Another batch of signings

Lots of college scholarship signings announced this past week. Here’s the quick run-down:

• Megan Taylor of Rolla signed to play basketball for Friends University. Taylor averaged 14.4 points and 8.4 rebounds last season and was named first-team Santa Fe Trail League and academic all-state by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association.
Taylor is pictured above with (back row, left to right) her summer coach, Donna Glave, assistant high school coach Jolene Kabriel, head high school coach Rich Spencer and Friends coach Gayla Soyez. Flanking Taylor on the front row are her mother and father, Traci and Harve Taylor.
• Liberal’s Alexa Wentworth signed to play soccer for Cowley County Community College.
• Wichita State’s women’s track program signed seven Kansas high school athletes, some of which we’ve mentioned previously. Here’s the complete list: distance runners Laura Burke of Derby, Kylie Graves of Rossville and Keli Russell of Olathe North; jumpers Tanya Friesen of Buhler, J¹Lynn Ledesma of Wellington and Courtney Reinke of Olathe East, and thrower Andrea Markel of Pretty Prairie.
• Kapaun’s Jessica Shea will sign a volleyball scholarship with Rockhurst on Monday.

Joe Mitchell Heading to Hutch CC

I am super happy to see that Southeast's Joe Mitchell is getting a shot to play at the collegiate level, I mean, why shouldn't he? Here's the official release from Hutch:

Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball coach Steve Eck announced his fifth signing for the 2009-10 season.

The Blue Dragons have signed Wichita Southeast All-State guard Joe Mitchell to a letter-of-intent.

Mitchell is a 6-foot-1 combo guard who played on Southeast’s 2009 Class 6A state runner-up team and 2009 Class 6A state championship team.

“He’s scorer and a good defender,” Eck said. “He is a nice shooter who knows how to play the game. Some considered him to be the best guard in the state.”

Mitchell averaged 22 points per game in his senior season with the Buffaloes. He was a consensus all-state player by the Wichita Eagle and Topeka Capital-Journal.
Mitchell is the fifth player Eck has signed for the 2009-10 season. He is the third in-state player.

Six Liberal soccer players sign letters of intent

Six soccer players from Liberal’s Western Athletic Conference boys championship team signed scholarship agreements on Thursday.

Nestor Morales, Sammy Duque signed with Cesar Jurado Garden City Community College, and Noel Grajeda, Alfredo Garcia and Mario Lopez signed with Dodge City Community College.

Duque, a goal keeper, was the WAC player of the year. Jurado, who led Liberal in scoring with 19 goals, Garcia and Morales were all members of the All-WAC team. Liberal went 17-2-1 overall and 6-0-1 in the WAC. The Redskins finished third at the 5A state championships.

The six players are pictured above with their coach, Lori Navarro. They are, left to right: Garcia, Grajeda, Mario Lopez, Navarro, Morales, Duque and Jurado.

Four Carroll girls sign scholarship agreements

Basketball players Abby Fawcett and Abby Henning and thrower Molly Voth signed with Butler Community College on Wednesday, and golfer Rachel Stanley signed with Newman University.

Fawcett and Henning were both good outside shooters for Carroll, which won a share of the City League title and finished third at the 5A state championships. Fawcett averaged 13.3 points and four assists despite being bothered by a sore knee in the second half of the season. Henning averaged 10.9 points, 4 rebounds and 3.4 assists.

Voth has thrown the shot put, discus, hammer and javelin for Carroll this spring. She was 11th in the discus at the 5A state championships last year.

Stanley finished in the top five in at least eight of 10 tournaments last fall. She shared the City League championship and one other regular season tournament title, was second at her regional and eight at the 5A state championships.

The four are pictured above, left to right: Stanley, Voth, Henning and Fawcett.

Recent scholarship signings

Here’s catching up on some late scholarship signings in the last few weeks:

Bishop Carroll volleyball player Kylee Stuever signed a letter of intent with Butler Community College on Friday.

Halstead’s Stephanie Drake signed a softball letter of intent with Florida State on April 8.

Carroll’s Zach Reynolds signed a cross county/track agreement with Cowley Cowley Community College on March 26.

And Carroll’s, Alyssa Northcutt signed a track and leadership scholarship with the University of Memphis on March 31.

Derby soccer player commits to GCCC

Brooke Feikert of Derby has committed to play soccer next season at Garden City Community College.
Feikert also played club soccer for EFC Spirit her freshman through junior seasons of high school and for the renamed Spirit her senior year. She has played two seasons on the Derby High team. Last year she played forward. This season she is playing a variety of positions. That versatility was one fo the qualities that GCCC coach Jeff Huffman found appealing.

