Leadership aspect of incoming BG players a key

BOWLING GREEN -- Bowling Green State University football coach Dave Clawson admitted that his fourth recruiting class is different from his previous three.

The biggest difference is that the 20-member class is short of the 25 maximum allowed by NCAA rules.

"The past three years, we were able to sign the maximum number of scholarships," Clawson said. "For the first time since we've been here as a staff, we didn't have a full class of 25 to sign.

"This year we were a lot more selective and a lot more patient. Because of that, we had to fight a lot more recruiting battles; some we won, some we lost. But we got the class we wanted [and the players] at the positions where we needed them."

Clawson was quick to point out that the newest group of Falcons does bear some similarities to those signed the previous three years.

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"It is very similar in that, since the day we got here, my staff and I have valued leadership," he said. "If you look at our 20 players, 17 of the 20 were captains. And this is not an accident."

The second similarity, according to Clawson, is that the recruiting class continues his commitment to recruit the "state of Bowling Green." Five of the players are from Ohio, three from Michigan, and there are two each from Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois, meaning 14 are within roughly a four-hour radius of BG.

A third similarity with past seasons is that the Falcons focused on players who will be eligible to play right away -- and who have the best chance to remain in school long-term.

"Every player we have signed has either qualified or is projected to qualify," Clawson said. "In this day and age, some schools will give you a list [of recruits] on Feb. 1 -- and that isn't necessarily the list that shows up in August.

"We don't sign guys just to boost our recruiting rankings. We want our February list [of signees] to be our August list."

The group includes a large number of offensive lineman -- six total -- as well as two wide receivers, one quarterback, and one tight end.

"It's not by accident that we signed six offensive linemen," Clawson said. "That gives us 15, 16, 17 scholarship offensive linemen in our program.

"That's a good number, [because it means] good competition and a good distribution between classes. Hopefully we won't be in the position we were in the last couple of years, where we were thin there."

Clawson said wide receiver also was a position of need. Besides the two wide receivers announced yesterday -- one of which, Michael Allen, is a junior-college recruit who is already on campus -- the Falcons have Michigan transfer JeRon Stokes, who will be eligible this fall, and Jermal Hosley, who signed last season but didn't enroll in school until this spring after suffering an injury last summer.

On defense, Clawson said 10 returning starters allowed the Falcons to be "selective" in the players they recruited.

"In the past, we would have viewed players such as [defensive backs] Will Watson, Josh Pettus, and James Sanford as such 'long shots' that we couldn't afford to [pursue them] and miss at that position," Clawson said. "This year, those were the battles that we fought -- and won."

Clawson said the Falcons also made it a priority to address needs on special teams, which led them to sign a placekicker (Anthony Farinella) and a long-snapper (Greg Hohenstein).

"We needed to add competition [at kicker]," Clawson said. "We need a kicker to step up and kick the ball out of the end zone and make [longer] field goals.

"I feel we have addressed that problem."

Clawson said he wasn't concerned that this year's recruiting class was ranked fifth in the Mid-American Conference by Scout.com and eighth by Rivals.com as of Wednesday night.

"Some of the guys who we are giving scholarships to as part of this class are a Michigan transfer who was one of the highest-regarded recruits in the country, JeRon Stokes; a running back who was one of the best in the country when he came out in Andre Givens, and an All-MAC punter in Brian Schmiedebusch," Clawson said. "If you would add those three to the rankings, a strong class will get even stronger."

Bowling Green recruits

NamePos.Ht.Wt.Hometown (High School)

Michael AllenWR5-10175Los Angeles (Lynwood)

J.J. BegganOL6-4290Pittsburgh (Seton LaSalle)

Jacob BennettOL6-6290Lebanon, Ohio

Coy BrownLB5-11215Wakarusa, Ind. (NorthWood)

Dalton ChapmanOL6-7285Grove City, Ohio

Jhalil CroleyLB6-3245Cincinnati (Princeton)

Scott DavisTE6-5240Richmond, Va. (Godwin)

Logan DietzOL6-5280Pittsburgh (Central Catholic)

Anthony FarinellaK6-3180Woodridge, Ill. (Downers Grove South)

Erick HallmonLB6-0195Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (Card. Gibbons)

Greg HohensteinLS6-3195Warrenville, Ill. (Wheaton-Warr. South)

David KekuewaOL6-3300Keaau, Hawaii (Kamehameha)

James KnapkeQB6-3185Fort Wayne, Ind. (Bishop Luers)

Izaah LunsfordDL6-3265Cincinnati (Shroder)

Mike MinnsDL6-0300West Palm Beach, Fla. (Dwyer)

Josh PettusDB5-10200Detroit (Melvindale)

James SanfordDB6-2190Xenia, Ohio

Ben StewardOL6-7300Holt, Mich.

Will WatsonCB6-1185Tampa (Jefferson)

James WhiteWR6-1180Southfield, Mich. (Detroit Crockett)