MAC Football

MAC Basketball

The View: Coach Mike DeBord brought in a fine class of 18 players from three states and one player from Canada. Wanting to return to the roots that once made this a proud program under then coach Herb Derometi, DeBord signed 13 players from Michigan including six Top-50 players according to the Detroit Free Press and six All-state selections. The Chippewas have always been know for big and physical linemen and they added more players to the bunch with Jay Gillette (6’2’’ 285), Robert Stranger (6’4’’ 340) and Eric Karbowski (6’3’’ 294). OL Drew Mormino was a lightly recruited All-State player from Illinois. With a little time in the weight room, CMU may have found a real gem in him. Addressing the need in the MAC to combat the high powered passing offenses that are popping up at almost every school, CMU signed seven DBs. The best of the bunch is Dennis Doe who could end up at either FS, SS or OLB. He was a first-team all-state LB from the Detroit Public League, had 181 tackles and is known as a big time hitter. Charles "Scooter" Archie is a guy who comes from a great high school program and may make a quick impact also. Needing to get a little bigger and faster on the offensive perimeter, CMU found Markus Naves who could play as a true freshman. The DBs brought in, Orlando Walton & Doug Kress, Charles Archie & Jason Smith, all are good athletes who can play a variety of positions in Central’s 4-4 attack defense.

Analysis: I really like how this coaching staff is going back to basics and getting some of the top players in Michigan again. Getting six of the state’s top 50 is impressive and Central can really become a force again in this conference if they continue to get the home-grown talent. Along the way though, the ‘Chips lost out on some very good players to MAC rivals Toledo and Bowling Green, and found very few ‘namers’ from other areas. Also, two players who gave verbals to CMU backed off on signing day, so look for the Chippewas to add a person or two to this class down the line. Central has some wonderful facilities so this program could be doing a little better at attracting some higher-level players. With that said, this is still ranks between VERY GOOD & AVERAGE compared to other MAC schools, but certainly adds some much needed talent that can have an immediate impact for this program.