to have some continuity. Those things do happen. Change brings change. There's been a different energy. It has been the most enjoyable offseason since 2011. On nutrition That has been harped on for a couple of years and the kids have finally started listening. It's not about gaining or losing weight. It's about being at the right weight. Put the right gas in your car to run as efficiently as possible. Guys that are 320 are now 305, and are running more efficiently. On D-Line Losing Zain Harps-Upshur was tough. Getting him back will help. His presence physically, his voice makes our team better. He's the guy that everybody listens to and he doesn't say much. When he does, everybody listens. I listen. He's earned it. Garrett was brought here to be in the mix. Tibo is the top three most versatile players on the team. He can play at least three positions and on offense. He's really smart. He gets an A in English and that's his third language. He's multi-lingual. Bryce, Malik, Nicquo. We can finally put the guys at their regular spot. There's competition. They are all going to play. On linebacker It's the most experienced spot. I told them at the end of the season, that this was their year. All three should be all-league players (Paye, Heyward, Wallace). They need more consistency. They understand it now. They had a tremendous offseason. Nygill Johnson has put on 15-20 pounds. He's a high-brain guy. Parker has had a very good summer. He's hungry. We're going to have a chance to be pretty good. We just need to stay healthy. In this league, it's whoever stay healthy. On secondary Troy Vincent has been around but hasn't been on the field. He has a chance to play at boundary corner or safety. J. Love had a terffic spring. Tippett showed he can make plays. Every single guy that we brought in in recruiting, was brought in to compete for playing time, not to sit (in secondary). We got smart guys, who can make the transition from high school to college immediately. Brandon Shuman (Purdue transfer) has played and will compete for starting job. Terrell Gillette had a great juco career and is from Philadelphia. We went from having questions on the back end to having talented depth. We just need to put the right guys at the right spot. The old guys are doing a great job of leading and leaving a legacy (like Monty Fenner). There's so much ridiculous, intelligent talent back there. Mitchell Boals (bad shoulder last year) looks as good as we've seen since we got him. He's saying he's not coming out this year. I like these guys. On how to get to the playoffs The last 2 1/2 years, we can't be hurt. We can get beat up here and there, but can't just lose eight guys that are starters to season-ending injuries when six of the dudes score all the touchdowns. We have to stay healthy. We have to secure who we are up front defensively in the run game. We have to develop a better run game and protect the damn football. You take Ryan's seven turnvovers in seven plays between Richmond and Villanova and it's an entirely different season just because of that. Turnovers, especially at the quarterback position, and securing that front on both sides of the ball is key. The talent is there. This group, their team chemistry, is as good as I've seen it in five years. It's not about the injuries, it's how we responded. We almost beat Elon and beat Delaware, two ranked teams.

Wright did not have a very good spring but he's definitely in the mix.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/football/bs-sp-football-towson-20180724-story.html

http://caasports.com/news/2018/7/20/james-madison-favored-to-win-fourth-straight-caa-football-title-in-2018.aspx

https://www.hudl.com/video/3/6354607/59f4b4c2e984a20e20a30fd5 https://www.hudl.com/profile/6354607/Brock-Irvin

