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2007 MAC Football Recruiting - Miami RedHawks

Overview
The RedHawks signed 23 players from eight different states. There was a lot of balance with twelve players listed for offense and eleven for defense. Ten players are from Ohio, three from Missouri and Illinois, two from Georgia and Maryland, and one each from Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Florida. Linemen, linebackers, defensive backs and receivers were the main targets with this class. Six different players earned three-star rankings in various prep service rankings. QB Clay Benton is listed by this publication as the top incoming MAC freshman.

Below is a list of Miami football recruits with their listed position, height, weight, hometown and high school.

Michael Baker LB 6-0 201 St. Louis, MO/Cardinal Ritter

Clay Belton QB 6-6 220 Dayton, OH/Northmont

Fitz Bobo WR 6-4 195 Duquesne, PA/Duquesne

Brandon Brooks OL 6-4 290 Milwaukee, WI/ Riverside University

Jordain Brown DL 6-0 280 Chicago, IL/Hubbard

Kendrick Bruton TE 6-3 235 Miamisburg, OH/Miamisburg

Morris Council DL 6-3 230 Decatur, GA/ Southwest Dekalb

David Davis LB 6-3 200 Decatur, GA/ Southwest Dekalb

DeAndre Gilmore DB 6-1 194 St. Louis, MO/Cardinal Ritter

Chris Givens WR 6-2 180 Chillicothe, OH/Chillicothe

Matt Kajmowicz DL 6-4 232 Hinsdale, IL/Hinsdale Central

Alex Kaufman LB 6-2 215 Cincinnati, OH/Lakota West

Ryan Kennedy LB 6-2 215 Libertyville, IL/Libertyville

Anthony Kokal DB 5-10 171 Warren, OH/John F. Kennedy

Kevin Koncelik OL 6-3 285 Seven Hills, OH/St. Ignatius

Mike Madsen OL 6-5 280 Boardman, OH/Cardinal Mooney

Thomas Merriweather RB 5-10 190 Florissant, MO/Hazelwood East

Rob Reiland TE 6-3 225 Canton, OH/Jackson

Jamal Rogers WR 5-11 170 Ft. Myers, FL/Harmony

Ken Staudinger OL 6-5 245 Canton, OH/Hoover

Cornelius Ward CB 6-1 170 Ft. Washington, MD/Friendly Senior

Jerrell Wedge LB 5-10 205 Upper Marlboro, MD/Frederick Douglass

Jonathan Wells CB 5-9 175 Hubbard, OH/ Liberty

Quarterbacks
Clay Benton was Ohio’s preseason #5 rated player in the state and listed by most publications as a top-20 QB prospect in the nation. The Clayton (OH) Northmont <near Dayton> native has been compared to Ben Roethlisberger and Byron Leftwich, both former MAC legends who now star in the NFL. Benton had a huge junior year but he missed three games during his senior year due to an injury.

Receivers
Chris Givens may be the real steal in this class and throughout the MAC. The Chillicothe (OH) native was ranked as the #13 player in the state and picked Miami over reported offers from Purdue, Michigan State, Stanford and Vanderbilt. Givens excels as a return specialist too. Jamal Rogers is a Florida native who played at Harmony Prep ( Cincinnati) last season. Coming out of high school, Rogers had an offer from South Florida. Fitz Bobo is from the Pittsburgh (PA) area that can play DB as well, had reported offers from Temple and Cincinnati. Two very impressive TE prospects were added. Rob Reiland and Kendrick Bruton were each rated as top-60 players in the state and each have the size and athleticism to excel at this position. Both received offers from various MAC schools.

Offensive Line
Historically Miami has one of the better offensive lines in the MAC and this year’s freshmen crop look to keep that tradition alive and well. Brandon Brooks was a top-5 rated player Milwaukee (WI) and drew reported offers from Wisconsin and Minnesota. He may be ready to play from day one. Three NE Ohio players were also added for this area and each come from tradition rich high schools that played against the top schools in the region. Kevin Koncelik is from Cleveland St. Ignatius High, Mike Madsen hails from Youngstown Cardinal Mooney High and Ken Staudinger is from North Canton Hoover High. Each earned various all-state honors in high school and each was rated as top-75 players in the state.

Defensive Line
Miami ventured to Illinois and Georgia to find their future defensive linemen. Jordain Brown is a true DT/NG prospect. The Chicago native comes from a program that put seven different players into DI-A schools this year. Matt Kajmowicz is from Hinsdale (IL) and played LB in high school but looks to be a DE at the college level. Morris Council is from Decatur (GA) and picked MU over Memphis.

Linebackers
David Davis is from the same Georgia high school as Morris Council. His father played in the NFL for the Packers, Saints and Steelers. Michael Baker is from St. Louis (MO) and was a tackling machine in high school. Cincinnati native Alex Kaufman is another big time recruit who stayed with his commitment to Miami even after late interest from North Carolina and NC State. He earned all-state honors and will participate in the state’s annual north/south classic. Ryan Kennedy and Jerrell Wedge round out this area.

Defensive Backs
DeAndre Gilmore is a very talented DB prospect from St. Louis (MO) who was ranked by several recruiting sources as a top-100 player at his position nationally. He drew offers from several Big 12 schools. Anthony Kokal is the younger brother of current Miami QB Mike Kokal. Cornelius Ward is from Maryland and picked MU over reported offers from UConn and Buffalo. Jonathan Wells is an undersized CB prospect from the Youngstown area.

Specialists
There were no specialists listed in this class.

Final Analysis
Miami has a lot to offer student athletes with tremendous tradition, excellent facilities, a beautiful campus, and solid academics. For those who thought that this past season’s 2-10 record would discourage recruiting efforts, you’d be wrong as Miami signed the #1 rated class by this publication. This is a solid class from top to bottom with some real high level recruits in Benton, Brooks, Gilmore, Givens and Madsen. Just having one or two of those players would have been nice but Miami was able to get a lot of early ‘verbals’ and held on to them as BCS schools attempted to steal them away throughout December and January. Very rarely have I reported on such a talented and deep class since my recruiting rankings began in 1999. This class rates as OUTSTANDING.

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