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FOOTBALL RECRUITING: Another outstanding year for in-state gridiron recruits on National Signing Day
Signing day proved bountiful for prep football standouts across the mitten this past week, with 62 different players inking with Division I colleges and over 300 all-together.
Roughly 200 of those players come from high schools located in Southeastern Michigan.
Of the 62 Division I signees, 31 of them penned National Letters of Intent with in-state universities.
Two-time defending Class A state champion Detroit Cass Tech, firmly established as one of the true glamour programs in the Midwest region of the United States, sent seven separate players to Division I schools; Kenton Gibbs (NC State), Delano Hill (Michigan), David Dawson (Michigan), DaQuan Pace (Easter Michigan), Dennis Finley (Michigan State), Jourdan Lewis (Michigan), DuJuan Rogers (Toledo).
The Technicians boasted over 20 Division I recruits on its 2012 roster. No MHSAA team in history has ever had that many.
The Mid-American Conference took bragging rights for the state’s Division I crop, signing up 35 Michigan-bred prepsters.
The Big Ten snagged 14 players from the state, Michigan snatching seven signees and Michigan State three.
Only one player signed with the Southeastern Conference, genuinely considered the nation’s most elite college football league. That was Canton’s Cameron Dillard (offensive lineman), who inked with Florida.
The Atlantic Coast Conference claimed a pair of local recruits in Gibbs (defensive end) from Cass Tech and Walled Lake Western’s Josh Jones (secondary), both signing with North Carolina State.
The Big East and the Big 12 each scooped a player apiece from the area, in Grand Blanc linebacker Luke MacLean (Pitt) and Birmingham Detroit Country Day defensive lineman Poet Thomas (Texas Tech), respectively.
Close to a dozen additional prep stars have accepted preferred walk-on slots in Division I programs – players such as Macomb Lutheran North kicker J.J. McGrath (Michigan) and Birmingham Detroit Country Day linebacker Nick Boswell (Western Michigan), among others .
The state’s top-rated players, Warren De La Salle quarterback Shane Morris and Cass Tech offensive lineman David Dawson are both heading to Ann Arbor next year, signing with head coach Brady Hoke and the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan State’s most-hyped in-state recruit is Birmingham Brother Rice middle linebacker Jonny Reschke, fresh off leading his squad to back-to-back state titles the last two falls.
