Okay, squad, the Eastern Michigan / Batavia Colliders project has resulted in an explosion of new subscribers, as the channel is up to 55 loyal viewers. That’s funny because I was hoping to get 12 (the people in the league.)
WR Josh Hammond is back at Oklahoma for his senior season and the Eastern Michigan Eagles get to play with their first Immersion Owner Recruit: Ben Pershey. He was a three-star kicker and he earned the starter role as a freshman.
2015 Eastern Michigan Eagles
The Eastern Michigan Eagles opened the season with three-point wins over Alabama and Oklahoma and never looked back, finishing the year undefeated. They were held back in the polls, however, due to playing in the MAC, so they were ranked #3 heading into the MAC championship game behind #1 West Virginia and #2 TCU, both of whom did not have to play conference title games. When all was said and done, TCU was crowned national champions and the Eagles finished #2 in the polls for the second straight season.
Stats Leaders
Sophomore Robert Bonner was the unquestioned starter at quarterback, even though his overall rating was lower than Jared Tolbert. He has a stronger arm, and he did not disappoint, setting dynasty high-water marks for the Eastern Michigan Eagles in passing yards (3666) and touchdowns (36). He only threw 12 interceptions, good for a solid 3:1 touchdown to interception ratio.
4-star athlete Mike Hicks was given an opportunity to start at running back, but he struggled mightily and then missed a bunch of games with injuries. He was supplanted by Charles Griffin, who suffered injuries of his own. Eventually the job went to former two-star recruit Chris Barrett. Ultimately Griffin and Barrett had similar seasons, both rushing for 8 touchdowns. Charles Griffin ended up with 462 rushing yards and Chris Barrrett had 458. Mike Hicks had a disappointing 100 rushing yards on the year and might be a big time bust.
Nobody cracked 1,000 yards receiving this year, but Robert Bonner did spread the ball around. Justin Workman led the team in receptions and yards with 54 catches for 990 yards, but tight end Andre Dixon was right behind him, notching 52 catches for 981 yards. The Eagles also saw good contributions from wide receiver Patrick Miles (45-711-8) and sophomore Brett Andrews (31-682-8). The touchdown leader was once again Justin Workman, with 11.
Middle linebacker Sidney Smith was the tackle leader with 56. Senior Roger Dennis had an eye-popping 18 tackles for loss to lead the team, and defensive tackle Justin Parker set the new Eagles sack mark with 14.5. Free safety Joel Harrison led the squad with 8 interceptions. Defensive touchdowns were scored by SS Brandon Grier, ROLB Pat Robinson, FS Joel Harrison, CB Ron Harris, and CB Brad Baldwin. Baldwin hardly played at all in 2015, but took advantage of Senior Saturday to record a 65-yard pick-six.
Joel Harrison and Justin Parker were named First Team All-Americans and punter Justin Cole won the Ray Guy award.
Recruiting
The biggest splash Keron Day made was getting the number one wide receiver in Immersion Owner Jesse Garcia. Garcia had the Eagles 4th on his list until he visited and made an improbable and impulsive decision to sign with Eastern Michigan. It was totally unexpected but we’ll take it. Garcia is the teams first ever 5-star recruit.
Day was able to land a ton of 4-star recruits as well, and finished with the #8 recruiting class in the nation. The talent is getting so good in Ypsilanti that Keron Day had to cut two four-star athlete recruits: Jabari Church and Alfred Cook. Despite their pedigree, they didn’t offer any upside in the crowded running back and receiver rooms.
The Eagles added a bunch of other 4-star wide receiver recruits, and are looking to the future with 4-star quarterback Ernest Luke. Nearly all of the players will be redshirted, as the days of the 4-year starters seem to be coming to an end as the talent improves.
Speaking of 4-year starters, Left End Roger Dennis graduated, and will likely be replaced by 2-star JUCO player Keith Beach. Another big hole to fill was at punter, where Justin Cole graduated and will be the first Eastern Michigan Eagle to qualify for the NFL Draft. Keron Day replaced him with a 2-star punter named Joe Jones.
The only one-star recruit that Day brought in this year was cornerback Stanley Little, a JUCO player with excellent speed who will be redshirted and then might possibly serve as a depth piece if he makes the team.
Immersion Owners
Quarterback Adam Franssen threw for 3448 yards, tossing 34 touchdowns to just 5 interceptions. He added 7 rushing touchdowns and as a 99-overall declared early for the NFL Draft. He ended up being drafted first overall.
Wide receiver Josh Hammond completed his senior season at Oklahoma, and didn’t match the standard of his junior year, which likely cost him some draft capital. He had 48 receptions for 1,021 yards and 11 touchdowns. That was good enough for Second Team All Big-12. He ended up getting drafted in the third round.
