National Signing Day. This is the day all college football fans cannot wait for during the offseason. This event, followed across the nation by diehard college football fans, always occurs on the first Wednesday of February. Live coverage is constantly streaming on ESPN and ESPNU from Chapel Hill, NC, to Baton Rouge, LA, to Eugene, OR, updating viewers on which prospects have signed a letter of intent to play football for their favorite college football team.
In Bloomsburg, things are a little different. There is no television coverage featuring Tom Lemming, the ESPN.com football recruiting analyst, reviewing the Huskies' recruiting class. Division II football recruiting and signing day is a little more quiet, but I am sure the fax machine is still ringing as letters of intent are sent to the football office in Nelson Field House. However, the young men committing to play football at Bloomsburg University are not on Scout.com, rated as four and five star prospects with scholarship offers from Ole Miss or Texas Tech.
Instead, the players Coach Danny Hale and his staff recruit are guys recruited for a lower-level Division I FCS team (Football Championship Subdivision), formerly known as Division I-AA, or are recruited as a preferred walk-on at Penn State or Temple. Hale knows that the players he recruits are great athletes and football players, and could erupt into a future NFL-standout. He knows that players at a Division II school who turn out to be an All-Pro in the NFL are few and far between, but he realizes that it does not hurt to hope and dream.
"I'm just waiting for the next Jahri Evans to come along," Hale said. "You never know when you will catch another like him."
Hale and his staff do not have the funding to go far from home to recruit players, so they stick mainly to Pennsylvania and sometimes into New Jersey. This year they made an exception and recruited a high school player in Virginia, who eventually committed to the Huskies.
Another factor that plays a part in recruiting is the number of scholarships that Bloom has available for its football players: nine scholarships. Nine full scholarships are all that Hale has to work with when recruiting players. He must divvy out the money from those scholarships evenly between his recruits, and the recruits must fund themselves the rest of the way or receive grants or other scholarships. Hale noted that this makes for tougher recruiting because other schools are able to offer more money towards a recruit's tuition.
When asked if he and his other coaches were able to attend any of their recruits' games on Friday nights during the season, he said that they do not, and that he prefers to watch his recruits on film so he can hit the rewind button and view a play over and over. Not only are players and coaches mailing film to the staff at Bloom to watch, but technology now allows recruits to post their highlight films on YouTube, making it easier for coaches to watch them perform.
Overall, Hale is happy about this year's recruiting class, saying "I feel comfortable. I feel good about the class we got. As a staff, we believed we covered the bases and got guys where the depth chart is a little shallow."
Each year, a coach and his staff must focus on a different position that needs rebuilding. The area of emphasis during recruiting depends on how many players from each position have used all of their eligibility by the end of the season. For example, if two free safeties are out of eligibility at the end of the current season, and there is only one free safety on the roster with remaining eligibility, a staff will look to recruit at least two more safeties to fill spots on the depth chart.
The area that needed the most rebuilding following the Huskies' last season was the offensive line. Bloom's coaches hit the recruiting trail knowing that they needed to get several commitments from offensive linemen, because they are currently just two deep right now across the line. With this in mind, BU picked up three commitments from offensive linemen, including Matt Feiler, a 6'6", 270-pounder who Hale felt had the size and skill to play at a Division I school. Feiler, a second Team Section 3 All-Star out of Lampeter-Strasburg High School, was one of the surprise commitments for the Huskies.
The two other offensive line recruits that BU corralled are E.J. Josephs and Shawn Smith. Josephs was another surprise in Hale's mind, because he hails from Rustin High School, in the backyard of the West Chester Rams.
Hale also hoped to pick up a couple recruits for the quarterback and defensive end positions. He picked up a couple of defensive ends, David McFadden and Shawn Mitchell, to help fill in the depth chart. He also had Drew Siegfried, a free safety recruit, who can also play quarterback, sign a letter of intent. Other than Siegfried, no quarterbacks were signed because the staff wants to look at and evaluate the four quarterbacks currently on the roster, including Mike Wagner, who saw action in three games last season and completed six of his nine pass attempts.
Hale did not want to identify the "best in class" out of his recruits, but he labeled incoming fullback from Selinsgrove High School, Matt Wenrich, as a "great catch" and a player who was "instrumental in a great winning program." According to Hale, this is a kid you do not want to mess with - he will run you over." Wenrich helped lead Selinsgrove to the PIAA Class AAA State Championship in football in 2009 and was a District IV first team linebacker and fullback, carrying the ball 87 times for 643 yards and nine touchdowns.
When asked why he chose to attend Bloomsburg, Wenrich responded, "I chose Bloom because they have a great football program. They also have a good education program." He hopes to see time on the field and make an impact right away. "My goal as a freshman is to get some playing time at fullback, but definitely play special teams."
David McFadden, a 6'5", 220-pound incoming freshman at the defensive end spot, is another player that Hale cannot wait to have on his squad. He already has the body of a man and "has great upside," according to Coach Hale, who is surprised that an FCS team did not offer him a scholarship.
"When I took my visit in January, I felt (Bloom) was a great fit for me," stated McFadden. "The distance away from home, the cost, the academics, and especially the football team seemed like a great fit."
McFadden also hopes to contribute to the team right away, even if it means he is a scout team player and pushing his teammates to be the best they can be.
One more key recruit that Hale mentioned was Drew Siegfried, the free safety recruit who is also able to play quarterback, but was recruited as a free safety. He is a 6', 180-pounder out of Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg and was a three year starter and a 2009 team captain. Hale labeled Siegfried as a "definite athlete" and someone with "a great future ahead of him." Siegfried will also compete for the punter spot this fall.
As previously mentioned, Hale feels good about this year's recruiting class, but he does not want to rank this class amongst past classes, and understandably so, because one does not know how good a recruiting class is until the players have been a part of the team for a few years. He felt that recruiting was a little tougher this year because Temple provided a lot of competition, pulling kids in as preferred walk-ons in the fall. Penn State was also able to snatch a few players away from Bloomsburg by offering recruits the chance to make the team as preferred walk-ons.
The Huskies will soon begin their spring practice and will be joined by the 18 incoming recruits late this summer. If they perform well during the summer practices in practices throughout the season, it is possible that you may be watching these incoming freshman play for the Huskies this season.
To read more about the 2010 recruiting class, check out the Husky football page on BU Sports Information.
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