Inside stories behind Air Force's football recruiting class
Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, The Gazette looked at all aspects of the Air Force recruiting class on the Air Force sports blog at gazetteafasports.freedomblogging.com. Here are the posts, with all the Falcons' highlights from national signing day:
At one point, Kola Alli was getting all the attention from colleges you’d expect from a player who was strong enough to play defensive end and could run a 4.65-second 40-yard dash.
Alli, who is from Kennedale, Texas, said he had gotten some preliminary interest from schools like Texas A&M, Georgia Tech and Michigan State. He had also heard from Air Force.
Then over the summer, in a 7-on-7 tournament, he went down with a bad knee injury.
“I was just sitting there thinking ‘Am I going to be able to play this season?’” Alli said.
The news that he had a torn anterior cruciate ligament let him know his senior season wouldn’t happen. Then he started wondering about what might happen after high school.
“I was worried,” Alli said. “I thought it would wipe out all chances of me playing college ball.”
Alli said the attention from colleges stopped, but Air Force kept its offer on the table. He was thrilled when he heard from Air defensive line coach Ron Burton, who recruits that area and reaffirmed Air Force’s offer for him to come.
“I felt relieved after that; that was a load off my shoulders,” said Alli, who will probably be an outside linebacker in college.
Alli will go to the prep school next year (assuming he’s healthy, or he could postpone that another year) and then can come to the academy. He still is rehabilitating the knee – he said he has started running and cutting a little bit and said he is feeling good – and he might be one of the more appreciative recruits in the nation on Wednesday, which is national signing day across the country.
“I’m lucky,” Alli said. “I’m definitely lucky to be able to do this.”
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Air Force has had a good run of kickers over the past few years, in part because it takes the position seriously in recruiting. As such, the Falcons got commitments from a pair of talented kickers: Drew Oehrle of Indianapolis, and Garrett Owens of Arroyo Grande, Calif. Oehrle was a first-team 4A all-state pick by Associated Press and Owens was named first-team all-state among California’s Division II schools by MaxPreps.
But, part of national signing day is also disappointment about losing a player late. Owens said late Tuesday night that he had changed his mind, and would be attending Oregon State. He had considered Oregon State and Cal after taking official visits to both schools had offered “grayshirt” status, meaning his eligibility would start in the second semester of next school year.
“Coach (Mike) Riley and (special teams coach Bruce) Read really sold me on the program and my future,” said Owens in an email late Tuesday. “I do have a dream to play at the next level and this would be best for me.”
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While Connor Dietz is the favorite to start at quarterback next season for Air Force, the Falcons should have some competition at the spot, and as usual, are bringing in a few other interesting quarterback recruits for the future.
Jaleel Awini and Dano Graves shared time at quarterback at the prep school and played well last year, and they should be at the academy in the fall. Mitch Griebel, who had some good moments in training camp last year, and Kale Pearson are a couple of other young quarterbacks in the program that will be battling for spots on a depth chart.
Air Force has a few more quarterbacks in this year’s recruiting class. The best could be Je’rod Evans, from Mansfield, Texas. He picked Air Force over North Texas, and in the mold of Tim Jefferson, he seems to have good passing ability. He had 1,871 yards and 25 touchdowns passing last year, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“I think I can throw the ball very well, any route,” said Evans, who will be going to the prep school. “Also, I have running ability.”
The Falcons’ offense has expanded during Troy Calhoun’s time as coach, and Air Force passes the ball more than when Fisher DeBerry was head coach. Evans said he looked up the way Air Force’s offense has become more balanced, and that appealed to him.
“The coaches told me everything is run through the quarterback – if they believe you can throw the ball, they’ll throw the ball. If you can do both, they’ll do both,” Evans said. “I think I can bring that to Air Force as I develop my talents.”
Evans will be joined in the class by quarterbacks A.J. Bilyeu of Bartlett, Ill.
Bilyeu is another dual threat quarterback who threw for 47 touchdowns in high school.
“When college coaches would come in, or call me about his film, they would always comment about how exceptional his footwork was,” Bilyeu’s high school offensive coordinator Eric Ilich said. “The combination of great footwork and a strong arm resulted in 47 touchdown strikes in his career. His potential as a runner is obvious, he is a true dual threat quarterback and should have an impact both running and throwing the football at Air Force.”
Here’s coach Troy Calhoun’s official blanket statement on signing day:
“We’ve had tremendous support from our administration and staff with the recent commitments of our recruiting class,” Calhoun said in the release. “Our coaches work diligently to identify and educate outstanding young men of the challenging standards at the United States Air Force Academy. Our charge and our purpose is clearly conveyed - develop leaders of character for our country – while still playing competitive college football.”
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For schools that get most of their players from their own state, it's not surprising to have old friends cross paths in recruiting. It's a little more unusual for Air Force, which recruits all across the country.
When Hal Lamb of (the coincidentally named) Calhoun High School in Calhoun, Ga., got a call from Air Force about defensive end Reed Allen, it came from an old friend. Lamb and Falcons offensive line coach Clay Hendrix grew up across the street from each other.
"He and I played high school ball together," Lamb said. "We’re really good friends. We’re glad to get somebody there finally at Air Force."
Lamb said he and Hendrix - who he remembered as a "really good offensive guard and linebacker" still talk to each other about four or five times a year.
The connection was pretty strong when Air Force started recruiting receiver Andrej Suttles from East Paulding High School in Dallas, Ga. The Falcons contacted East Paulding coach John Reid - who happens to be the father of Colton Reid, Air Force's long snapper the past three years.
The connection didn't hurt. John Reid said he thought Colton was helpful in recruiting the talented Suttles to the academy.