Running back Jason Enright had a nearly carbon-copy sophomore season when compared to his freshman year. As a freshman he had 1182 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns. As a sophomore he had 1181 yards and 11 touchdowns. Enright was named to the Second Team Pac-12 for his efforts.
Kicker Ben Pershey converted 21 of 23 field goal attempts with a long of 60 yards. He was named a Second Team All-American, a Freshman All-American, and a First Team All-MAC player.
Offseason
The Eagles saw their first player go into the NFL draft in punter Justin Cole. As I mentioned before, TCU won the national championship. The Heisman trophy went to Virginia Tech quarterback Erik Dean. He threw for 47 touchdowns and also won the O’Brien. He was drafted in the 7th round by the Madtown Marauders, so perhaps we’ll follow his career in the pros, though the other Heisman winners haven’t done anything so far on the NFL level.
2015 Batavia Colliders
The Colliders were very “mid” as the kids say, to start the season. First they were 2-2. At the halfway point, they were 4-4. Their quarterback was trash. Eventually, though, they ripped off 6 wins in a row and ended up winning the division by defeating the Battery in Week 17. They wound up going 11-5. We simmed in the playoffs and they went 1-1, so no Super Bowl appearance this year.
Stats Leaders
Our “best” quarterback was still Ahmad Mark, who threw for 2,796 yards and had 17 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. That guy is never going to win us a Super Bowl. In two seasons he has 34 touchdowns and 34 interceptions. So obviously we drafted a quarterback (see more on that below.)
Running back Brian Harris managed to stay healthy for the whole season, and he led us in rushing yards with 990. That’s nothing to write home about, but he did have a knack for finding the end zone, giving us 14 rushing touchdowns.
Wide receiver Morgan Montoya finally cracked 1,000 yards and finished the year with a receiving stat line of 73-1227-5. He was named to his second straight Pro Bowl. Brandon McNair led the way in receiving touchdowns with 8.
On defense, two players topped out with 54 tackles: MLB Jaquese Price and FS Joey Johnson. Jaquese Price also shared the lead in the tackles for loss category with LE Carlos Rich. They both notched 13 of them. Defensive tackle Alexander Williams led the team with 9.5 sacks and went to his fourth straight Pro Bowl. CB Sintamuel Cheeseboro and FS Elisha Wright tied for the lead in interceptions with 5. The other starting corner, Demarcus Coleman, batted away an insane 18 passes. Coleman also scored a defensive touchdown, as did Jaquese Price. Elisha Wright had 2 defensive touchdowns.
Kicker Andy Gary joined Ben Pershey’s club, kicking a 60-yard field goal. He was named Kicker of the Year for the fourth year in a row.
The Draft
Getting Adam Franssen was priority number 1 for the Batavia Colliders management. When we scouted him we learned he was a 90-overall (and only 21 years old because he declared early!) Hence, we knew we’d have to somehow get to the first pick overall in order to take him.
It proved impossible to trade for the first pick. So instead, we had to trade two first rounders and the 97-overall rated Alexander Williams to the Primates for the second pick in the draft. That hurt. Then we had to trade the second pick and RE Jake Jones, who had progressed into the 90s, just to move up to the first pick. We basically dismantled the strength of our defense to focus on the quarterback.
The 2016 draft featured the first two Immersion Owners and the first player from Eastern Michigan.
Wide receiver Josh Hammond had C-potential, but we drafted him in the 3rd round anyway and then did a little hack to get his potential up to an A. He’s starting out as a 73-overall so I’m not sure if he’ll ever realize that potential.
Punter Justin Cole, of Eastern Michigan fame, was drafted at the end of the 7th round. He’s a 61-overall with F-potential so it looks like his career will be a one-and-done.
Thoughts on Year Five
This draft will hopefully be a turning point in the series. Eastern Michigan is seemingly on the cusp of a national championship, though we might still be a few years away from routinely sending players to the pros. I don’t think Justin Tolbert will make it, because he’s kind of a small QB rated 95-overall and there’s a ton of college QBs rated 99-overall. But perhaps if we can convince Robert Bonner to return for his senior season (when the time comes) he can make it. It’s hard to win a national championship from the MAC. After I win three of them I want to take over a different MAC team and see if Keron Day can turn them around as well.
The pro game has been much less fun than the college game. It should improve, though, as we’ve finally secured the quarterback. Adam Franssen and Josh Hammond have a long history of completed passes, starting in Adam’s backyard. It’s fitting that they should go to the pros together on the same team. I’m going to make sure all Immersion Owners have A-potential when they go to the pros and then let the cards fall where they may.
After five years we have zero national championships and zero Super Bowls, which is surprising to me, though I’m still having fun with it.
And it’s very funny to me that we have 55 subscribers to the YouTube channel. There are a bunch of random people who are interested in the exploits of Eastern Michigan and the Batavia Colliders!
© 2026, Josh Hammond. All rights reserved.
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