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 DeKALB, Ill. – Dave Doeren’s second signing day as Northern Illinois University head coach went a little smoother than the first. While the 2011 Signing Day got off to a slow start due to a blizzard that hit the region, Northern Illinois had received all the necessary paperwork on 30 of its 31 2012 recruits early, with the final NLI coming across the fax machine just before noon.
Doeren and his staff announced the addition of 31 players for 2012, including 16 from the state of Illinois and 10 from Chicagoland. The list includes Ken Bishop, a defensive tackle from Lauderhill, Fla. and Ellsworth Community College in Kansas, who enrolled at NIU in January and will participate in 2012 spring practices.
The Huskies loaded up on linemen on both sides of the ball, with seven offensive linemen and six defensive linemen accounting for 13 of the 31 roster spots. Overall, Northern Illinois’ announced the addition of 14 defenders, 16 offensive players and punter Mark Strbjak out of Munster, Ind. Doeren said the class is a result of a year of hard work by the Huskie coaching staff.
“I am very excited to see a year of hard work come to fruition today,” Doeren said. “We definitely improved our football team in every area that we targeted. We felt it was extremely important to build a fence around as many in-state players as we could and we did that with 16 Illinois players joining our football team. Part of the emphasis of this class was the offensive and defensive lines and we feel like we made a great impact on those two position groups.”
In addition to the offensive and defensive lines, the complete position breakdown includes four defensive backs and four linebackers, three quarterbacks, two tight ends, two running backs and two receivers. The Huskies’ 16 Illinois recruits are joined by four from Wisconsin, three from Florida, two from Michigan and one each from Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, Minnesota, Alabama and North Dakota. Doeren said the NIU staff put a lot of hard work into developing relationships with the players and families in Illinois and that they found a large number of high school coaches in the state with ties to NIU.
“Coach Nielsen, Coach McNutt and Coach Cole did a great job as our Chicagoland recruiters, making those players and families feel a part of the NIU football family,” Doeren said. “We did a nice job of getting those players and parents on our campus multiple times early on, which helped us in educating not only them, but some of their teammates and friends, on what NIU has to offer.
“We also benefitted from the large population of NIU alums working as high school coaches in the area that we were able to reach out to and build relationships with. They have helped us. The exposure we gained during our nine-game winning streak, with each of the last eight games on TV, made an impact as well.”
Doeren said he and his staff had many positives to use on the recruiting trail in 2011-12 and those attributes helped Northern Illinois put together its 31-man class for 2012.
“Back-to-back 11-win seasons opened doors for us with many of the kids we recruited,” Doeren said. “We were able to compete against BCS level schools for many of our signees. There were definitely doors open this year that weren’t the year before. Recruits took notice that we have had the Player of the
Year in the MAC in five of the last six years and we were also able to use the excitement over the new Chessick Practice Center in our recruiting. Our APR and graduation rates were important to the people we talked to.”
With another Signing Day in the books, Doeren and his staff turn their attention toward February conditioning and spring practice. Spring football practices will begin March 28 and conclude April 21 with the Annual Spring Game at Huskie Stadium.
2012 NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOTBALL RECRUITS
Name Pos. Hgt. Wgt. Cl. Hometown (High School/Junior College)
1. Dustin Adams OL 6-4 285 Fr. Minot, N.D. (Minot HS)
2. Sal Arceo OL 6-2 275 Fr. Chicago, Ill. (Mt. Carmel HS)
3. Matthew Baltimore DE 6-4 240 Fr. Overland Park, Kan. (Olathe East HS)
4. *Ken Bishop DT 6-2 305 Jr. Lauderhill, Fla. (Piper HS/Ellsworth
CC)
5. Anthony Brooks CB 6-1 175 Fr. Detroit, Mich. (Warren Mott HS)
6. Daron Brown OL 6-4 310 Fr. Detroit, Mich. (Mumford HS)
7. Brian Canoy DT 6-5 280 Fr. Chicago, Ill. (St. Patrick HS)
8. Mike Cotton LB 6-3 220 Fr. O’Fallon, Ill. (O’Fallon Township HS)
9. Johnny Eagan QB 6-1 180 Fr. Wautoma, Wis. (Wautoma HS)
10. Ladell Fleming LB 6-1 210 Fr. Chicago, Ill. (Julian HS)
11. Perez Ford RB 6-2 225 Fr. Romeoville, Ill. (Romeoville HS)
12. Conner Gavin S 6-0 190 Fr. Chicago, Ill. (Notre Dame HS)
13. Clayton Glasper WR 6-4 197 Fr. Peoria, Ill. (Richwoods HS)
14. Drew Hare QB 6-2 195 Fr. O’Fallon, Mo. (Fort Zumwalt West HS)
15. Keith Harris, Jr. RB 5-9 175 Fr. Chicago, Ill. (Leo HS)
16. Cody Hazelett LB 6-3 220 Fr. Inver Grove Heights, Minn. (Simley
HS)
17. Lincoln Howard TE 6-6 260 Fr. Osceola, Wis. (Osceola HS)
18. Michael Ippolito DE 6-4 256 Fr. Naperville, Ill. (Neuqua Valley HS)
19. Charles Ivory CB 6-0 170 Fr. Vero Beach, Fla. (Vero Beach HS)
20. Mario Jones DT 6-2 275 Fr. Chicago, Ill. (Hubbard HS)
21. Desroy Maxwell TE 6-3 245 Fr. Evanston, Ill. (Amundsen HS)
22. Charlie Miller WR 5-11 185 Fr. Vero Beach, Fla. (Vero Beach HS)
23. Marlon Moore CB 5-9 180 Fr. Mobile, Ala. (C.F. Vigor HS)
24. Levon Myers OL 6-6 270 Fr. Franklin, Wis. (Franklin HS)
25. Josh Ruka OL 6-6 290 Fr. Greenfield, Wis. (Greenfield HS)
26. Austin Smaha LB/RB 6-1 210 Fr. Belvidere, Ill. (Belvidere North HS)
27. Brad Steger OL 6-7 305 Fr. Rock Island, Ill. (Rock Island HS)
28. Mark Strbjak P 6-4 200 Fr. Munster, Ind. (Munster HS)
29. Scott Taylor OL 6-3 280 Fr. Marengo, Ill. (Marian Central Catholic
HS)
30. Corey Thomas DT 6-3 294 Fr. Chicago, Ill. (Lindblom Math &
Science Acad.)
31. Matt Williams QB 6-3 195 Fr. Geneva, Ill. (Geneva HS)
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