IMG is adding post-grad football team

[BMF]

This is interesting, could go in the recruiting thread. We're now 0 for 10 years in not landing an IMG kid, but this could be better than adding a JUCO (they'd have 4 years of eligibility remaining):

The IMG Academy Football program has announced the addition of a Post-graduate football team

IMG Academy Football Program | IMGAcademy.com

POST-GRADUATE TEAM
Post-graduate student-athletes will compete in a dedicated PG schedule against a minimum of 6 teams during the Fall of 2020. This team will practice with the National Team year-round while also having unrivaled exposure to visiting collegiate programs. Post-graduate student-athletes will not jeopardize their eligibility by enrolling in the program, and they will have the opportunity to develop both on the field and personally prior to committing to the college of their choice.

Here is their release:

The IMG Academy Football program has announced the addition of a Post-graduate football team, with former NFL offensive lineman and Super Bowl champion George Hegamin serving as head coach. The Post-grad team will play a six-game schedule this fall.

Fall schedule for IMG Academy Post-graduate Team:

· vs. North Palm Beach Prep (Fla.), Aug. 29
· vs. Lamar Sports Academy (Texas), Sept. 26
· vs. FOD Sports Academy (Fla.), Oct. 24
· vs. FC Tech (Fla.), Oct. 31
· vs. RPA College Prep (Texas), Nov. 13
· vs. Myrtle Beach Prep (S.C.), Nov. 21
* - Kickoff times, TBA

Hegamin will continue to serve as offensive line coach of the IMG Academy National Team, led by first-year Head Coach Bobby Acosta. The Ascenders are coming off a 9-1 season and a fifth-straight national top-10 finish in the MaxPreps Xcellent25 poll. Earlier this month, IMG Academy led all high schools with four NFL Draft selections, tying an all time-record for players selected from the same high school, with Michigan offensive lineman Cesar Ruiz (class of 2017) becoming the first first-round pick in program history when he was selected 24th overall by the New Orleans Saints. Since 2018, IMG has seen seven alumni selected in the Draft, the most of any high school during that span.

 

[QueenCityGator]

Never been a fan of these types of universities (Keiser, Kaplan, Carlos Ibizu, etc). Maybe a few of them are legit, but most are deceptive schools who will hire and accept anyone with a pulse.
As it relates to academics, would UF even accept the credits from these universities? As it relates to football, I suppose any post-high school competition is better than none, and a program like IMG could weed out the real players from the pretenders.

 

[BMF]

Never been a fan of these types of universities (Keiser, Kaplan, Carlos Ibizu, etc). Maybe a few of them are legit, but most are deceptive schools who will hire and accept anyone with a pulse.
As it relates to academics, would UF even accept the credits from these universities? As it relates to football, I suppose any post-high school competition is better than none, and a program like IMG could weed out the real players from the pretenders.

I think post-grad HS is different - and Keiser, Kaplan, etc are 'for-profit' colleges/universities, so this is different. IMG is a high school/academy. There are a lot of 'post-grad HS' programs up north. One of the more popular/powerhouses is Fork Union. They've been putting out kids for years.

 

[TheDouglas78]

it will be interesting how this helps or hurts us. The fact we have gone a decade without one of their players while they reside in the state we are the flagship for is kind of embarrassing.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

mehhhh..... their talent level is slipping off anyway. we could have taken either of the defensive ends last year and didn't want them, a decision with which I agree.

this looks more like a desperate attempt to remain slightly relevant.

 

[BMF]

mehhhh..... their talent level is slipping off anyway. we could have taken either of the defensive ends last year and didn't want them, a decision with which I agree.

this looks more like a desperate attempt to remain slightly relevant.

This is an option for coaches to "place" a player vs. a JUCO. If they go to prep school they can play right away and don't lose eligibility.

Kyree Campbell went to Wyoming Prep school in PA before coming to UF. He originally signed with UNC out of HS.

 

[CU-UF]

Very few if any of those IMG kids are from Florida. Most of them are from across the country. While it would be nice to get a few I would be more concerned about our success in South Florida recruiting

 

[EyeDocGator]

Never been a fan of these types of universities (Keiser, Kaplan, Carlos Ibizu, etc). Maybe a few of them are legit, but most are deceptive schools who will hire and accept anyone with a pulse.
As it relates to academics, would UF even accept the credits from these universities?

These are not legitimate colleges. If the government stopped giving out loans to students (the majority of which will put students into debt from which they cannot escape) these schools would stop existing.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Very few if any of those IMG kids are from Florida.

Actually about 80% are from Florida.

That was the tired ass Butters Lovers excuse for why he couldn't land any top recruits from Fla.

ile it would be nice to get a few I would be more concerned about our success in South Florida recruiting

Again, directly from the mouth of Butters. maybe we should send Randy Shannon and those two garbage FIU and FAU assistants (I have successfully wiped those losers from my memory, Kerry something) we hired to dumpster dive for some more Miami area Sunbelt talent.




Edit: Kerry Dixon, Corey Bell, Tim Skipper

remember when we were pretending that garbage was a good we're good recruiters because they were on Twitter and black?


Good times. Not much different than today with our "Linebacker" coach and so-called recruiting guru who doesn't seem to ever land any linebackers.

 

[SeabeeGator]

Actually about 80% are from Florida.