I don't get too many chances to take some time off and watch a little hoops in the afternoon. The men's hoops team is using the summer workouts to work on mainly skills along with strength and conditioning. So before I get to some quotes from Pat Skerry, let's talk a little about the roster, which is mostly new. I can only go but what I've seen for two hours on a Wednesday, where they did mostly skill work. *Dennis Tunstall. Up to 230 but coming off surgery so he did some drills but not really any 5x5 or shooting drills. He's one of those guys who can't keep the weight on so they'd like to see him play in the 220s, which would be about 10-15 pounds more than they he played at last season. He can't play center at under 210 or even under 220. That's basically what he is because his offensive game is pretty raw. *Al Thomas. Up to 270 with a little more agility. His shot looked good. That flat jumper where he shoots from his tip-toes. I've seen it before. His aggression doesn't generally translate to games but we don't necessarily need him to be very good for 20 minutes. More like 15. That could help. That's because... *Nakye Sanders is eligible. Not saying he's JB or Moto but he'll help. He has a strange release over his head but it does go in. Seemed to be very hard on himself so he expects a lot which is good. I think expectations will be 10 and 8 but it's way too early to tell. He's much, much more mobile than Al and I can see him score in a variety of ways on the block. He's 6-8, 235 so he's big enough to play the 5 and defend it. *Jordan McNeill is also coming off an injury. His shot looked good but for him to start at the 2 or the 3, he has to be more consistent. He can score in transition but he's more of a shoot-and-catch guy in the halfcourt. Everybody knows that he has to be set up. That could happen with the improvement at the point. *Quentin Drayton looks good in terms of changing his body. He's a lot bigger that 6-4, 205 but still not sure if there is enough game to be in the rotation. Maybe I'm wrong but they have McNeill and Brian Fobbs ahead of him at the 3. I don't think he handles it well enough for the 2. His shot is pretty good but needs more motor. But again, I have to see more 5x5 to really judge guys like him. Now the real newcomers. *Love Fobbs. I know he has some work to do but at 6-4, 215 and is pretty long and athletic, he's what we need at the 3. He can score, he's a lefty, and is physical. Good shooter from deep. Like most jucos, just needs to refine things but he'll be in the rotation at the worst. They didn't get him for 2 years to sit. *Nick Timberlake. This kid has talent but I think at times he looks tentative and other times very explosive. For him to start, he has to be more consistent as a shooter. He's not as good as Fobbs or one of our point guards as a pure shooter. He might be the best athlete on the team. Again, I want to see him 5x5 in transition. *Allen Betrand is a defender and solid offensive player. Didn't get a real good read on his offensive game. He's not a consistent enough shooter to start but his defense and length will get him time. Another good athlete. Very good. I think he and Timberlake will be very good in a year or so. Not sure how good they will be this season. *T.J. Howard. I have to see him run the team more. It's early. But man he can flat out shoot it. He's pretty strong and quick. But that release is so soft. He was hitting the top of the key threes like they were layups. No knock on Brian Starr but there's really no comparison as a shooter. Now overall as a point guard? Not sure yet. *Jakigh Dottin. Built like a truck. Has lost weight at 6-2, 205. Seems to be in control but not the shooter that Howard is. Not really close. But he has personality to run the team. I can see him play a little with Howard off the ball. *Yagi Selcuk. Love this kid's game. We've never really had a four-man who has this type of game in a long time. Can face and shoot. Can drive and feed. Can drive and lay it in. Great instincts for the game. Can he defend? Adjust to speed of the game? Too early to tell but what a feel for the game. *Solomon U. is about 6-7, 230 and pretty raw. Super athletic. Strong. Can shoot it some. Can he defend? Rebound? Seems to like contact. His upside is pretty incredible for a mid-major big. But again, not sure if it's this year or next year. Here are the comments from after the workout Skerry on last year We're at the point where 18 wins is certainly not a bad season. We expected to be bettter. I think we've had a terrific offseason so far. We're on Week 6 and we haven't had anybody late so now I told them don't be that guy. This group has a chance for a real good sense of humility. Better communication. Lot of work to do. I like some of the intangibles. You have to have talent and intangibles to get where we want to get to and we've been there at times. We just want to focus on the group that is here. I'm excited about the group that is here. On 10-game winning streak Our expectations were high but to win there are things you need to do, day-in, day-out. If you don't do that, then close losses have a way of hurting you. You reap what you sow. That's something that hurt us. Last year, was the best we ever shot the 3. We were 151st in the country. I'd like to continue to make strides in that area. Where we were really disappointing in the second part of the season was our defense. We ended up 105th in the country in free throw attempts, which isn't bad but in the years before that we were 12th, 4th and 7th. So the type of team I like has that toughness to get to the foul line. To drop that much, showed that we lacked toughness at times to get to the line, to get stops. To be good, I think it always starts with those type of things. On recruiting We had a scholarship late and we took two junior college players. We knew we needed a point guard (TJ Howard) and we got a good scorer and shooter in Brian Fobbs, who has to learn some things. But he has the body and tools. Late, we were also able to get a transfer (J.Adams), who was important to us. We