UMC Football Signs 27 Players

CROOKSTON, Minn. - The University of Minnesota Crookston football team announced the signing of 27 student-athletes to National Letters of Intent or Offers of Admission Wednesday evening. The signing class is the first under Head Coach Mike Fritze, who officially had the interim tag removed following the 2013 season. The Golden Eagle recruiting class was highlighted by 17 players from right in UMC’s backyard in Minnesota and North Dakota. The 17 regional players is one of the highest totals the Golden Eagles have had within the state of Minnesota and North Dakota in recent history.

“Going into this recruiting season, we had two focuses, one was to attempt to gather more players from Minnesota and North Dakota and that was job number one,” Fritze said. “I think we did a pretty good job in that regard with the 17 games from the region. We do have another couple of players from Minnesota that we think will sign in the next couple of days.”

In addition, the Golden Eagles also addressed their need to improve in the trenches as they signed seven offensive lineman and six defensive lineman to both improve the talent and the numbers at both of those positions.

“The second thing we looked to do in our class was working on our numbers in the offensive and defensive line,” Fritze said. “We got 13 more guys between those positions who are going to make our team bigger, stronger and more physical.”

In addition, UMC added four defensive backs, two quarterbacks, four running backs and four wide receivers. On top of recruiting North Dakota and Minnesota, the Golden Eagles continued to recruit the nation, bringing in two playrs from California, two players from Georgia, three players from Texas, one player from Hawai’i, one player from Florida, one player from North Carolina.

“I think we had a good balance overall in our class, not only did we get some good linemen but we also some very good skill position players come and sign with us,” Fritze said. “We have had some good defensive players sign. Overall we are pretty happy with the way signing day went.”

10 of the signees were on the defensive side of the ball, while the other 17 were offensive players.

Overall, UMC had 23 players sign National Letters of Intent who are coming directly from high school. In addition, two transfers signed National Letters of Intent and two players signed Offers of Admission.

The student-athletes listed today as having signed National Letters of Intent or Offers of Admission to play at University of Minnesota, Crookston have been verified by the UMC Compliance Office once they sign the National Letter of Intent and financial aid agreement or once the student-athlete has accepted an Offer of Admission from UMC.

The Golden Eagles are coming off a 2-9 season in their first season under Mike Fritze including two huge victories over conference rivals Bemidji State University as they snapped a losing streak against the Beavers to capture the “Hubcap Trophy” and defeated Minnesota State University Moorhead to win the “State Farm Traveling Trophy.”

2014 Football Signing Class

National Letters of Intent (23)
Jamaal Burgess/DB/5-11 185/Miami, Fla./Killian H.S.
Dannie Dunbar/DL/5-11 240/Eitzen, Minn./Caledonia H.S.
J.W. Froehlich/WR/6-2 190/Selfridge, N.D./Flasher H.S.
Derek Greene/DL/6-0 235/Covington, Ga./Newton H.S.
Jordan Hester/RB/WR/5-8 180/Arlington, Texas/Mansfield Summit H.S.
Matt Hunt/RB/5-11 210/New Brighton, Minn./Mounds View H.S.
Kam Jones/OL/6-2 250/Douglasville, Ga./Westlake H.S.
Noah Lee/OL/6-5 276/White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake H.S.
Tyus Lewis/WR/5-5 165/Dallas, Texas/Bryan Adams H.S.
Christopher Lofquist/DB/6-1 200/St. Paul, Minn./South St. Paul H.S.
Michael Mabe/DL/6-2 230/Chatfield, Minn./Chatfield H.S.
Tim Mack/RB/5-11 190/Inglewood, Calif./Army-Navy H.S.
Wes Mann/OL/6-2 260/Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids H.S.
Kamron Matejcek/OL/6-3 280/Brocket, N.D./Lakota H.S.
Tim McCarthy/QB/6-2 217/Maplewood, Minn./Tartan H.S.
Julian McElroy/OL/6-1 290/Sacramento, Calif./Del Campo H.S.
J.T. Moran/OL/6-5 285/Colleyville, Texas/L.D. Bell H.S.
Jacob Newman/DB/6-1 180/White Bear Lake, Minn.White Bear Lake H.S.
Gus Phillips/DL/6-0 190/Blue Earth, Minn./Blue Earth H.S.
Tommy Singer/QB/6-2 190/Apple Valley, Minn./Apple Valley H.S.
Tory Slater/DL/6-1 330/Barnum, Minn./Barnum H.S.
Benjamin Taliulu/DL/5-10 250/Aiea, Hawai’i/Aiea H.S.
Dion Wallisch/DB/5-11 170/Oakdale, Minn./Tartan H.S.

Transfers (2)
Dinkin Miller/RB/5-8 185/Salisbury, N.C./Eastern Arizona College
Tyler O’Brien/OL/6-3 283/Staples, Minn./Central Lakes C.C.

Offers of Admission (2)
Ali Al-Khatib/RB/5-10185/Rosemount, Minn./Rosemount H.S.
Burrell Flanagan/WR/6-3 210/Brainerd, Minn./Vermillion C.C.