It's the middle of August and the shoulder pads are out at UB Stadium. That can only mean one thing. We are just a few weeks away from kicking off the Lance Leipold era here at Buffalo.

UB Athletic Director Danny White reached down into Division III after he fired Jeff Quinn. The unexpected selection, Lance Leipold, can't fit all his national championship rings on one hand but he has never recruited D-I as a head coach.

So White and Leipold's first move was to bring in Rob Ianello. UB fans might remember from his unsuccessful stint as Akron's head coach, but the thing about Ianello is that despite what happened at Akron he has built up a very good reputation as a recruiter.

Will it pay off?

Well so far the UB recruiting class, while small, is of substantial quality. According to our Bull Run recruiting hub seven of UB's eight recruits are rated three stars by one or more services. More importantly we seem to be winning more recruiting battles with other G5 and even some P5 schools this year.

On of the early battles was was heads-up against Ball State in their own backyard. The Bulls sent Alan Hensell who plucked Max Bortenschlager, one of Indiana's top 25 prospects, away from the Cards.

Last year as a junior, Bortenschlager passed for 2,270 yards and 21 touchdowns. The recruiting service 247 considers the Indianapolis native to be the nation’s No. 74 pro-style passer and recently ran a favorable piece on his future in the MAC. Last season he led Cathedral to the title last year. This year he will have to face stiffer competition because of an Indiana regulation which forces teams seeking consecutive state championships to bump up in class.

A big part of Hansell's pitch was the offense which is being installed in Buffalo. "The coaches and the overall offense excites me," said Max; "It's very similar to what we run on our high school team so I liked that a lot!"

He spent some time with the current UB quarterbacks this spring, even spending time sitting in on their meetings.

Buffalo was out ahead of things as Ianello and company had Max come visit during the winter. He liked Buffalo a lot and told Bull Run that he "connected well with the coaches".

After this season UB loses their number one and two quarterbacks, and the returning favorites will be a sophomore and senior. There is room in the future for Max to make an impact with the Bulls.