With a steady trickle of news stories published each day chronicling high school seniors’ college decisions, we’ll do our best to provide a weekly recap on who is going where.
Before we start, keep in mind a few details about Division III recruiting:
1 — Incoming freshmen don’t sign letters of intent. Even when the newspapers say they do. Of course, as a faithful Daily Dose follower you already knew that.
2 — Tracking Division III recruits is a unique challenge so we’re not trying to be comprehensive here. We’ll list recruits as we see them mentioned in newspaper articles online.
If you want to add someone, feel free to do so using the comments feature below. But please provide the newspaper link as verification. Even if you list the recruit’s position, stats, high school class schedule and favorite brand of cereal to prove your fidelity, we need the newspaper link.
Enough with the disclaimer. On with the show…
East: Springfield Reloading Rushing Attack?
At least two high school running backs have announced their intentions to suit up for the Springfield College Pride.
The Pride successfully lobbied for the services of Pennsville (NJ) HS product Andrew Jackson. Then Walkill (NY) HS senior J.J. Maloney, who overcame ACL injuries to rush for 20 touchdowns, announced he would enroll at Springfield according to the Times-Herald Record of Middletown, NY.
Of course there’s no guarantee that either player will stay at the running back position at the college level. But you can’t blame them for being attracted to a triple-option offense that rambled for close to 4,000 yards last season.
Shawn McMann of Lely (FL) HS announced he will make the long trip north to attend Fitchburg State in Massachusetts.
North: Talent Gathers in Ohio
Jupiter (FL) High School tackle Chris DeCamillo will play for Ohio Northern.
“They’re Division III but they’ve had players go to the NFL and I thought I might get a good look,” he told the Jupiter Courier. “They also have a freshman team and I’m pretty sure I can start on that.”
Eaton HS wide receiver Chad Norton will join OAC rival Mount Union.
Andrew O’Connell, a Penn High School senior, will continue his academic, football and baseball careers at Wooster.
Savas Melidis who played offense, defense and special teams for Carthage (IL) HS will attend Millikin University.
South: Gantt Keep a Good Man Down
The Brewton (AL) Standard reports that W.S. Neal Senior Brandon Gantt, who overcame a shoulder injury during his high school career, will attend Huntingdon this fall.
“I had a chance to visit the campus. I felt I had a good workout for them. They have a good staff and a new weight room. They’re doing some work on their field, but it should be ready by next fall,” remarked Gantt on his visit to the Montgomery based school.
Bellaire (OH) high school linemen Dirk Soland and Luke Sulek will play for Washington and Jefferson. Each played both ways in high school.
Dion Moore and Bryan Randall of Henry County (GA) HS will head to Maryville.
West: True Blue Boys
The first year of college always brings some anxiety because of the unknown, so why not keep some familiarity where you can?
Richard Tanner and Zach Reed who played for the Blueboys of Carthage (IL) HS will attend Illinois College, which has the same mascot.
Reed told the Hancock County (IL) Journal Pilot that he looks forward to joining his brother Joe who will be a junior at the Jacksonville, Illinois school: “”He really encouraged me to come over there,” said Zach. “Me and him are pretty close. He had good things to say about them, and I feel comfortable going there.”
Naples (FL) HS product Kai Sanders will attend Lake Forest while teammate Eloy Ozaeta will enroll at Dubuque.
If you’re looking for information on St. John’s recruits, check out this St. Cloud (MN) Times article.
Similarly you can track which high school students are heading to Linfield, Puget Sound and Willamette at this OregonLive.com site.
NOTE: Thanks to Cat11 and Johnnie Esq. for the heads-up on those links.