were able to get a guy we really wanted in Nick Timberlake, who has a chance to be a very good player. We had a frontcourt opening and we're excited about Yagi Selcuk. He's different type of a player. We've hadn't had a big guy who is that comfortable passing and shooting facing the basket since Jerrel (Benimon). Not comparing the two of course. Depth, minutes. Too early to tell. I like having a deeper roster. Our roster for various reasons got thin last year. That probably took a toll on us, especially defensively. We have to rectify that. On new players Nakye Sanders has a chance to be really good. He moves as well as an frontcourt player that we've had and is athletic and aggressive. He's 6-8, 235, and a terrific rebounder and motor. His skill development is really good. He has to stay out of foul trouble. He has pretty good intangibles. Last year, he rated the highest in the program last year in our psychological testing from his peers. Quentin Drayton has worked hard and has gotten better. They key for Q to have success is to defend, rebound and shoot open shots. If turns it over, then we're not going to have the success he wants. He's gotten stronger and better. On new backcourt I'm excited about our two new point guards. T.J. Howard is stronger and more athletic than we thought. He has an incredibly soft shot. He's dymanic with the ball. He has really good talent. He can play off ball screens. Jakigh (Dottin) and him can play together. Jakigh is an absolute quarterback. The best thing is that he's vocal and plays incredibly hard. He'll take care of it and do what he's supposed to do. Has a charismatic personality. Those two are having really good summers. Jakigh is 6-2, 210. He can guard bigger guys (so Howard can play off the ball). On wings We have five wings. Jordan (McNeill) is back. He was available to play two weeks ago (after surgery). He's not going to have to play the point but can he be the guy that can make open shots for us, have a vocal presence, has to have a measure of toughness as a fifth-year guy. He also has to defend and not turn it over. Make shots. Brian Fobbs is a physical specimen, at 6-4, 215. A lefty who can score, shoot. He's really athletic. He has to take care of the ball. He has a motor. He's a gym rat and loves playing. I'm excited about what his upside is. Nick Timberlake has a very good upside. Probably more of a combo guard with size at 6-4. He has to learn terminology and adjust as a freshman. He's a big-time athlete. He's going to get better and better shooting it. He's tough and he can really pass the basketball. Allen Betrand is going to be good. He's used to winnining. He's won state titles. He has the size and length that reminds you of guuys at VCU and Old Dominion back in the day. Long and rangy. He's gotten a lot better as a ballhandler. While they're young, they've won a lot. Jakigh has won a couple of state titles along with Allen. Nick is an older guy from prep school. I like the pieces but I know we have to get better in the offseason. Those 5-6 weeks are key. Up front We have three veterans. Nakye has experience. Al Thomas and Dennis Tunstall are our two best defensive players. Dennis is up to 230 and if we can keep him in the 220s, he's going to have a big year for us. He's like a mid-level Clint Capela-type. Al is playing really well right now. He's having a good summer. He's a tank and is playing with more confidence. We think he could have a big year. It's in him. We have two freshmen that don't look like freshmen. Yagi is different at 6-7, 240 and skilled with a good feel. Solomon is going to be a good player. He has a high motor and is a great athlete. Is tough. His adjustment is to take care of the ball, playing good defense and playing to your strength as youg game continues to grow and get better. They are also off-the-charts students and off-the-charts work ethics. This group has workers. They are good with all the intangibles. We have historically had teams that have gotten better throughout the season-last year we didn't. We need to improve individually and collectively. On schedule I'm excited that we have a true travel partner with the league (JMU) but don't like starting on the road again. That seems to be a given for the middle schools. Our non-conference schedule should be good for us. We have tough neutral games, tough road and home. I tried to get as many good teams as we possibly could. Scheduling is hard to get people to play home-and-homes with us. We've always tried to play good schedules. We have to continue to get better. We have to control how good we are or not good. This should be a group where people from the outside are going to say we're young, but we don't buy into any of that. We have competitive guys that are working hard. We'll be deep. They have a good sense of humility. I'm excited about the group. They have rejuvenated me a lot. We have a long way to go. I can't harp on it enough about the work ethic, humility, the intangibles. If we're going to be good, that's where we have to be good. Keys We'll figure that out in terms of roles. Last year, we stopped guarding. Our league was outstanding defensively so that creates some challenges. The one team in the league that was committed defensively was Northeastern. They weren't picked high and I give them all the credit in the world. For us to get to where we need to get to, that's where it starts. With that said, we don't put in our defense in during the summer. We spend a lot of time on strength and conditioning. I want to move better. I want to spend a ton of time on skill work-shooting, passing, ballhandling. Our ability to talk. That's something that hurt us. If you can't be a good talking team, it's tough. On moving the tournament to D.C. I think it's great. We're going to push like heck to play a regular season game or two there next season.

TU

Rose, Flacco, Miller and Stover

Might want to wait on those predictions.

http://www.hudl.com/profile/6172892/Marcellus-Gaines

http://www.hudl.com/profile/9889353/Khalil-Gary/about https://247sports.com/player/khalil-gary-46054780