 "Photo: Jason Mack / IC")
UT Head Coach Tim Beckman announced his 2010 football recruiting class yesterday at Savage Arena. The group of 26 ranks as the No. 1 class in the Mid-American Conference by both Rivals.com and Scout.com, two of the top recruiting analyzers in the nation.
“We are very pleased with the student-athletes we are bringing into our program,” said Beckman. “Our staff worked extremely hard to find student-athletes who fit the qualities within the Rocket family. This is a very talented and committed group. They will be a major part of our program for the next four or five years. We expect the class of 2010 to meet our expectations.”
The Rockets recruiting class was ranked 67th in the nation by Rivals, ahead of four Big Ten teams (Illinois, 69; Northwestern, 77; Wisconsin, 86; Indiana, 92). Toledo beat out Temple (76) for the MAC’s best class according to Rivals, as well as arch-rival Bowling Green (105) and defending league champion Central Michigan (111). Other notable teams UT finished ahead of include Wake Forest (68), South Florida (76) and Boise State (82). Rivals named Toledo one of the “top recruiting surprises in 2010.”
Scout ranked the Rockets as the 74th class in the country, two ahead of Temple. Toledo also has the highest average player ranking for their recruits in the conference, with an average of 2.18 stars per recruit compared to second-place Bowling Green (2.09), who has the fifth-ranked class in the league and the 89th in the nation. The Rockets also rank ahead of teams such as Boise State (96) and Kansas State (99) on Scout.
Toledo’s recruiting class consists of 13 players on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. On offense, the Rockets brought in five wide receivers, four lineman, two quarterbacks and one running back and tight end. Defensively, UT added a class-high six lineman along with three linebackers and cornerbacks and one safety.
The Rockets have three “four star” recruits in wide receivers James Green, Cordale Scott and cornerback Taikwon Paige. Green is the lone “four star” who will enter the UT program as a freshman. Green went to Tallahassee Leon where he played with projected Toledo starting sophomore quarterback Austin Dantin.
“James is an exceptional talent and a great young man. He was one of the top-rated wide receivers coming out of the southeast a year ago. He played with Austin Dantin in high school so those two know each other very well.”
Paige is a Junior College transfer from Georgia Military College where he earned All-America honors. Paige will be a junior at UT next season.
“We recruited Taikwon when I was at Oklahoma State so I am well aware of what he can do. He is an exceptional talent with excellent speed who played at a great football program in high school. We expect him to come in and help us right away.”
Scott transferred from Illinois after two seasons and will not be eligible to play until 2011. Scott will also enter the program as a junior and was rated as the 31st best receiver coming out of high school by Rivals in 2008.
The Rockets added 14 recruits from Ohio, including two from Toledo at Rogers High School in quarterback E.J. Tucker and linebacker Ray Bush.
The class will look to replace 19 seniors including Beau Brudzinski, Barry Church, DaJuane Collins, Aaron Opelt, Lester Richmond, Alex Steigerwald, and Stephen Williams.
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