HOOSIERS SIGN TWENTY-TWO ON NATIONAL SIGNING DAY
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana head football coach Kevin
Wilson announced Wednesday the signing of 22 student-athletes to National
Letters of Intent to play for the Hoosiers in 2013.
"We executed our plan very well and are excited about this
class," Wilson said. "We are very fortunate to have a good amount of returning
starters, but we backed that up with, what on paper, is a very, very strong
class, which is critical in building our program. There is potential to help on
the defensive side, up front, at linebacker and on the perimeter. Offensively,
we have 14 returning linemen and three quarterbacks. With those returners, we
were able to concentrate on some other positions, including running back, wide
receiver, tight end and the defense."
IU signed 13 defensive players, five offensive players and
four athletes. The Hoosiers added six defensive linemen, four linebackers and
three defensive backs on defense and two tight ends, two wide receivers and one
running back on offense.
The class features players from eight different states,
including five from Indiana, five from Florida, four from Georgia, four from
Ohio, one from Illinois, one from Louisiana, one from Nebraska and one from New
York.
"We recruit as a team," Wilson said. "There was not one
lead recruiter on any one student-athlete. We had multiple coaches going to
schools over and over, whether it be the areacoach, the assistant coach, the
position coach, the coordinator or me. We also had tremendous behind the scenes
administrative help and support. It was a great team effort that put together
what is a very strong class."
Here is a list of Indiana's 2013 signees:
Name Pos.
Ht. Wt. Hometown/Previous
School
Antonio
Allen
DB 5-10
205 Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis H.S.
Daryl Chestnut
RB 5-10
190 Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus H.S.
Christopher
Cormier
DL 6-2
315 New Iberia, La./Arizona Western C.C.
Patrick Dougherty
DL 6-5
260 Aurora, Ohio/Aurora H.S.
Chase Dutra ATH
6-1 205 Brownsburg,
Ind./Brownsburg H.S.
Rashard
Fant
DB 5-10
165 Atlanta, Ga./Our Lady of Mercy H.S.
Danny
Friend
TE 6-5
240 Morris, Ill./Morris Community H.S.
Steven Funderburk LB
6-3 231 Port St. Lucie,
Fla./Iowa Western C.C.
Myles
Graham ATH
6-0 215 Miami,
Fla./Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory
Isaac
Griffith
WR 6-0
180 Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead H.S.
Jordan Heiderman DL
6-3 280 Norfolk,
Neb./Iowa Western C.C.
Evan Jansen TE
6-4 245 Mason,
Ohio/Moeller H.S.
David
Kenney
DL 6-2
250 Indianapolis, Ind./Pike H.S.
Darius
Latham
DL 6-5
291 Indianapolis, Ind./North Central H.S.
Clyde
Newton
ATH 6-1
215 Punta Gorda, Fla./Charlotte H.S.
Marcus
Oliver
LB 6-1
220 Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton H.S.
Noel
Padmore
DB 5-11
175 Flowery Branch, Ga./Flowery Branch H.S.
T.J.
Simmons
LB 6-0
230 Lakeland, Fla./Lakeland H.S.
Kris Smith
LB 6-2
215 Flowery Branch, Ga./Flowery Branch H.S.
Laray Smith ATH
6-0 185 Staten Island,
N.Y./Xaverian H.S.
Maurice Swain
DL 6-5
305 LaGrange, Ga./Troup H.S.
Anthony Young
WR 6-1
175 Lakewood, Ohio/St. Edward H.S.
Notes on Class:
* Steven Funderburk, Jordan Heiderman and T.J. Simmons are
currently enrolled in classes for thespring semester and will participate in
spring practice.
* Four of the top 10 players in Indiana are in the class:
Darius Latham (No. 3), Antonio Allen (No. 5), David Kenney (No. 6) and Chase
Dutra (No. 9).
* Allen is the first Hoosier to ever participate in the
U.S. Army All-American Bowl. He is ranked the No. 19 safety nationally by
ESPN.com and the No. 231 prospect overall by Rivals.com. Allen was a high
school teammate of IU redshirt freshman wide receiver Caleb Cornett.
* Kenney is the No. 11 weak-side defensive end nationally
and the No. 244 prospect overall by Rivals.com.
* Latham is the No. 14 defensive tackle nationally and the
No. 239 prospect overall by Rivals.com.
* Rashard Fant is rated the No. 14 athlete nationally, the
No. 16 prospect in Georgia and the No. 147 prospect overall by ESPN.com. He
also played in the 2013 Offense-Defense All-American Bowl, along with Kenney.
* Anthony Young is an All-American sprinter in four events
and owns 10 state championships in thestate of Ohio.
* Laray Smith currently holds the fastest indoor 300m time
nationally and the second-fastest indoor200m and 400m time nationally.
* Funderburk and Heiderman played together at Iowa Western
Community College, where the teamwent 12-0 and won the 2012 National Junior
College Athletic Association national championship. Noel Padmore and Kris Smith
were teammates at Flowery Branch High School.
* Clyde Newton's brother, Leonard Bryant, played defensive
back and lettered at IU from 2002-04.
* Isaac Griffith was the first commitment to the 2012
signing class and Allen was the first to turn in his NLI this morning.
