Wednesday was one of the biggest college football holidays of the year: National Signing Day. At 7 a.m., National Letters of Intent were finally allowed to be submitted to the schools where thousands of players from high school stars to college transfers were able to officially declare where they will be playing college football in the fall of 2013.
The Eagles added 21 signees to their squad, including three junior college transfers and the program’s first ever four-star recruit (star rankings are courtesy of Scout.com). Here’s the list of players who will be a part of Eagle Nation in a few months:
- Linebacker Nathan Adams (Crozier, Va.)
- Running back Duwhan Alford (Elkhart, Ind.)
- Punter Austin Barnes (Fairview Heights, Ill.)
- Athlete Reginald Bell Jr. (Los Angeles)
- Quarterback Brandon Bossard (Eagleville, Pa.)
- Offensive lineman Dwayne Brown (Indianapolis)
- Defensive back Jaleel Canty (Lansing)
- Offensive lineman Kent Collins (Los Alamito, Calif., Los Alamitos-Cerritos College transfer)
- Defensive back Willie Creear (Seattle, Wash., Lindbergh-Butte Junior College transfer)
- Defensive tackle Derrick Dunlap (Indianapolis)
- Wide receiver Jacob King (East Cleveland, Ohio)
- Defensive Back Diondre Moore-Young (Spokane, Wash., Cheney-Glendale Community College transfer)
- Long snapper Chris O’Risky (Poseyville, Ind.)
- Defensive back Daquan Pace (Detroit)
- Defensive tackle Deshai Powell (Indianapolis)
- Defensive back David Pulliam (Philadelphia)
- Quarterback Brogan Roback (Maumee, Ohio)
- Linebacker Lavonte Robinson (Cleveland, Ohio)
- Wide receiver Austin Stone (Palmyra, Va.)
- Defensive back Mario Swann (Greenwood, Ind.)
- Linebacker Derric Williams (Lake Orion, Mich.)
Roback is probably the most talked about recruit this year for EMU. Roback is rated as a four-star recruit, according to both Scout.com and Rivals.yahoo.com rankings. Standing at 6-feet-3-inches and weighing 185 pounds, Roback threw for just under 6,000 yards with 60 touchdowns during his time at Toledo St. John’s Jesuit, making him the 38th-ranked pocket passer by ESPN.
Roback is also the brother of EMU volleyball player Paige Roback.
Roback and other incoming freshman Bossard will be with three other quarterbacks on the depth chart: Tyler Benz, Mark Ianotti and Mike Mioduszewski.
Three junior college transfers will be on the roster next year as well. Defensive backs Creear and Moore-Young, and offensive lineman Collins.
Creear won two bowl games at Butte JC, recording 28 tackles in 10 games, and participated on the track team as a long jumper.
Moore-Young played in 20 games at Glendale CC, where he recorded 83 tackles, eight interceptions, five pass breakups and two fumble recoveries.
Collins was named first team All-California Region and first team All-National Division Northern Conference as a center. He helped his Cerritos JC team set new school records of 2,664 passing yards and 4,942 total yards in 2011.
Creear, Moore-Young and Collins are all enrolled in classes at EMU this semester.
Last season, the Eagles had more than 10 true freshmen getting some playing time, rather than being redshirted.
“We hope to not to have to play as many freshmen,” coach Ron English said in a phone interview. “They just don’t have the experience necessary to be really good yet. We do have a large nucleus of our team coming back, so I do think that those guys play a lot and I think they’ll do a good job.”
Emueagles.com has a YouTube video of English being interviewed by EMU Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations Greg Steiner about the incoming class.
The biggest needs that had to be filled were in the secondary and linebacker positions, which were taken care of by the recruiting staff. This class includes three linebackers and six defensive backs.
“I keep trying to find displeasure with this class, but I really cannot,” English said.
