Delaware Signing Day

[93henfan]

Here's the first rough list, courtesy 72 Hen on GoHens.net:


Jake Giusti
o Fletcher High School/Neptune Beach Florida
o DB/ 5’10/175 lbs /40 yard dash - 4.4
o 1st Team All District, 2009 District Player of Year, First Coast Defensive Player of the Year, Super 24 All-Star Team (Northern Florida and Southern Georgia Area)
o 114 Tackles 18 TFLS 4 INTS, Blocked 5 kicks, 5 Defensive scores
o Offers from: FAU, William & Mary
o Recruited by: Tulane, Maryland, South Carolina
o Jake came to our one day camp last June and had a very impressive workout. We offered him a scholarship that day and he was one of our first commits.

Jamaul Christopher
o Fletcher High School/ Neptune Beach Florida
o DE/6’2/ 242 lbs/ 40 yard dash- 4.7
o 2 time First Team all District, first coast all star team, Orlando Sentinel Newspaper - 10th ranked DE in the state of Florida
o Offers from: Maryland, Illinois, FAU, Missouri State
o Recruited by: Indiana, South Carolina, UNC
o Jamaul was a former linebacker that played DE this year, very physical and explosive player.

Brandon Cheaton
o Caravel Academy/Bear, DE
o DB/6”2’/180 lbs /40 yard dash- 4.5
o 1ST Team All State, 3 sport athlete
o Offers from: JMU, UNC
o Recruited by: Rutgers & WVU
o Very versatile local athlete that did an exceptional job as a RB in High School.

Malcolm Yowk
o Caesar Rodney High School/Camden, DE
o RB / 5’9” /175 lbs /40 yard dash- 4.4
o 1st Team All-State, Rivals 3 Star Athlete
o Offers from: Rutgers, Stanford, and JMU
o Malcolm is an explosive athlete, he came to our one day workout and ran a 4.4 forty. He showed he can play both RB and slot receiver like current Blue Hen Phil Thaxton.

Laith Wallschleger
o St. Stephens & St. Agnes School/ Alexandria, Virginia
o DLine/6’4/245 lbs
o 1st Team All State both O & D, Versatile athlete who played both TE and DE in HS
o Offered by: Villanova
o Recruited by: Ivy League & CAA schools
o Laith has a great frame and can easily handle 270 pounds and will grow into an inside Defensive lineman for us.

Jake Geiser
o DeMatha Catholic H.S/Hyattsville, MD
o Center/6’3”/274 lbs
o First Team All- Washington D.C. Catholic Athletic Conference, Played on the #1 Rated team of the decade in the Maryland Area
o Offers from: UNH
o Recruited by: Ivy League & CAA
o Jake comes from a tremendous High School football program under HC Bill McGregor. Can play both center and guard. We can see him following in current Blue Hen and former DeMatha grad Rob McDowell’s footsteps.

Karim Jones
o Quince Orchard H.S/Gaithersburg, MD
o WR/6’3/210 lbs/40 yard dash - 4.6
o Selected to the Crab Bowl (Premier Maryland game)
o Offers from: UMass, Towson, New Mexico
o Karim was impressive in our one day camp, big long body that caught the ball very well and was smooth in his routes. He is a big target and has tremendous upside.

Mike Johnson
o Gainesville High School/Gainesville, FL
o Athlete/6’2/205 lbs
o Suffered a season ending injury the spring before his senior year
o Junior Year: 20 rec., 415 yards, 5 TD’s
o Recruited by: Arkansas, Missouri State, Mississippi State, LSU
o Mike would have been a national recruit if he had not gotten hurt the spring of his Jr. year. He has great athleticism for someone of his size. He stands about 6’2 200 pounds. Rehab on his knee is going great. All of his doctors say he is ahead of schedule.

Stephen Clark
o Bethel High School/Hampton, VA
o WR/6’1”/160 lbs/40 yard dash – 4.5
o All District Honors in Virginia, 2 sport athlete
o Offers from: UMASS, ODU, Towson
o Recruited by: All CAA
o Stephen has very loose hips, great route runner, played for former Blue Hen standout Dominic Banks


Justin Burns
o Alpharetta High School/Alpharetta, GA
o QB/6’5”/215 lbs
o North Fulton All-Star team, Lead Fulton County in passing yards, Set High School single season passing record
o Recruited by: Kansas, Maryland, Miami-OH, Middle Tennessee State, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern, Central Michigan, Memphis
o Justin is a big strong athletic QB that we had in person on campus this summer. We love his intelligence, the way he throws the ball, and his natural feel for the game. With the addition of Trevor Sasek last year and now Justin this year we feel we have two young outstanding quarterbacks going into the 2010 season.

