ACU adds depth on both lines on Signing Day
2/1/2017 5:05:00 PM | Football
Class of 2017 Bios
ABILENE, Texas – One of the first things that stood out to first-year ACU head football coach Adam Dorrel when he took the job in December was the lack of depth along both the offensive and defensive lines. He knew both of those areas to be addressed when February and National Signing Day rolled around, and he stressed that throughout the six weeks he and his staff had to recruit for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats began addressing the needs in both of those areas Wednesday when they signed eight linemen among the 16 high school signees who inked binding national letters of intent on the first day prep players can sign those agreements. Five of the seven are offensive linemen and three are defensive linemen. Those numbers could grow larger over the next few weeks as Dorrel has said from the outset of the recruiting process that he would hold back "a couple of scholarships" for late signees.
"We needed more depth along both the offensive and defensive lines, and at every position within those groups," Dorrel said. "I think we hit a home run with our offensive line group. We picked up two good defensive ends, but we'll be looking to continue to add to that area as we go through the spring and into the summer."On the offensive line, the Wildcats added local products Kade Parmelly of Abilene Wylie, Peyton Bird of Eastland, as well as Everett
Gunnoe of Krum, Kage Hendrix of Ennis and Clay Padgett of Edmond (Okla.) North High School. Those five players average 6-4, 290 pounds as entering freshmen.
"The offensive line was our primary area of concern, mainly because we only have nine scholarship guys going into spring and a couple of those guys are coming off surgery," Dorrel said. "We feel really good about all of them. Obviously they'll provide more depth, and that's crucial at this level of college football."
Along the defensive front, the Wildcats picked up three defensive ends in Kameron Hill of Stafford High School, Cordell Ijoma of Cypress Falls in Houston and Jack Gibbens of Smithson Valley.
Aside from the two defensive linemen, the Wildcats also addressed needs in the secondary by signing four cornerbacks. Two of those cornerbacks – Dante Williams of Frisco Lone Star and Obbina Udoye of Cedar Park – were late commits, who should really help in the secondary. ACU also signed Koy Richardson of Angleton and C.J. Wall of Plano East. Two of them – Udoye at 6-1, 180 and Williams at 6-1, 190 – are long, rangy athletes, the type of secondary player the Wildcats are likely to sign more of in coming years."We're trying to find more 'cornerback bodies' and get them spread out throughout the secondary," Dorrel said. "The way offenses attack these days, you'd better have some guys on the field who can cover, and we feel good about these four guys."
Aside from the offensive linemen, the Wildcats signed two tight ends in Remington Lutz of Belton High School and Jackson Pace of Pleasant Grove High School. ACU also added former Abilene High standout Qua'Shawn Washington, who played both defensive back and receiver for the Eagles. He'll play a position called "C-Back" in Dorrel's offense at ACU.
"We're excited about each of the local kids we're adding," Dorrel said in reference to Bird, Parmelly and Washington. "This position that Qua'Shawn will be playing is a hybrid position. It's bigger than a traditional tailback because you want a guy who can block in space, catch the ball out of the backfield and run in tough, short-yardage situations. Qua'Shawn is a thick kid
(6-0, 205), and I think he'll be really good in that role."
ACU also added kicker / punter Cole Yeatts of Trinity Christian Academy. And the Wildcats also added a transfer quarterback in Bryce Baccarini, who has already enrolled in school and is on campus. Baccarini red-shirted last season at Trinity Valley Community College after a stellar career at Keller High School and will have four seasons of eligibility remaining.
Dorrel said the toughest part about putting together his first signing class at ACU – other than the fact that he and his staff only had about 45 days to get it done – was that they really didn't have a grasp on what the roster needed when they hit the recruiting trail.
"We haven't really worked with our guys yet in a practice setting to see what we have and what we might need, so that made this year tougher," Dorrel said. "Obviously that will be different moving forward, but this year all we really had was film of last year to see where we thought we were solid and where we thought we needed help."
Dorrel emphasized that the recruiting for the 2017 season isn't complete and that the Wildcats will be looking to add depth on both lines, as well as a couple of other spots.
"Our coaching staff did a phenomenal job in limited time to get this class together," Dorrel said. "Our numbers are good, but we did an even better job of not over-spending our scholarship money, and that will help us later.
"I can't say enough about the support of the people on campus during this entire process, from (ACU president) Dr. Phil Schubert to (director of athletics) Lee De Leon and down the line," Dorrel said. "You've got to have buy-in from people all over campus to make this work, and we had that.
"Tamara Long (Dean of Admissions) was terrific, as was everyone in Admissions and those who do the campus tours," he said. "The staff at The Bean did a great job with meals on our recruiting visits, and Sgt. Sheila Burton with the ACU Police Department was phenomenal in getting us into buildings for tours when no one was on campus.
"Todd Mullins (senior graphic designer in Creative Services) did terrific work with our graphics, and Grant Abston (assistant director of athletics for recruiting), Chris Ballard (assistant director of athletics for academics), Tyler Wright (assistant director of athletics for compliance) and Jeff Bourque (director of strength and conditioning) and his staff were terrific with the kids on visits, as were Adam Ybarra (director of sports medicine / head athletic trainer) and Brendon Powers (assistant athletics trainer). And I can't forget Susan Hardcastle (executive assistant to the director of athletics / Chief of Staff) and Amy McAlister (administrative assistant) for everything they did for us to make everything run smoothly. It takes a lot of people to pull off a signing class, and I'm grateful to each one of those people for helping us put this together."