That was the tired ass Butters Lovers excuse for why he couldn't land any top recruits from Fla.

Again, directly from the mouth of Butters. maybe we should send Randy Shannon and those two garbage FIU and FAU assistants (I have successfully wiped those losers from my memory, Kerry something) we hired to dumpster dive for some more Miami area Sunbelt talent.




Edit: Kerry Dixon, Corey Bell, Tim Skipper

remember when we were pretending that garbage was a good we're good recruiters because they were on Twitter and black?


Good times. Not much different than today with our "Linebacker" coach and so-called recruiting guru who doesn't seem to ever land any linebackers.

Aren’t most of the coveted recruits from outside the state tho? I’m shooting from the hip but I thought their top end guys were generally out of staters. Also, thought the butters apologists used the Chris Winke excuse?

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Aren’t most of the coveted recruits from outside the state tho?

maybe half and half on that, back in the day.

lately they haven't had much at all as far as top guys.

IMG doesnt bother me at all now.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

latham is from Wisconsin

Adele is from Texas.

Crippen is from Mass.

Carroll is from Ga.

Higher than 50% this year obviously. it seems like the old Catholic powerhouses in Florida have reasserted themselves though with the local kids.

the days of IMG having half the top 25 in Florida are long gone.

 

[SeabeeGator]

latham is from Wisconsin

Adele is from Texas.

Crippen is from Mass.

Carroll is from Ga.

Higher than 50% this year obviously. it seems like the old Catholic powerhouses in Florida have reasserted themselves though with the local kids.

I thought it was like that most of the time with a few oddball Florida heavy years. But still... the biggest excuse I saw bandied about was their HC Winke. Obviously doesn’t apply now but that was at least plausible.

 

[BMF]

I thought it was like that most of the time with a few oddball Florida heavy years. But still... the biggest excuse I saw bandied about was their HC Winke. Obviously doesn’t apply now but that was at least plausible.

Weinke's was the coach there from 2010-2014, so that excuse is worn out. We did sign Chris Bleich who played there as a HS junior. But other than that we haven't even sniffed a kid from that school. I guess if we wanted Josh Griffis we could have gotten him.

I know our luck sucks at IMG, but prep schools are another avenue for recruiting (and one of our starters is a prep school prospect). I'd like to know who/what the 3 FL schools are that are on IMG's schedule; FOD Sports Academy? I think FL Tech is the Division 2 school in Melbourne, maybe their JV team? And North Palm Beach Prep? I'm curious of the FOD and Palm Beach schools are post-grad. Like I said earlier, Fork Union has put out some great talent over the years (as a post-grad), and those kids come in a true freshman vs. a JUCO who comes in as a junior.

Carlos Hyde, Cardale Jones, Christian Hackenberg, Michael Thomas, Kareem Jackson (Alabama player, 1st round NFL draft pick), Anthony Costanzo (Indy, 1st round draft pick)...and several others are all Fork Union alums.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I thought it was like that most of the time with a few oddball Florida heavy years. But still... the biggest excuse I saw bandied about was their HC Winke. Obviously doesn’t apply now but that was at least plausible.

I did the whole thing a few years back, during Butters, but I just don't care enough to find the thread or do the research again.

it was about 50-50 then and the vast majority of the rest of the roster Florida kids.

it was one of the favorite excuses for the we love butters even though he can't recruit crowd.

 

[SeabeeGator]

I did the whole thing a few years back, during Butters, but I just don't care enough to find the thread or do the research again.

it was about 50-50 then and the vast majority of the rest of the roster Florida kids.

it was one of the favorite excuses for the we love butters even though he can't recruit crowd.

I’ll take your word for it.

I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t excited after that ole miss game but something always felt off. Came across too hokey at all times.

 

[BMF]

I’ll take your word for it.

I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t excited after that ole miss game but something always felt off. Came across too hokey at all times.

The FAU game in season 1 was it for me on Butters. The UF's of the world don't go to overtime vs. the 3-8 FAU's of the world. If it was a 9-1 FAU it still would have been inexcusable...but since it was a 3-8 FAU, I knew immediately he was a bust (and there were plenty of issues leading up to that point, but that was the biggest red flag in his short tenure).

 

[Swamp Donkey]

I’ll take your word for it.

I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t excited after that ole miss game but something always felt off. Came across too hokey at all times.

For the briefest of moments I hoped we had turned a corner and I was hopeful I had been severely wrong about the original Swamp Donjey.

Once the Grier thing happened and it was leaked that Grier was freelancing in the first half vs Ole Miss, it all made sense.

 

[SeabeeGator]

For the briefest of moments I hoped we had turned a corner and I was hopeful I had been severely wrong about the original Swamp Donjey.

Once the Grier thing happened and it was leaked that Grier was freelancing in the first half vs Ole Miss, it all made sense.

The Grier thing lost me as well. Everything Mac did seemed disjointed. I guess Grier freelancing covered for that those first 6 games but then we were treated to epic QB play by guys like LDR...

 

[Swamp Donkey]

The Grier thing lost me as well. Everything Mac did seemed disjointed. I guess Grier freelancing covered for that those first 6 games but then we were treated to epic QB play by guys like LDR...

It says something when a 19 yo kid, likely with substance issues, can call a game on the fly (or at least call certain plays/audibles) in the huddle for the first half and drastically outperform you millionaire douchebag HC and OC.