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 BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- After filling out the previous three football recruiting classes with the NCAA maximum of 25 scholarship recruits each year, Bowling Green was able to be a little more selective in the recruiting process this time.
“For the first time since we have been here as a staff, we didn’t have 25 to sign,” BG head coach Dave Clawson said Wednesday in announcing the 2012 class of 20 players.
Clawson is starting his fourth season as BG’s head coach. “When you have a full class to sign, you are very concerned with filling the class and making sure you get enough players in the program, just so you have guys who can line up.
“This year our goal number was right around 20 and fortunately we hit that number,” he continued. “This year ... we were more patient. Because of that we probably had to fight a lot more recruiting battles; some we won, some we lost.
“We ended up getting the class we wanted at the positions we felt we needed. This class was to address current needs in the program for 2012 and also to address projected needs as we look at the players in our program who are becoming seniors and juniors.”
Among the incoming class are three players from junior colleges; one from a military academy; and 16 high school seniors.
Four recruits are already enrolled at Bowling Green — Michael Allen, a wide receiver from East Los Angeles College; Coy Brown, a linebacker who graduated early from Northwood High School in Wakarusa, Ind.; Scott Davis, a tight end from Fort Union (Va.) Military Academy; and (David) Keli’i Ke’kuewa, an offensive lineman from Arizona Western Junior College, who is originally from Hawai’i.
The biggest number of incoming recruits is on the offensive line, where the Falcons signed six players.
“We really felt we needed to solidify the offensive line,” Clawson said. “In the last two years we have really been playing with a short-hand on the offensive line in terms of numbers.”
Ke’kuewa is one of the six linemen and is expected to come and compete for the starting job at center. Ke’kuewa’s Arizona Western team won the JC national championship, and he was first-team All-American.
“I have a hard time not seeing him in the mix,” Clawson said about Ke’kuewa, whose nickname is ‘Chief’.
Clawson added that the Falcons should have between 15 to 17 offensive linemen in fall camp.
The Falcons signed two wide receivers in Allen and James White from Detroit Crockett Technical High School. Six Falcon wide receivers were seniors in 2011.
Also added was a kicker, Anthony Farinella from Downers Grove South High School in Woodridge, Ill.
Clawson is hoping that between Farinella and 2011 recruit Tyler Tate, the Falcons can find a kicker that can consistently put kickoffs inside the 5-yard line or deeper and also one that can make a field goal of 40-yards or longer.
Farinella was an Illinois state wrestling champion and a state qualifier in the 800 meters.
Also signed were three defensive backs, three linebackers, two defensive tackles, along with a quarterback, a tight end and a long snapper.Of the 20 incoming recruits, 17 were captains of their high school teams.
“From the day we have gotten here, we have always valued leadership,” Clawson said. “This is not an accident. In our evaluation process, we want leaders; we want guys who are good students; we want guys who have been recognized as leaders by their high school coaches and their high school teammates.
“We always talk about creating a culture of leadership in our program.”
Clawson and his coaches are also always looking for players in the “State of Bowling Green’ which Clawson defines as anywhere within a four-hour driving radius of Bowling Green.
A total of 14 of the 20 recruits are within that four-hour radius, with five players from Ohio; three from Michigan; and two each of Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania.
There are three other players who will be making their debut with Bowling Green in the fall — JaRon Stokes, a wide receiver transfer from the University of Michigan; Jamal Hosley, a wide receiver from Highland Park, Mich. who was originally announced in the 2011 recruiting class, but did not start at BG in the fall of 2011 after suffering a broken leg last summer; and Andre Givens, a running back from Pennsylvania, who first signed with the University of Pittsburgh and later attended Milford Academy in New Berlin, N.Y. All three are currently enrolled at Bowling Green.
Three scholarship players from 2011 are no longer with the team. Quarterback Trent Hurley transferred to Delaware; defensive back Aunre´ Davis transferred to Mercyhurst; and running back Erique Geiger left the program.
2012 BGSU Recruiting Class
Michael Allen + WR 5-10 175 Los Angeles, Calif. (Lynwood) (East L.A. College); J.J. Beggan OL 6-4 290 Pittsburgh, Pa. (Seton LaSalle); Jacob Bennett OL 6-6 290 Lebanon, Ohio (Lebanon); Coy Brown + LB 5-11 215 Wakarusa, Ind. (Northwood); Dalton Chapman OL 6-7 285 Grove City, Ohio (Grove City)
Jhalil-Nashid Croley LB 6-3 245 Cincinnati, Ohio (Princeton); Scott Davis + TE 6-5 240 Richmond, Va. (Mills E. Godwin) (Fork Union); Logan Dietz OL 6-5 280 Pittsburgh, Pa. (Pittsburgh Central Catholic); Anthony Farinella K 6-3 180 Woodridge, Ill. (Downers Grove South); Erick Hallmon LB 6-0 195 Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (Cardinal Gibbons)
Greg Hohenstein LS 6-3 195 Warrenville, Ill. (Wheaton-Warrenville South); (David) Kelii Kekuewa “Chief” + OL 6-3 300 Keaau, Hawaii (Kamehameha) (Arizona Western); James Knapke QB 6-3 185 Fort Wayne, Ind. (Bishop Luers); Izaah Lunsford DT 6-3 265 Cincinnati, Ohio (Shroder Paideia); Mike Minns II DT 6-0 300 West Palm Beach, Fla. (Dwyer)
Josh Pettus S 5-10 200 Detroit, Mich. (Southwestern) (College of DuPage); James Sanford S 6-2 190 Xenia, Ohio (Xenia); Ben Steward OL 6-7 300 Holt, Mich. (Holt); Will Watson CB 6-1 185 Tampa, Fla. (Tampa Jefferson); James White WR 6-1 180 Southfield, Mich. (Crockett Technical)
+ Enrolled this Spring
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