A new crop of faces have joined the BG football family.
National Signing Day concluded yesterday with the signing of 22 high school players to the Falcon football team.
Nineteen out of those 22 recruits come from within what new head coach Dave Clawson calls the “state of Bowling Green.” This state of Bowling Green includes anywhere within a four hour drive of BG and the state of Ohio as a whole.
“Doing a great job in our backyard is, and always will be, a priority of ours in recruiting,” Clawson said.
Twelve of the recruits come from within the state of Ohio.
Among these home state recruits is Aunre’ Davis. Davis, of Warren, Ohio, has been recruited as a defensive back to address the soon departure of veteren safeties for the Falcons. Davis earned first team all-conference and first team Trumbell County honors during his high school career, and is ranked as a top 100 athlete in the country by ESPN.com.
Also addressed by Clawson as a major concern was the running back position.
“We’re a little short at the running back position,” Clawson said.
Among the three running backs who signed yesterday was John Pettigrew of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. While in high school Pettigrew was named the Cleveland Plain Dealer Offensive Player of the Year, and was named first-team All-Ohio as a senior. In his career, he ran for 6,389 yards, the eighth most in Ohio high school football history.
The big out of state catch for the Falcons was quarterback Matthew Schilz. Schilz hails from Arcadia, Calif., and is rated as the No. 5 quarterback not going to a BCS school. He threw for 3,200 yards and 31 touchdowns during his senior season, and was named 2008-09 ALL-CIF Southern Section Quarterback.
“He (Schilz) was committed to go to Kansas State,” Clawson said. “He had such a good relationship with their offensive coordinator (Warren Ruggiero), and when he came here, he wanted to play for him.”
Clawson and the Falcons also picked up a tight end and a fullback. This is significant because unlike in the old offense, the new offense will feature more significant roles for both positions. Alex Bayer of Pickerington, Ohio was brought in as the tight end, and Vince German of Newark, Ohio was brought in as the fullback.
Along with Davis, five other defensive lineman signed, more than any other position.
“We’d like to be able to have our defensive line blitzing the quarterback,” Clawson said.
Clawson gave a great deal of credit to his assistant coaches, two of which stayed after the firing of Gregg Brandon and helped with recruits during the two week coaching vacancy.
Clawson also unvieled some of his possible plans for the players, saying he’d like to redshirt as many as possible.
“You give up that year when they’re 18, and you gain that year when they’re 22,” Clawson said.
Upon first impression, it’s likely that Schilz will spend his first year as a redshirt, learning from current starting senior quarterback Tyler Sheehan.
In a video presentation of each recruit at a 4:00 p.m. press conference, one thing was evident. The future of Falcons football has a lot of potential.