Derrick Saulsberry
o Camden County High School/St. Marys, Georgia
o DE/6’3/210 lbs/ 40 yard dash: 4.6
o 1ST Team all region, Honorable Mention All- State
o 2008 Team 3rd in country, 2009 5th in country
o Offers from: Middle Tennessee, UAB
o Derrick is an athletic DE who will give us speed off the edge.

Sam Feleccia
o La Salle College HS/Pennsylvania
o TE/6’3/230 lbs/ 40 yard dash- 4.6
o MVP of State Championship Game
o Offers from: UNH ,Nova, Richmond, Temple, Akron
o Sam is very versatile football player, he was on the defensive board as a linebacker, we love his athleticism. The plan is to play him at TE but he could also big our big target WR.

J.D Durzko
o North Penn High School/North Wales, PA
o OL/6’3/285 lbs
o Selected to play in Big 33 game, 2nd Team All State, 1st Team All Southeast PA, 1ST Team All Conference
o Recruited by: CAA and Patriot League
o J.D. comes from a very strong High School program that typically produces several D1 prospects each year under HC Dick Beck. He gives us a lot of option being able to play any position on the OL.



Kyle Gayle
o Montclair High School/ Montclair, NJ
o LB/6’0”/198 lbs
o Offers from: CAA schools
o 1st Team All- Essex County, 1st Team All –Area at safety
o Had 200 yards rushing in his final game as a senior
o Kyle had scholarship offers from the CAA schools to play safety, linebacker, wide receiver, and running back. Our offense had him on their board as a running back. Kyle gives us great athleticism at the linebacker position and the ability to play many different positions on the field.

Andrew Pierce
o Cumberland Regional High School/ Blackwood, NJ
o RB/ 5’11”/200 lbs
o We liked Andrew a lot last year coming out of high school unfortunately we were filled up at the running back spot but we talked to him about coming in as a “grey shirt”. Andrew has taken a couple community college classes this fall to get ahead academically. I think Andrew gives us that big back for short yardage. Also, he is athletic enough to be an every down back and will compete this spring.

[93henfan]

Nice to get Durzko back in the class after Forst bolted for Rutgers. Durzko was leaning toward Lafayette until that hole opened.

[Rob Iola]

Luv 72Hen's postings and perspective - and wow, some nice signings!
Don't suppose we could get 72 Hen to post here every so often?

[Ivytalk]

Good to see that we actually signed a couple of blue-chip Delaware HS kids!

[Franks Tanks]

Nice to get Durzko back in the class after Forst bolted for Rutgers. Durzko was leaning toward Lafayette until that hole opened.

He was more than leaning

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/l...-dz ... yette.html

"J.D. Dzurko wanted to be a Leopard.

So, after making his official visit this past weekend, Dzurko, a 6-foot-3, 285 pound senior offensive lineman for North Penn this past season, gave a verbal commitment to attend and play football at Lafayette College in Easton.

"All the schools I was looking at had great football and great academics," Dzurko said. "I think when I visited there, I just connected with everybody there - the players, the coaches, the faculty, their engineering department. It felt right. I felt like I belonged there."

Dzurko, who started the year at center and eventually settled in at tackle for North Penn, which went undefeated and won the Suburban One League Continental Conference championship before being upset in the District One Class AAAA championship game by Ridley, thinks he'll end up at either guard or center in college.

"I'm not necessarily big enough or have the wing span to play tackle in college," he said. "I'm more of a quick, fire-off-the-ball type of lineman."

When it came to making a college choice, Dzurko had his share of suitors and was also high on Lafayette's Patriot League rival Holy Cross, but something definitely stood out at Lafayette.

Advertisement "Most of them tend to blend together," he said. "Holy Cross is a great school. I loved it up there. I felt like I really liked the coaching staff. But at Lafayette, I got a different feeling. I felt like I'd have a good time up there no matter what and the coaching staff would make me the best football player I could possibly be. That's one of the things that helped me make my choice."

