Brian's Blog: Football Update

It's time for the latest edition of Brian's Blog here on Rocket Digest. It is hard to believe that preseason camp for football is just around the corner. This edition of the blog talks about Toledo's commitments in the 2010 football class, preseason camp starting in August, and how Head Coach Tim Beckman is using Twitter and Facebook to the program's advantage.

Wow, are we really just 2 1/2 weeks away from the start of preseason football camp at Toledo? This summer has been flying by.

Players report for preseason camp on Wednesday, August 5th. The first practice will be that Thursday. Fall classes begin August 24th, and the Rockets open the 2009 football season at Purdue on Saturday, September 5th. The game will be aired live on the Big Ten Network at Noon. Then just six days later Toledo hosts their home opener against Colorado. A nationally televised game on ESPN, kickoff is set for 9pm, Friday.

In the meantime, the 2010 football recruiting class is off to a great start with five commitments. OL Josh Hendershot, OL Taylor Miller, OL Jeff Myers, DB Keith Suggs, and LB Dawalyn Harper have all given verbal commitments to Rocket Head Coach Tim Beckman.

Harper is the latest commitment. The 6-0, 206 pound linebacker also plays quarterback in high school, but Toledo has been recruiting him strictly as an athletic linebacker. He runs a 4.59 forty yard dash.

Head Coach Tim Beckman's facebook page is up to 1,072 fans at the time this story went to publish. His twitter page has 494 followers, and his website should be completed with full content in the next couple of weeks. Until then, you can check out the promo video on the site.... www.coachbeckman.com

In the past couple of weeks, ESPN has run stories on college football coaches using twitter and facebook as a tool to help excite the fanbase and to help with recruiting. Coach Beckman was featured in one of those stories, with quotes from him, and mentioned in a couple of the other stories. There is no doubt that Coach Beckman is doing everything he can to promote the football program and bring interest to the University, and even ESPN is taking notice.