I'm a Panther fan, so I'll go ahead and comment on a few things.
1.) Pedescleaux committed to UNI (never signed), went to Minnesota to play football, greyshirted his first year at Minnesota (which I'm not 100% sure on what that totally means), and then transferred to UNI after that year. He has played two full years of football, and is a fantastic defensive end. He wasn't eligible last year for basketball, b/c of the D1 to D1 transfer rule (whereas in football, 1-A to 1-AA transfers are eligible right away). This past year, he joined the bb team after football season, and just isn't the same player he was in HS. He is 290lbs, and doesn't have the explosiveness (jumping) that he used to have. He's a great practice player, but with Eglseder, Koch, and Coleman, he isn't going to ever get minutes, unless there are some big injuries.
2.) Pedescleaux's scholy was left open in the fall signing period, which then went to Polakovic in the spring. Vince was a fantastic offensive threat, but couldn't play defense. He was pretty much a risk/reward type player. UNI at that time really didn't need a big man, but definitely could use some spot minutes. UNI had Coleman, Stout, Santos, and Godfread. He ended up filling it up in the exhibition games, but couldn't play defense, and thus didn't see the floor. In the MVC, he just wasn't going to play if he couldn't play defense. He wasn't going to play in the future, so he left. His scholarship went to Jermain Raffington (also from Germany). Jermain was one of the top 5 German players. He had solid grades, but ended up being like 5 points shy on his SAT (or like 0.1 GPA points on the sliding scale), from being eligible. He ended up going to Southeastern CC in Iowa, and has since signed to play at Butler. He would have helped right away.
3.) Raffington's scholarship maybe went to Dylan Grimsley, I believe (I'm not 100% sure). Dylan either walked on (& RS) his freshman year at UNI, or got a scholy. If it was the walkon/RS and then get a scholy, then that was something that is common at UNI (Schneiderman, Josten, Pete Schmit, and currently Drew Lundberg). Dylan had health problems, and decided to sit out the following year and not play basketball and not even practice at UNI (thus not using any eligibility or scholarship), and then transferred to South Dakota to play ball. Dylan's scholarship then went to Michael Williams (Juco PG). Michael signed in the spring when the scholy opened up. He left after one year when he realized that he wasn't going to play over Brooks McKowen, and UNI had Kwadzo Ahelgbe coming in). Michael's open scholarship then went to Stephen Jones. Jones played some great minutes early on. Played well, but as the season went on, his minutes became less and less. He played an average of 18 minutes against Washington, Pepperdine, and Nicholls State to start the season.
4.) Last year, Atila Santos transferred from UNI (after 1 RS, and 2 eligible years). UNI signed 4 guys in the fall in 2005 (Eglseder, Koch, Dunham, Ahelgbe). UNI had one more scholy to give (when Mason Stewart left), and that ended up going to Carlton Reed (former Mr. Basketball in Iowa, and former Iowa Hawkeye). Carlton will be an upgrade in athleticism for UNI. He is expected to compete for a starting job, if not win it out next season. With Atila's departure, it was banked, and not used this past year, with the hopes of signing a post player for the 2007 class. That ended up going to Lucas O'Rear, who UNI expects to play contributing minutes next year, alongside Coleman/Koch/Eglseder.
5.) So, that leaves one scholarship available right now (Stephen Jones' scholy). That will probably go to a wing. Someone who can upgrade our athleticism. Jones probably wasn't going to play alot (double digit minutes) next season. Adding some more athleticism is something UNI needs in it's backcourt. These two spring scholys are going to improve that.
6.) As for Dunham...he's going to be good. Most times, when a player redshirts, it's b/c he isn't good enough. That wasn't the case with Kerwin. Kerwin just wasn't strong enough. He was talented, but needed added strength. His feel to his game is similar to that of Benny J (not saying he's the second coming, just saying his feel is similar, as well as his skill set...having those and playing like Benny J is different...but it's a good start). He will challenge for minutes at the wing guard/small forward position. He's something we at UNI have never had. He's a taller '3' at 6'6", who can knock down the 3, post up a smaller defender, and take a screen and hit the pull up jumper.
7.) Josh Molstead is a walk-on. He probably shouldn't have been used as an example. He redshirted this year. He's 5'7" maybe, so don't really expect him to play much...ever.
8.) So, as you can see from the above. The 13th scholarship has been an issue of keeping continuity. Only Mason Stewart and Atila Santos leaving has really affected the team, but with Mason, UNI brought in Carlton Reed (a bigger upgrade), and with Atila, UNI is bringing in Lucas O'Rear. Let's be honest, how many teams really play 13 guys? How many play more than 10? How many play more than 9 on a regular basis (10 minutes+)? If you have 2 redshirts per year, that leaves 1-2 who don't play much. It's not really that much of a concern. UNI hasn't necessarily had a deep bench, b/c their talent at the starting 5-6 was so much better than after that. That is no longer the case, and UNI had 8 guys average 10+ minutes, while 2 others averaged 7.5 MPG and 8 MPG respectively.
Turnover in college athletics is common. Lots of teams have guys who transfer at the end of the year. UNI has had 1 scholy leave at the end of the season since McD got to UNI, I believe. Most schools do. UNI has only had more than one transfer leave per year only once that I can think of(Atila/Stewart/Williams last year after Mac left), while others who didn't make it to campus (Raffington, Anthony Davis), only Raffington's scholarship wasn't used that year. The other was possibly a walk on (Grimsley). If Grimsley was a scholy player, his went to Adam Koch, who is going to be a fantastic player at UNI.
I hope this helps clear up some of the discussion about UNI recruiting. It has been those 12/13 scholarship guys who have left, and usually #13...so it hasn't been a major impact on the team. Thanks for the discussion...it's been fun!