ABILENE, Texas – One of the first things that stood out to first-year ACU head football coach Adam Dorrel when he took the job in December was the lack of depth along both the offensive and defensive lines. He knew both of those areas to be addressed when February and National Signing Day rolled around, and he stressed that throughout the six weeks he and his staff had to recruit for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats began addressing the needs in both of those areas Wednesday when they signed eight linemen among the 16 high school signees who inked binding national letters of intent on the first day prep players can sign those agreements. Five of the seven are offensive linemen and three are defensive linemen. Those numbers could grow larger over the next few weeks as Dorrel has said from the outset of the recruiting process that he would hold back "a couple of scholarships" for late signees.
"We needed more depth along both the offensive and defensive lines, and at every position within those groups," Dorrel said. "I think we hit a home run with our offensive line group. We picked up two good defensive ends, but we'll be looking to continue to add to that area as we go through the spring and into the summer."On the offensive line, the Wildcats added local products Kade Parmelly of Abilene Wylie, Peyton Bird of Eastland, as well as Everett
Gunnoe of Krum, Kage Hendrix of Ennis and Clay Padgett of Edmond (Okla.) North High School. Those five players average 6-4, 290 pounds as entering freshmen.
"The offensive line was our primary area of concern, mainly because we only have nine scholarship guys going into spring and a couple of those guys are coming off surgery," Dorrel said. "We feel really good about all of them. Obviously they'll provide more depth, and that's crucial at this level of college football."
Along the defensive front, the Wildcats picked up three defensive ends in Kameron Hill of Stafford High School, Cordell Ijoma of Cypress Falls in Houston and Jack Gibbens of Smithson Valley.
Aside from the two defensive linemen, the Wildcats also addressed needs in the secondary by signing four cornerbacks. Two of those cornerbacks – Dante Williams of Frisco Lone Star and Obbina Udoye of Cedar Park – were late commits, who should really help in the secondary. ACU also signed Koy Richardson of Angleton and C.J. Wall of Plano East. Two of them – Udoye at 6-1, 180 and Williams at 6-1, 190 – are long, rangy athletes, the type of secondary player the Wildcats are likely to sign more of in coming years."We're trying to find more 'cornerback bodies' and get them spread out throughout the secondary," Dorrel said. "The way offenses attack these days, you'd better have some guys on the field who can cover, and we feel good about these four guys."
Aside from the offensive linemen, the Wildcats signed two tight ends in Remington Lutz of Belton High School and Jackson Pace of Pleasant Grove High School. ACU also added former Abilene High standout Qua'Shawn Washington, who played both defensive back and receiver for the Eagles. He'll play a position called "C-Back" in Dorrel's offense at ACU.
"We're excited about each of the local kids we're adding," Dorrel said in reference to Bird, Parmelly and Washington. "This position that Qua'Shawn will be playing is a hybrid position. It's bigger than a traditional tailback because you want a guy who can block in space, catch the ball out of the backfield and run in tough, short-yardage situations. Qua'Shawn is a thick kid
(6-0, 205), and I think he'll be really good in that role."
ACU also added kicker / punter Cole Yeatts of Trinity Christian Academy. And the Wildcats also added a transfer quarterback in Bryce Baccarini, who has already enrolled in school and is on campus. Baccarini red-shirted last season at Trinity Valley Community College after a stellar career at Keller High School and will have four seasons of eligibility remaining.
Dorrel said the toughest part about putting together his first signing class at ACU – other than the fact that he and his staff only had about 45 days to get it done – was that they really didn't have a grasp on what the roster needed when they hit the recruiting trail.
"We haven't really worked with our guys yet in a practice setting to see what we have and what we might need, so that made this year tougher," Dorrel said. "Obviously that will be different moving forward, but this year all we really had was film of last year to see where we thought we were solid and where we thought we needed help."
Dorrel emphasized that the recruiting for the 2017 season isn't complete and that the Wildcats will be looking to add depth on both lines, as well as a couple of other spots.
"Our coaching staff did a phenomenal job in limited time to get this class together," Dorrel said. "Our numbers are good, but we did an even better job of not over-spending our scholarship money, and that will help us later.
"I can't say enough about the support of the people on campus during this entire process, from (ACU president) Dr. Phil Schubert to (director of athletics) Lee De Leon and down the line," Dorrel said. "You've got to have buy-in from people all over campus to make this work, and we had that.
"Tamara Long (Dean of Admissions) was terrific, as was everyone in Admissions and those who do the campus tours," he said. "The staff at The Bean did a great job with meals on our recruiting visits, and Sgt. Sheila Burton with the ACU Police Department was phenomenal in getting us into buildings for tours when no one was on campus.
"Todd Mullins (senior graphic designer in Creative Services) did terrific work with our graphics, and Grant Abston (assistant director of athletics for recruiting), Chris Ballard (assistant director of athletics for academics), Tyler Wright (assistant director of athletics for compliance) and Jeff Bourque (director of strength and conditioning) and his staff were terrific with the kids on visits, as were Adam Ybarra (director of sports medicine / head athletic trainer) and Brendon Powers (assistant athletics trainer). And I can't forget Susan Hardcastle (executive assistant to the director of athletics / Chief of Staff) and Amy McAlister (administrative assistant) for everything they did for us to make everything run smoothly. It takes a lot of people to pull off a signing class, and I'm grateful to each one of those people for helping us put this together."
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