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Blue Hens announce ’07 football recruiting class
9:14 a.m., Feb. 8, 2007--The University of Delaware has announced its 2007 football recruiting class, with high school standouts signing NCAA National Letters of Intent to compete for the Fightin' Blue Hens. In addition to the high school recruits, UD Head Coach K.C. Keeler also announced the addition of four transfer students to the roster in Marvin McKinnie from Dean Junior College in St. Franklin, Mass., defensive lineman Ronald Talley from the University of Notre Dame, linebacker Johnathon Smith from the University of Connecticut and running back Jerry Butler from the University of Wisconsin. All three will take part in spring practice and be eligible to compete this fall. Joining the team as a walk-on is 6-foot 3-inch, 315-pound offensive lineman Sam Burrows, a former Delaware high school lineman of the year. “We feel very good about this year's class,” Keeler said during a Wednesday morning press conference to announce the signings. “All in all, we are very excited about the needs that we filled and the quality of kids that are coming here. There are some outstanding kids with great talent in the recruiting class and the four transfers are all impact players who bring a lot to the table as well. “We signed two competitive quarterbacks, an exciting runner in Phillip Thaxton, and a pair of players both on the offensive line and at tight end that we really like. Defensively, we really helped ourselves on the defensive line and in the secondary, we were looking for athletic kids who are ball hawks and playmakers and we did that. Every year is a little different and this season we made a conscious effort to stay closer to home and look more closely at some kids in the New England area.” Thaxton is a 5-foot 10-inch, 175-pound running back from Grafton (Va.) High School. He rushed for 2,058 yards and 35 touchdowns as a senior, when he was selected first team All-State as both a running back and as a kick returner. The quarterbacks are 6-foot 4-inch Scott Bradish of Council Rock North High School, who earned first team All-Suburban One Continental Conference honors as a junior and senior, and 6-2 Lou Ritacco of Nutley (N.J.) High School, who was named second team All-State Group 3 honors in both his junior and senior years. Offensive line recruits are 6-5, 265-pound Lawrence (Shea) Allard of Wareham (Mass.) High School, who was named to the Massachusetts Super 26 All-State as a senior, when he averaged 7.5 tackles per game on defense, and 6-4, 265-pound Will Nagle of Marshfield High School, also in Massachusetts, who won All-State honors as a senior. UD also added a pair of tight ends in 6-4, 230-pound Colin Naugle of Reading (Pa.) Central Catholic High School and 6-3, 225-pound Zack Reed of Huntingdon (Pa.) High School. Naugle caught 22 passes for 519 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior, earning first team All-State Class A honors. Reed caught 17 passes for 297 yards and three touchdowns as a senior, when he was named third team All-State. Joining the UD defensive secondary will be Cody Cipalla of Northwestern High School in Pennsylvania, a second team All-State selections; Tyrone Grant of Poly Prep Country Day School in New York, a first team All-New York City selection; and Jay Pena of Whittier Regional Tech High School in Massachusetts, a versatile player who was named All-Scholastic by the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. UD added two linebackers, 6-2, 225-pound Chuck Anderson of Parsippany (N.J.) High School, and 6-4, 213-pound Eddie Lugo, Grant's teammate at Poly Prep Country Day. Anderson earned second team All-State Group 2 honors as a senior, when he had 73 tackles, 10 sacks and seven tackles for loss. Lugo, like Grant, was an All-New York City selection. Defensive line recruits are Michael Atunrase, 6-2, 235, of Lawrenceville Prep; Demitrius Hester, 6-0, 285, of Paulsboro (N.J.) High School; and Chris Morales, 6-1, 240, of Methuen, Mass., and Central Catholic High School. Atunrase was named first team All-Prep by the Trenton Times newspaper as a senior, when he collected 72 tackles, nine sacks, two forced fumbles and one interception. Hester, also a top wrestler, had 113 solo tackles, 88 assisted tackles, 28 tackles for loss and seven sacks as a senior. Morales earned All-Merrimack Conference honors three times and was named an eastern Massachusetts all-star as a senior. Also expected to join the team this spring as a defensive lineman is 6-1, 287-pound Siddiq Haynes of Charles Jordan High School in North Carolina, who recently enrolled at UD. The recruiting class also includes a kicker, Michael Perry of West Deptford (N.J.) High School. Perry is expected to take the place of two-year kicker Zach Hobby, who Keeler said has left the team. Among the transfers, Butler, a running back, joins the Hens after two seasons at the University of Wisconsin and will have three years of eligibility. He played high school ball at George Washington High School in Philadelphia, where he was rated one of the top 25 players in the state as a senior. McKinnie, a defensive back, comes to UD from Dean Junior College in Massachusetts and had an outstanding career at Woodbury (N.J.) High School, were he earned All-South Jersey honors and was named the most valuable player in the Adam Taliaferro All-Star Game. Smith, a linebacker, played in 23 games over two seasons at the University of Connecticut, and will have two years of eligibility remaining at UD. He had two starts in 2006. Talley, a 6-4, 262-pound defensive lineman, played at the University of Notre Dame for two seasons and will have two years of eligibility remaining at UD. At Notre Dame, he played in 17 games, registering 34 tackles, one sack and two fumble recoveries. Also Wednesday, Keeler announced that defensive back Ken Hale has been suspended from the team. |
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