By Alana Pelosi
It may be the heart of the winter season, but that doesn’t mean that head football coach Dave Cohen and his team aren’t looking toward August. February 4 is the NCAA signing day of national letters of intent for football and with those John Hancocks,
the shape of the team for next season becomes clearer. With 17 letters signed and another prep student coming, the squad is looking to make the transition to the college gridiron.
While the letters were only recently signed, the recruits had been Cohen’s radar for a while. “We really hit it hard in May and tried to get them at our summer camp to see what was there,” said Cohen.
In addition to athleticism and talent, the hunt was on for players with a good character, work ethic and academic performance. By the time the school year began, they had already had seven verbal commitments. As of last Wednesday they successfully brought in 18 of the 22 men they went after, and the four they lost went to division 1A programs.
The players, who hail from five different states, come from Pride favorites Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California. Of course, there’s New York. “Our home recruiting base is Long Island and New York City,” Cohen said, “we like to take the Long Island boys.”
Cohen, a Long Island native himself, makes the good people of Nassau and Suffolk counties proud with his philosophy that, “in baseball, tie goes to the runner. In recruiting, tie goes to the Long Islander.”
One of those Long Islanders to come on board is Riverhead native Miguel Maysonet. Just like another Hofstra running back, Brock Jackolski, Maysonet won the New York State Player of the Year award. While it is too soon to say whether or not he will be fighting for a starting position, when the new players arrive in August, they will have adjustments to make. Cohen made it clear that college is a whole new playing field and as a fall sport, the recruits will have less time to adjust. Not only are the practices more intense, but there are the adjustment to class and being away from home. As he explained, “Football’s more of a red shirt sport and we’ll red shirt a player just based on matriculation.”
The incoming class is noted for the size of the players. With some of the newcomers nearing the 300 lb. mark, some will be in contention to break into the lineup.
“Our D-back probably has the best chance. We have a lot of returning players but not a lot of returning depth. The big men have a good chance too, depending on how we bounce back from injury,” Said Cohen.
One of those injuries was center Jimmy Mangiero. While the Pride did not take in any centers, there are slots open after the team took a beating. While it is no discredit to the talented program, a key factor in last season was the number of injuries sustained. Starting with quarterback Brian Savage before the start of the season, and continuing on to Cory Christopher sustaining an injury that required off-season surgery, too much cannot be assumed.
While it is February and these recruits are still stationed at their high school desks, before they know it they will be suiting up for Richmond and Western Michigan come August.