KWU volleyball signs two high school seniors, two more from jucos

Kansas Wesleyan has signed a couple Kansas high school volleyball players – Jenna Miller of Salina South and Abby Broxterman of Marysville.

Miller, a 5-2 libero and second-team All-AVCTL Division I, led Salina South in digs each of the past three seasons, including 338 this season and 1,067 in her high school career. She also was South’s leader in serve receiving and second in service points in 2008.

Broxterman is a 5-8 right side hitter.

Wesleyan also signed two junior college players who came out of Kansas high schools -- Stephanie Wilken of Chanute and Mandie O’Connell of Parsons.

Wilken, a 6-0 outside/right side hitter,just finished two seasons at Neosho County Community College. Wilken averaged 2.2 kills and .62 blocks per game for the Panthers in 2008.

O’Connell, a 6-0 middle/outside hitter, played the one season for Labette Community College, averaging 1.65 kills and 1.07 blocks.

Halstead's Stephanie Drake to sign with Florida State

Halstead head softball coach Jason Wilson reports that senior shortstop Stephanie Drake will sign a letter of intent to play softball at Florida State University. She has been verbally committed for awhile now, but will make it official Wednesday, April 8 at Halstead High School at 3 p.m.

Drake was recruited by the likes of Marshall, Southern Mississippi, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Syracuse and Troy but settled on Florida State because of its strong softball tradition, good academic programs and warm weather location.

Last season, as a junior, Drake was a first team All-League MCAA selection and tabbed an All-Area player by the Hutchinson News after helping lead Halstead to a 14-8 overall record. She finished with a batting average of .838, with 60 hits in 94 at bats. She scored 47 runs and stole 38 bases on 39 attempts. In the field, Drake had 97 putouts in 100 opportunities at shortstop. She will look to make a switch from shortstop to third base when she gets to FSU in the fall.

Liberal athletes picking colleges

This just in from Liberal athletic director Scott Hinkle:

Marcus Calleja signed a track and field scholarship agreement with Emporia State on Monday. Calleja was third in the high jump at the 2008 5A state championships.

Brittany Odle will sign a rowing scholarship agreement with Kansas State on Friday. Odle played volleyball for Liberal.

And MaKayla McPhail will sign to play volleyball for Fort Hays State on April 15. The Kansas Volleyball Association picked McPhail for second-team Class 5A All-State this past season.

Buhler's Friesen headed to WSU

Buhler athletic director Gregg Gordon reports thatTanya Friesen will sign a track and field letter of intent with Wichita State on Wednesday.

Friesen, who also played basketball, won Class 4A state championships in the long jump in 2008 and the triple jump in 2007. She also has been one of the top high jumpers in the state, and she ran the lead-off leg on Buhler's 4x100-meter relay, which took second at the 2008 state championships.

And now what about Blake Bell?

Standing at the back of the room at the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame and watching Bryce Brown announce his college choice (Tennessee) was Bishop Carroll quarterback Blake Bell, who probably will be the top recruit in Kansas, if not the nation, next year.
Bell is going to pass up playing baseball this spring to put in more time in the weight room and tour some of the colleges that have already offered him a scholarhship. The list is long. But just three of those he mentioned Monday at Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Kansas.
Some schools, especially elite programs, want their recruits to commit early, often before their high school senior season starts. But Bell said that won't happen with him because Carroll won't let its players make commitments that early.
Bell also was Carroll's leading scorer and rebounder this past season in basketball. But don't worry about him passing up next basketball season because his future is in football. He said he won't miss the chance to play in Carroll's new 2,000-seat gym, which will be done in time to host graduation this spring.
Note to Blake: If you haven't told basketball coach Lonnie Lollar that yet, do so soon so he can breathe again. Lollar loses eight seniors off this season's team, and Bell will be the only returning player with significant experience.

It's nice to be wanted

Football recruiting season is upon us.

Wait, you say. You thought we just finished.

Hey, it never ends. We're talking 2010 recruiting now.

Bishop Carroll's record-setting quarterback, Blake Bell, the Gatorade Kansas player of the year for the 2008 season, already has offers from 17 major universities, including KU and K-State, according to his coach, Alan Schuckman.

Schuckman said today that Bell, who's also the basketball team's leading scorer, wants to give all his time and energy to basketball right now. Last year, the Eagles made it to the state championship game in basketball, but Bell was out with a broken hand. He'd like to be a participant this time in another deep playoff run.

But once the season ends, Schuckman said, Bell, his parents and Schuckman will sit down and put together a time table for evaluating schools. Right now, he said, Bell has no favorites.

