Examiner Story On Football Signing Day

By Jason Yellin on February 7, 2011 9:04 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The Examiner.com has a story on UMass football signing day.

This year the announced UMass recruiting class features 22 players, 17 true freshman and five mid year additions. The recruiting class is very offensively heavy with 16 of the 22 players coming from that side of the ball. Five players are listed as playing defense while kicker Andrew Ortiz out of The King's Academy in West Palm Beach, Fla. is the loan special teams player.

UMass adds 22 on National Signing Day

February 6th, 2011 10:59 pm ET

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This past Wednesday was National Signing Day in college football and many of the nations top high school football players decided where they would ply their trade for the next couple of years. As a Football Championship Series (FCS) UMass was not really on the radar for any of the big "Five Star" recruits that have the fans of schools like Florida and USC salivating but that doesn't mean that they are recruiting a bunch of scrubs either.

The biggest addition in the recruiting class for UMass Coach Kevin Morris is wide receiver Marken Michel out of American Heritage High School in Plantation. Fla. Rivals.com lists the 5'-10" wide receiver as a three star recruit who also received scholarship offers from Memphis and Tennessee State. During his signing day online chat with fans, UMass Coach Kevin Morris described Michel as "Great kid and great worker. Already a 300lb bench press guy as a WR that is outstanding."

Once again the UMass coaching staff recruited players from all over the country, bringing players in from as far away as California in mid year addition Chase Danska who comes from Pleasant Hills, Ca. and has already transferred in from Diablo Valley Junior College and is taking classes this spring. Danska will probably not be alone in experiencing his first snowy winter as there are also five players coming to Massachusetts from Florida (Marken, Ortiz, OL Anddy Moas, DB Quayshun Smith, and RB Jamal Wilson) and two more coming in from Georgia (WR Jarvis Bentley and DB Ryan Campbell).

Coach Morris and his staff did not have to rack up to frequent flyer miles for all of their recruits however with four players being eligible for in-state tuition. The residents who chose the state's flagship campus are true freshman TE Brandon Howard from Worcester Academy, DB Randall Jette from Martha's Vineyard High School, OL John Wallace from Somerville Hight School plus mid year addition Greg Hilliard who did a prep season at Suffield Academy in Suffield, Ct but originally comes form Brockton, Mass.

You can reach Chris the Minuteman Examiner at Minuteman_Examiner@comcast.net and be notified of other UMass Minuteman stories on Examiner.com by clicking the subscribe button at the top of this page. You can also follow Chris on Twitter @ckphilli. Go U, Go UMass!!

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