By Brittany Burke
The CCSU Blue Devil football team ended the 2010 season with its second consecutive NEC title. Despite the conference win, the team hadn’t managed to win the recognition outright like it had the season prior.
However, with the announcement of 15 freshmen to add to the Blue Devils’ roster, it looks as if CCSU is on the hunt for its second out right championship.
Of the 15 additions, nine grew up in Connecticut while two others attended high school in state at preparatory schools such as Avon Old Farms. The remainder of the freshmen come from Washington D.C., Florida, New Jersey and Maryland.
“It’s been huge for me since I’ve been here,” said Head Coach Jeff McInerney in regards to recruiting in state.
“Fifty-two of our 80 players are from Connecticut. We feel it’s a big part of who and what we are and being Central Connecticut State University and having the second longest winning streak in FCS football, one of the biggest reasons is their support system is close to them and it means a lot to them they play with a lot of pride and its special and that means a lot,” said McInerney. “Being that we’re not a national school, we’re a regional school we have students from a lot of places that help us win but the majority of the core come from Connecticut.”
With the loss of 18 seniors at the end of the season, many of which helped build the CCSU football program into what it has become, it was important for the coaching staff to recruit athletes who can grow and fill the void, especially on offense.
This year’s graduating class marked the departure of offensive play makers such as wide receiver Josue Paul and transfer student running back Everette Benjamin. With the senior leaders gone it was vital for the team to find incoming freshmen who will be able to fall in sync with the returning team, who McInerney still has confidence in. Returning veterans such as Brian Fowler, Chris Tolbert and Nate Pagan provide the Blue Devils with depth, but the wide receiver position remains unknown.
“We think that we’ve improved ourselves at wide receiver,” said McInerney. “Jordan Kittrell, a wide receiver from Friendship Collegiate Academy in Washington D.C., we think that he’s special and that’s an area we felt like we had to improve on losing Josue Paul and Richie Martin and then Shawn Robinson from Trinity Catholic in Stamford Connecticut, he’s gonna be a special player.”
The main position needed to be filled by the new recruits was the defensive back position. The Blue Devils brought in three defensive backs and a handful of safeties to fill the gap created.
Many of the athletes signed are dual position players, excelling at both the quarterback and defensive back spot, but with second year quarterback, Gunnar Jespersen returning to his position under center, the coaching staff is keeping its focus elsewhere.
“First of all defensive back Gerry Basadonna from Xavier High School I mean he’s a very good physical player, he’ll add a lot of dimension to our secondary, almost along the lines of an Alondre Rush so we feel really good about him. Josh Celerin, he’s a quarterback, defensive back from Brandon, Florida and we think he’s a great free safety, that’s what we really recruited him as, a free safety not as a quarterback.”
Spring training is on the horizon, but the new signees won’t begin to train with the Blue Devils until this summer. Despite not playing as part of CCSU, McInerney is confident in the fact that this incoming class is one of, if not the most talented class, they’ve brought during his tenure as head coach.
“Just on the ability level and who is recruiting them and just on the fact that we’ve done a lot of things here over the past five years…There’s a couple things that have changed here at Central,” said McInerney. “One is academics, which is huge, that’s a big to do and I think our teams have gotten better. When you win back to back championships people want to play for a winner.”
However, don’t let the confidence fool you. McInerney is careful to stress that only time will tell with how well the newcomers transition into full fledged Blue Devils.
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