Courtesy of Liberty Athletics
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Eighteen high school student-athletes chose today to join Liberty’s football program, as the high school standouts officially signed their national letters of intent for the upcoming 2010-11 academic year.
The class of 18 signees is the second largest of head coach Danny Rocco’s five signing classes. During the three-time Big South Coach of the Year’s first season with the program, Rocco inked 24 recruits to national letters of intent.
The 18 signees hail from four different states, with eight coming from within the Commonwealth of Virginia. Five other signees were from Florida, while three signed from North Carolina and a pair from Maryland. Additionally, Rocco also introduced three mid-year transfers, who joined the program in January.
“We are very excited about our signing class of 2010,†commented Rocco. “This class is a complete class consisting of both quantity and quality. We wanted to put a class together consisting of players who are of high character and that are self-motivated individuals.
“Many of these student-athletes have been captains on championship teams. We are grateful for the support of Chancellor Falwell and our entire University as we continue to build this program. We will look forward to welcoming this group on campus this summer.â€
These 18 future student-athletes will look to continue Liberty’s upward trend and help the program retain its position of national prominence, much like Rocco’s first 59 signees (24 – 2006, 11 – 2007, 13 – 2008 and 11 – 2009).
Since Rocco has taken over the program, Liberty has captured three-straight Big South titles and finished the last two years ranked inside the final Top 25 national FCS polls. Liberty finished the 2009 season ranked No. 21 in the final FCS Coaches Poll and No. 22 in the last Sports Network listing.
Rocco’s first signing class just finished up their four-year careers this past season, helping Liberty to an 8-3 record and a share of the Big South’s title.
The group finished up their four-year careers with a 32-13 record, which is the best record by a graduating senior class in program history. The group also became the program’s first senior class to post four-straight winning seasons.
Liberty University 2010 Football Signing Class
Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown/High School
Matthew Baptiste LB 6-0 215 Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes HS
Dylan Bowman TE/DE 6-3 240 Ocean Isle Beach, N.C./West Brunswick HS
Tracy Curry ATH 6-1 195 Ocala, Fla./Lake Weir HS
Jacob Hagen DB 6-3 195 Orange Park, Fla./Orange Park HS
Gabe Henderson QB 5-11 190 Garner, N.C./Southeast Raleigh HS
Scott Hyland LB/TE 6-1 220 Forest, Va./Liberty Christian Academy
Andrew Jauch DB 6-1 185 Waxhaw, N.C./Parkwood HS
Ryan Mickens RB 6-0 230 Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./University Christian HS
Andre Mondor OL 6-4 320 Tampa, Fla./H.B. Plant HS
Bobby Partilla LB 6-1 210 Gambrills, Md./Arundel HS
Greg Ray OL/DL 6-4 300 Pearisburg, Va./Giles County HS
Desmond Rice RB 5-8 190 Lynchburg, Va./Liberty Christian Academy
Nick Sigmon LB 6-2 240 Roanoke, Va./Northside HS
Kenny Scott DB/WR 5-10 165 Appomattox, Va./Appomattox HS
Randy Spann DB 5-11 205 Glen Burnie, Md./Old Mill HS
Matt Stokes DL 6-2 225 Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas HS
Kevin Widener TE 6-4 260 Lebanon, Va./Lebanon HS
J’Courtney Williams LB 6-2 225 Christchurch, Va./Christchucrh HS (El Camino CC)