In the meantime, here are the schools that have made offers:

Arizona
Clemson
Colorado State
Georgia
Iowa
Iowa State
Kansas
Kansas State
LSU
Maryland
Miami
Missouri
Nebraska
Notre Dame
Oklahoma
Texas A & M
UCLA

East's Frazier picks Independence CC

Wichita East athletic director Kevin Hartley says that Selwyn Frazier, a defensive back on the football team and a guard on the basketball team, has decided to sign with Independence Community College to play football.

Final thoughts on football recruiting

Who had the best recruiting class in the country? Rivals.com says Alabama. Scout.com says Ohio State.

Best in the Big 12? Both agree on Texas. Rivals says Texas was No. 5; Scout says No. 6.

How about KU and K-State?

Rivals picks KU 31^st nationally and fifth best in the Big 12. Scout says KU was No. 47 and only ninth best in the league.

K-State was No. 95 on Rivals' list, 109 on Scout's list. Both agree the first class of the second-coming of Bill Snyder was the worst class in the Big 12.

But all those are just talking points.

Any coach will tell you that you can't really evaluate a recruiting class for five years. A lot can happen. Injuries, academic, legal problems. You have to see who sticks it out and how they perform on the field. Who makes the leap from high school star to college star and who's a bust. Most of all, you need to see how their team does three, four and five years from now to evaluate a class.

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With nearly all precincts counted, we can project the final tally.

From 334 Kansas high school football programs, only 17 seniors received scholarship offers from major colleges.

KU and K-State each signed four players out of Kansas high schools. That's exactly the number they signed last year.

Here's the list:

Athlete	High School	College
Mark Fancher	Shawnee Mission NW	Air Force
Jake Morin	St. Thomas Aquinas	Air Force
David Baska	St. Thomas Aquinas	Air Force
Michael Seis	Wichita East	Air Force
Luke Keener	Hoisington	Air Force
Evan Kaufman	Newton	Air Force
Joe Brown	Bishop Carroll	Colorado State
Darian Kelly	Girard	Kansas
Riley Spencer	Hesston	Kansas
Huldon Tharp	Mulvane	Kansas
Kevin Young	Olathe North	Kansas
Ty Zimmerman	Junction City	K-State
Travis Tannahill	Olathe East	K-State
Braden Wilson	Smith Center	K-State
Tomasi Mariner	Top. Washburn Rural	K-State
Jaydan Bird	Conway Springs	Oklahoma
Marshall Musil	La Crosse	Oklahoma

Interestingly, but hardly surprising, KU signed 11 high school seniors from Texas, and K-State five.

The Big 12 schools signed a total of 10 kids out of Kansas high schools. Oklahoma took two.

On the other hand, Big 12 schools took 143 out of Texas high schools. Excluding the four Texas universities, the other Big schools signed 54 Texas players, an average of nearly seven per school.

I mention all this because I have a theory about why Texas produces a disproportionately large number of major college football players and Kansas relatively few.

Sure Texas is a bigger state. It has more than 1,150 football-playing high schools. Kansas has 343.

But Kansas, with only 29 percent as many schools as Texas produced only 7 percent as many major college football signees. So size counts, but that's not the only factor.

I just don't think Kansas does as good a job of preparing its high school athletes for major college football.

For one thing, our season is shorter. We play fewer games. Because of the weather, we might not be able to play more games unless we start earlier.

But Texas also allows two weeks of spring football. Most Texas schools take advantage of that. Those that don't are usually those with new coaches who are still assembling a staff. But then if they don't take spring ball, they get to start two-a-days in Augusta a week ahead of the other schools.

Texas also has a highly developed seven-on-seven summer football program, with league play and playoffs leading to a state championship.

I talked with a couple of Kansas' best high school football coaches before last season about this.

Randy Dreiling of Hutchinson, which has won five consecutive state titles, would love to have spring football. Unquestionably, he said, it would prepare high school athletes better for college football.

Alan Schuckman at Bishop Carroll wasn't so sure. If we had spring football, a lot of guys wouldn't play baseball or run track. He values the broader experience of playing multiple sports.

What do you think?

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Finally, if you haven't seen it, check out the New York Times story on Brian Butler, recruiting advisor to Bryce Brown, Huldon Tharp and others.

You'll find the story here.

Two Ark City football players sign

Two Ark City Bulldogs signed football scholarship agreements Wednesday.

At top, running back/defensive back Darrell Freeman signed with Butler Community College. He is pictured with his aunt Gina Freeman, cousin Kim Freeman, Ark City coach Darrin Wegner and athletic director Tara Taylor.

In the lower picture, quarterback/defensive back Johnathan Miller signed Hutchinson Community College. He is pictured with Josh Miller, Tyler Henderson, Jennifer Collins, Coach Wegner and Taylor.