The Leopards, led by 10th-year coach Frank Tavani, are coming off of an 8-3 season in which they ended with heartbreaking losses to Holy Cross and archrival Lehigh in the last two games of the season. But Lafayette is a solid program that has competed for Patriot League titles for the last decade and should continue to do so.

"They've spent a lot of time and effort building the best team they can have," Dzurko said. "They have a great facility and they get a crazy amount of people for games, especially the Lehigh game. You can tell football is a big thing in that town."

[bluehenbillk]

Seems like a good class for the Hens, I'll feel better if they announce they locked up the kicker, Baner.

[93henfan]

Seems like a good class for the Hens, I'll feel better if they announce they locked up the kicker, Baner.

Tresolini says Baner is "signing later":

http://blogs.delawareonline.com/college ... olarships/

Delaware Class of 2010 signees


Justin Burns, QB, 6-5, 215, Alpharetta (Ga.)

Brandon Cheaton, DB, 6-2, 180, Caravel (Del.)

Jamaul Christopher, LB, 6-2, 240, Fletcher (Fla.)

Stephen Clark, WR, 6-2, 160, Bethel (Va.)

John “J.D.” Dzurko, OL, 6-3, 285, North Wales (Pa.)

Sam Feliccia, TE, 6-3, 230, La Salle (Pa.)

Kyle Gayle, LB, 6-2, 195, Montclair (N.J.)

Jake Geiser, C, 6-3, 275, DeMatha (Md.)

Jake Giusti, DB, 5-11, 175, Fletcher (Fla.)

Michael Johnson, WR, 6-2, 205, Gainesville (Fla.)

Karim Jones, WR, 6-3, 210, Quince Orchard (Md.)

Andrew Pierce, RB, 5-11, 200, Cumberland (N.J.)

Derrick Saulsberry, DE, 6-3, 210, Camden Co. (Ga.)

Laith WallSchleger, DT, 6-4, 235, St. Stephens & Agnes (Va.)

Malcolm Yowk, RB, 5-9, 170, Caesar Rodney (Del.).

Verbal commit

(Signing later)

Sean Baner, K, 6-1, 185, Wm. Tennant (Pa.)

Transfers

Quincy Barr, DL, 6-3, 248, Hofstra (soph.)

Darryl Jones, S, 5-10, 184, Northeastern (sr.)

Kyle Hunte, LB, 6-2, 205, Northeastern (soph.)

[ngineer]

I can hear Frankie T's lament already, complete with three violins, viola, cello and tympani...."Oh for wont of a scholarship.."....and I agree. At the cost of a college education today, kid's decision is understandable, but let's drop the use of the word "commitment" after the word verbal...it means nothing.

[danefan]

I can hear Frankie T's lament already, complete with three violins, viola, cello and tympani...."Oh for wont of a scholarship.."....and I agree. At the cost of a college education today, kid's decision is understandable, but let's drop the use of the word "commitment" after the word verbal...it means nothing.

Timely article in the Star Ledger last week about verbal committments and the trickle down effect in recruiting of situations just like this one.

http://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/01/post_3.html

[93henfan]

I can hear Frankie T's lament already, complete with three violins, viola, cello and tympani...."Oh for wont of a scholarship.."....and I agree. At the cost of a college education today, kid's decision is understandable, but let's drop the use of the word "commitment" after the word verbal...it means nothing.

Timely article in the Star Ledger last week about verbal committments and the trickle down effect in recruiting of situations just like this one.

http://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/01/post_3.html

Yeah, no need to finger Delaware on this one. The first domino to fall was Rutgers taking Delaware's verbal Rob Forst. Delaware was just the middle man filling Forst's slot with Dzurko. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

[Franks Tanks]

Timely article in the Star Ledger last week about verbal committments and the trickle down effect in recruiting of situations just like this one.

http://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/01/post_3.html

Yeah, no need to finger Delaware on this one. The first domino to fall was Rutgers taking Delaware's verbal Rob Forst. Delaware was just the middle man filling Forst's slot with Dzurko. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

I agree this sort of thing happens all the time. The difference is that kids rarely go on and on in the paper about how great one school is and how happy they are to be there, and then change their mind less than a week later.

