Overview:Central Michigan signed a 19-member class where nine members come from
their home state.CMU brought in
players from eight other states as well.This
is down from the previous two classes by Coach Mike DeBord, where 13 and 15
players respectively came from their home state.This current class is set up nicely with six linemen and thirteen skill
position players.Within that mix,
four players listed as LBs and five as WRs.CMU was able to get some good size and speed across the board.
Highlights:
Jovan
Witherspoon was a high school All-American from Fort Wayne (IN) and had
offers from several schools, including Notre Dame.He played his freshman year at Northwestern before transferring to a
junior college last year.He
has now resurfaced at CMU, and chose the ‘Chips
over North Carolina & Utah.He
should make an immediate impact.
Two
highly touted recruits for the ‘Chips
both play LB.Anthony Rogers was rated as the #9 player in Michigan by
the Detroit Free Press and #21 ranked ILB in the country by Rivals.com while
De’Onte Burnam was rated the #54
ILB by Insiders.com in the country.
CMU
got several speedy players in this class, including RB Jemmy Jasmin & WR
Jerry Seymour, who both run in the low 4.4s/40.
DE
Eric Tunney comes from a very small town in Michigan, but made a lot of
heads turn this year in his play on the field, earning All-State honors from
a school few have heard about.
Only
one DB was brought in for a pass defense that ranked 13th of 14
in the MAC in 2002.
Final
Thoughts:
Central
Michigan brought in a class that ranks as VERY
GOOD compared to other MAC schools this year.The LBs are likely the best crop of any school and some big
play WRs were brought in along with more perimeter speed to jump-start an
average offense.The only thing
really missing here is one or two impact CBs, which CMU could definitely use in
this now-becoming pass-happy conference.