"When you look at the character of the coaches at Air Force - coach (Troy) Calhoun, coach (Charlton) Warren, coach Hendrix - and you look at the type of student-athlete that he met at the academy, it was not a difficult sell," John Reid said. "We simply told him about the academy."
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Last year, one of the biggest stories of Air Force's recruiting class was luring good, quality players from Colorado. That isn't always the case for the Falcons, whose depth chart for the Military Bowl had just one Colorado player, linebacker Jamil Cooks. That's 43 out-of-state players on the first and second team, and one from in state.
“When you look back through the years, whenever we’ve had really good football teams at the Air Force Academy, almost invariably we’ve had a couple Colorado kids that have played significantly or been starters,” Calhoun said on signing day last year. “We’re going to know every kid in the state.”
This year, there won't be the same impact from in state on Air Force's recruiting class. Among the known recruits Air Force has commitments from, only one comes from Colorado.
The good news for the Falcons is that one in-state player could be pretty good. Cornerback Gavin McHenry, from Chaparral High School in Parker, also had offers from Connecticut and Wyoming, but chose to go to Air Force instead. He's tall, at 6-foot, and one of the top sprinters in Colorado prep track and field.
"Gavin is a great kid in addition to being a talented athlete," said John Vogt, his high school coach. "I think he is definitely going to be a good player at Air Force Academy."
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Every year, high school football recruits pick one of the service academies over one or both of the other two. Air Force, Navy and Army all fish in the same small pool of qualified recruits, so it's bound to happen.
Air Force and Navy, in particular, have intense recruiting battles. This year, defensive ends Ryan Watson and David Harris, running backs Markez Davis and Nnaji Omenye, offensive lineman Brandon Greene and defensive linemen Randy Frost and Tanner Fleming were among the players reportedly being sought by Navy and Air Force who eventually settled on the Falcons.
The decision by Jalen Noble of St. Francis DeSales High School in Ohio was a little more involved than that. The other players choosing between service academies probably didn't have their dad's classmates at his 25th class reunion trying to convince him to follow his father's footsteps and go to Army.
Bill Noble played three seasons for Army football, as a wide receiver. When his son, a talented cornerback, started looking into his college choices, Bill Noble was hopeful he would end up at West Point.
"I went into it hoping Jalen would make the decision to go to Army," Bill Noble said. "The institution has a soft spot in my heart. The more we went through the process, Air Force just has a dynamic staff and the program is first class. It was just impressive. I think it’s a better fit for Jalen, knowing his personality and what he wants to do."
Bill Noble said his classmates - including some who lobbied Jalen during the visit to West Point to play for the Black Knights - were split when they heard the news. Some were happy for Jalen. Some couldn't believe he didn't go to Army.
Jalen Noble said he enjoyed Colorado Springs, liked that Air Force had been to five straight bowl games, liked the academy, and the coaching staff impressed him.
"Nothing against the coaching staffs of the other academies, but the staff at Air Force is one of best I’ve ever dealt with," Jalen Noble said.
Jalen Noble said when his dad was on his visit with him at Air Force, he cracked some jokes but thought his father enjoyed the academy as well. Bill Noble said he's just proud of his son and glad he made his own decision that he is comfortable with, although he can't completely shake his Army roots when he talks about it.
"As tough as it is for me to start wearing blue, I’ll be there to cheer him on," Bill Noble said with a laugh. "I’ll always be a West Point graduate but I’ll be wearing blue on Saturdays."
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One of the best players in Air Force’s class might be one of the last to join. The Falcons got huge news when Reggie Barnes, a 6-2, 215-pound defensive end/tight end/receiver from Berkeley Prep in Tampa, Fla. said he would be coming to Air Force. The announcement came from a Twitter posting from the Berkeley football program.
According to Rivals.com, Barnes had offers from Arizona State, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Florida International, Pittsburgh, Presbyterian, Rice, VMI and Wofford. Devils Digest said Monday night that Barnes’ choices were down to Air Force, Arizona State and Cornell. Arizona State’s Rivals.com site pegged the Sun Devils as the favorite a little more than a week ago after his visit to the campus. He could be a fantastic rush linebacker for the Falcons, if he ends up at that position.
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Maybe the venue was a bit different for each of them - a school library for one, the gymnasium for another - but at dozens of schools around the country, high school seniors sat at a table and proudly signed on to go play football at Air Force.
For A.J. Bilyeu, a quarterback from Bartlett, Ill., it was in a room in his school's main office. He was joined by his principal, coaches from every level of his football career, teachers, family and friends.
"I was kind of sitting in the room ready to take these pictures, and I noticed how many people were involved," Bilyeu said. "It was cool to see how many people helped me get to where I was. It was humbling."
That scene played out many places, whether it was offensive lineman A.J. Ruechel in a shirt and tie signing his "certificate of intent" (Air Force doesn't have National Letter of Intent because incoming cadets go through the appointment process), or running back Andrew Long hoping Air Force plays the Sooners, who ignored him in recruiting despite being from in state, players had their moment in the sun.
"I committed because this is a chance of a lifetime to get one of the best educations in the nation, while competing at the highest level of college football," said linebacker Spencer Hammitt, from Glendale, Ariz. "Once I had gotten a chance to get on campus and see everything, it all just felt right and I knew I wanted to be a Falcon."
"I liked the fact that I am going to get to play Division I football and serve my country afterwards," said offensive lineman Jacob Nesmith of Cumming, Ga.
"I noticed the Air Force Academy is one of the most prestigious universities in the United States," said running back Devin Rushing of DeSoto, Texas. "That’s one of the first things I realized. And what better way to go to college than being able to play football and serve my country? That’s two thumbs up there."
In addition to being a very fun day for the 2012 class, it was also a bit of a relief.
"It was definitely pretty cool to see all the hard work pay off, and the hectic season of recruiting to come to an end officially," Bilyeu said. "It was a celebration."