Have fun at Delaware JD

[SunCoastBlueHen]

I agree this sort of thing happens all the time. The difference is that kids rarely go on and on in the paper about how great one school is and how happy they are to be there, and then change their mind less than a week later.

Have fun at Delaware JD

In reality, the title of the above article should have been "J.D. Dzurko Wanted to be a Leopard - Because the Hens Hadn't Offered".

I'm sure the kid was happy at the prosepct of playing for Lafayette, but it obviously was not his first choice.

[Rob Iola]

I agree this sort of thing happens all the time. The difference is that kids rarely go on and on in the paper about how great one school is and how happy they are to be there, and then change their mind less than a week later.

Have fun at Delaware JD

In reality, the title of the above article should have been "J.D. Dzurko Wanted to be a Leopard - Because the Hens Hadn't Offered".

I'm sure the kid was happy at the prosepct of playing for Lafayette, but it obviously was not his first choice.

I think KC sealed the deal when he promised JD a new box of crayons every week - makes up for the loss of being next door to the Crayola factory...

[jlcharles]

Justin Burns
o Alpharetta High School/Alpharetta, GA
o QB/6’5”/215 lbs
o North Fulton All-Star team, Lead Fulton County in passing yards, Set High School single season passing record
o Recruited by: Kansas, Maryland, Miami-OH, Middle Tennessee State, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern, Central Michigan, Memphis
o Justin is a big strong athletic QB that we had in person on campus this summer. We love his intelligence, the way he throws the ball, and his natural feel for the game. With the addition of Trevor Sasek last year and now Justin this year we feel we have two young outstanding quarterbacks going into the 2010 season.

With KC's track record on quarterbacks, I don't understand why a QB recruited by all of those schools would choose UD. (I have no idea if he was offered from any of them, but still.)

[93henfan]

Justin Burns
o Alpharetta High School/Alpharetta, GA
o QB/6’5”/215 lbs
o North Fulton All-Star team, Lead Fulton County in passing yards, Set High School single season passing record
o Recruited by: Kansas, Maryland, Miami-OH, Middle Tennessee State, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern, Central Michigan, Memphis
o Justin is a big strong athletic QB that we had in person on campus this summer. We love his intelligence, the way he throws the ball, and his natural feel for the game. With the addition of Trevor Sasek last year and now Justin this year we feel we have two young outstanding quarterbacks going into the 2010 season.

With KC's track record on quarterbacks, I don't understand why a QB recruited by all of those schools would choose UD. (I have no idea if he was offered from any of them, but still.)

Maybe he doesn't like Villanova?

[jlcharles]

With KC's track record on quarterbacks, I don't understand why a QB recruited by all of those schools would choose UD. (I have no idea if he was offered from any of them, but still.)

Maybe he doesn't like Villanova?

What does Villanova have to do with it? Villanova wasn't on that list.

[YoUDeeMan]

Maybe he doesn't like Villanova?

What does Villanova have to do with it? Villanova wasn't on that list.

He doesn't like nova...he came here to beat the snot out of them for 5 straight years.

[GannonFan]

Justin Burns
o Alpharetta High School/Alpharetta, GA
o QB/6’5”/215 lbs
o North Fulton All-Star team, Lead Fulton County in passing yards, Set High School single season passing record
o Recruited by: Kansas, Maryland, Miami-OH, Middle Tennessee State, Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern, Central Michigan, Memphis
o Justin is a big strong athletic QB that we had in person on campus this summer. We love his intelligence, the way he throws the ball, and his natural feel for the game. With the addition of Trevor Sasek last year and now Justin this year we feel we have two young outstanding quarterbacks going into the 2010 season.

With KC's track record on quarterbacks, I don't understand why a QB recruited by all of those schools would choose UD. (I have no idea if he was offered from any of them, but still.)

Well, even though the success at QB has all been with transfers since KC got here, there's also no denying the fact that there's been plenty of success at the QB position as well. Of the QB's who played here (Hall, Riccio, Flacco, Schoenhoft, and Devlin) two of them (Hall and Flacco) got drafted and Devlin is a virtual lock to be drafted as well. And only one of the five was a dud. Not too many schools have 3 of their last 5 QB's get drafted to the NFL. There's certainly a drawback to all of them being transfers, but there is a positive to it to.

[henfan]

And, of course, it doesn't hurt that UD's also had a few other QBs go to the NFL: Komlo, Brunner & Gannon.