McPherson College’s signing class

The Bulldogs' multi-sport signing list is made up most of Kansas kids.

In football, 15 of the 16 high school signees are from Kansas. The most recognizable might be quarterback Jake Snodgrass from Derby's outstanding team this past season.

In men's soccer, 3 of 5 signees were from Kansas high schools. In women's soccer, 1 of 4. In softball, 1 of 2. In volleyball, all seven.

McPherson also signed seven juco football players, all but Jeff Frank (Tonganoxie and Garden City CC) from out of state.

Here's the Kansas high school list:

Patrick Barton	Moundridge	Football
Tim Brozek	Cheney	Football
Caleb Hamilton	Madison	Football
Taylor Lemuz	Pawnee Heights	Football
Mitchell Leppke	Marion	Football
Ryan O'Neill	Spearville	Football
James Patton	Cunningham	Football
Taylor Roop	Moscow	Football
Dylan Smith	Lebo	Football
James Temaat	Minneola	Football
Bryant Thies	Medicine Lodge	Football
Jared Kientz	Derby	Soccer
Justin Nguyen	Maize	Soccer
Breana Jones	Goddard	Soccer
Janie Gunther	Scott City	Softball
Natalie Boss	Valley Heights	Volleyball
Lindsey Erickson	Salina South	Volleyball
Kaylee Joseph	Valley Heights	Volleyball
Lindsey Linnebur	Wamego	Volleyball
Tiffany Rooker	Hillsboro	Volleyball
Stacy Zink	Ellinwood	Volleyball

 

Nine Heights football players sign with Jucos

Wichita Heights, which went 9-2 last season and was co-champion of the City League, had nine players sign letters of intent on Wednesday.

They would have had a 10^th. But Ian Knight has already graduated and enrolled at Hutchinson Community College. Several others may sign in the next few days.

In the meantime, here's the Falcons' list.

Dorrian Roberts	Wichita Heights	Hutchinson CC
Kameron Neal	Wichita Heights	Hutchinson CC
Richard Dixon	Wichita Heights	Hutchinson CC
Phillips Iheme	Wichita Heights	Hutchinson CC
Joey Barnes	Wichita Heights	Hutchinson CC
Chris Boyd	Wichita Heights	Independence CC
Aaron Roberts	Wichita Heights	Hutchinson CC
Orlando Williams	Wichita Heights	Highland CC
Duane Sims	Wichita Heights	Butler CC

Liberal pair sign football scholarships

Liberal is almost in the Mountain time zone. But credit the Redskins with being the first to send in photos from National Signing Day.

In the photo at top, Nate Davis, the player of the year in the Western Athletic Conference, poses after signing a football letter with Garden City Community College. Davis rushed for 943 yards with eight touchdowns and also had 305 yards receiving last season.

In the lower photo, Kevin Lam, Liberal's starting center the past two seasons, poses with his family after singing a national letter of intent to play football at Fort Hays State.

For a complete list of all the signings reported to us so far, click here.

Liberal, Newton plans

The Air Force Academy is getting another Kansan (see post on Hoisington's Luke Keener).

Newton's Evan Kaufman, a 6-4, 252-pound lineman from Newton, plans to sign with the academy on Wednesday.

Three other Newton players also plan to sign: QB Nathaniel Martens with Chadron State in Nebraska and RB Chris Smith and RB/DB Collins McDonald with Fort Scott CC.

Liberal has two football players who are expected to sign on Wednesday. Lineman Kevin Lam will go with Fort Hays State. RB/DB Nate Davis, the Western Athletic Conference's player of the year, apparently is still considering his options.

Hoisington, Andale, Kapaun signing plans

To me it's still Division I, not the Bowl Sub-Division, as the NCAA now calls it.
Whatever, Luke Keener, a 6-3, 245-pound defense end/tight end from Hoisington, plans to sign to play among the big boys for the Air Force Academy. Keener was a Class 3A senior all-state pick on defense by the Kansas Football Coaches Association.
Andale also has several athletes planning to sign Wednesday.
Corey Harp, a Class 4A all-state running back, will sign with Hutchinson Community College. Michael Eck, the Indians' QB last season, will sign with Benedictine College.
Andale and Garden Plain combine to field a softball team. And one player from each school is planning to play college softball: Mandy Armstrong of Andale at Hutch CC and Karley Schmelzer of Garden Plain at Emporia State.
Kapaun Mt. Carmel's Austin Cooksey will sign a cross country/track scholarship agreement with Johnson County Community College. Cooksey, a four-year varsity runner, medaled in every cross country race he ran last fall, including the state meet. He runs the 800 and mile in track.