Overview:Kent State brought in a huge class of 31 recruits for their 2003 class.This is more than the 25 player limit that the NCAA permits, though three
count towards last years class and three others will delay entry.From this large group of recruits, 14 are linemen while 9 are
RBs/DBs.In a continue effort for
regionalized recruiting, Kent State mined Maryland and Virginia again for
players.The heaviest recruited
states are as follow: Ohio (9), Pennsylvania (5) & Florida (4), along with
Maryland & Virginia.Of
these 31 players, only one is listed as a LB.
Highlights:
Justin
Aderhold comes from the same school that has produced current Kent State
players Joshua Cribbs & Darryl Dowery.
The
three most heavily recruited players in this class are RB Kevin Beverly (NC
State); WR Cameron Bobb (Iowa) & OL Flordell Kissee (West Virginia).
RB
Luke Tillman is a tremendous prospect from Elyria (OH).A big kid at 220 lbs. with 4.6 speed, he was one of the highest rated
sophomores in the Midwest two years ago, suffered a terrible knee injury as
a junior, then recovered to rush for over 1,500 yards as a senior in the
rugged Lake Eire League of greater Cleveland.
Speed
was addressed in this class as eight players have a reported speed of 4.5/40
or better.
KSU
is finally tapping into the fertile recruiting land of their native NE Ohio
under Dean Pees.In Pees first
year as head coach here, KSU made 18 offers to local players and got one
verbal.This year they made 14
offers and received 8 verbals from local talent.
Final
Thoughts:
Kent
State brought in the biggest class of prospects I have ever witnessed by any
school.Having 20 graduating
seniors and being below the 85-man scholarship limit gave Kent State a lot of
room to find bodies, and they did just that.There is more speed in this class than previous KSU recruiting seasons
and some good size on the line.Kent
State is actively going head-to-head with better schools for players and
actually won a few of these recruiting battles.Overall this class rates as AVERAGE
compared to other MAC schools this year, but please take note, Pees is doing a
good job at selling a program that has very limited football tradition and no
fan support.
