MARQUETTE, Mich. – Northern Michigan head football coach Chris Ostrowsky announced his first recruiting class today (Feb. 1) as 26 future NMU student-athletes signed National Letters of Intent on the first day of the signing period.

“I’m thrilled with what’s gone on here during the last eight weeks,” Ostrowsky said. “I’m lucky to have great assistants that helped create a template and follow it. We went out and aggressively pursued the top players in our target four states. We wanted symmetry with the class and got 13 on offense and 13 on defense.”

The class consists of players from Michigan (20), Wisconsin (3), Illinois (2) and New Jersey (1). The lone Upper Peninsula recruit is Austin Young from Escanaba.

“We want to be cautiously optimistic and we got the football players that we wanted,” Ostrowsky added.

Ostrowsky was named the 21st head coach of the NMU football program on Nov. 30 after serving as the offensive coordinator for two seasons.

“We play in a great league and for us to be successful next year, we need to become a football team,” Ostrowsky added. “We will start winning when that happens.”

NMU finished 4-7 overall and 3-7 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for sixth-place in the North Division. The 2011 team had 23 seniorsend their football careers.

CLASS OF 2012 HIGHLIGHTS

Listed below are the individuals signed on the first day of the signing period:

Name	Position	Height	Weight	Hometown/High School
Evan Bishop	LB	6-3	205	Algonquin, Ill/Harry D. Jacobs
Matt Boonstra	LB/DE	6-1	230	Belmont, Mich./Rockford Senior
Keon Collier	RB	5-9	185	Franklin, Mich./Wylie E. Groves
Kyle Croskey	OL	6-8	330	Pontiac, Mich./West Bloomfield
Jalen Cureton	WR	5-11	165	Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc
Nolan Davenport	LB	6-3	215	Lake City, Mich./Lake City
Terrence Dye	WR	5-9	170	Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc
Matt Economou	DB	6-2	190	Ortonville, Mich./Oxford
Anthony Harris	DL	6-1	235	Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook
Josh Hogan	TE	6-6	205	Charlevoix, Mich./Charlevoix
Julian Hornback	ATH	6-0	200	Allegan, Mich./Allegan Senior
Tyler Leightner	P	6-0	185	Cadillac, Mich./Cadillac Senior
Thomas McNamara	DB	6-1	190	Mason, Mich./Mason
Chazz Miller	OL	6-5	275	Ovid, Mich./Ovid-Elsie
Christopher Nelson	QB	6-3	215	Twin Lakes, Wis./Wilmot Union
Sean O'Brien	DB	6-1	190	Capac, Mich./Capac
Dakota Perry	DL	6-2	265	Capac, Mich./Capac
Omar Sitto	LB	6-1	220	Oak Park, Mich./Berkley
Dakota Smith	RB	5-8	185	Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven
Lance Smith	RB	5-8	170	Orange, N.J./West Orange
Jordan Strope	OL	6-5	295	Traverse City, Mich./West
Jay Tollefson	QB	6-0	180	De Pere, Wis./West
Keshawn Walker	WR	5-11	175	Dearborn, Mich./Dearborn
Adam Williams	DL	6-4	220	Lake City, Mich./Lake City
Drew Wudtke	DL	6-3	275	Bonduel, Wis./Bonduel
Austin Young	ATH	5-10	165	Escanaba, Mich./Escanaba

 

Evan Bishop

·         All-Conference

·         All-Area

Matt Boonstra

·         All-Conference

·         All-Area

Keon Collier

·         All-Area

·         All-Conference

·         School’s Leading Rusher

·         Academic All-State

Kyle Croskey

·         All-Oakland County

·         First Team All-League

Jalen Cureton

·         All-Area

·         All-Conference

Nolan Davenport

·         All-Conference

Terrence Dye

·         All-Conference

·         Team Captain

Matt Economou

·         All-League OAA

·         Academic Honor

·         Most Skilled Player Award

Anthony Harris

·         First Team All-Area

·         Class 8A State Champion

Josh Hogan

·         First Team All-Lake Michigan Conference

·         Second Team All-Area

Julian Hornback

·         All-Wolverine Conference

·         MVP

·         Iron Man Award

·         Scholar-Athlete

Tyler Leightner

·         All-Conference

·         Second Team Dream Team Record Eagle

Thomas McNamara

·         All-Conference

·         All-Area

Chazz Miller

·         First Team All-Conference

·         Two-Way Starter

·         Team Captain

Christopher Nelson

·         All-Area

·         All-Conference

·         All-State Honorable Mention

·         Southern Lakes Conference  South Central Player of the Year

Sean O'Brien

·         Capac MVP

·         First Team All-BWAC

·         Team Captain

Dakota Perry

·         All-Academic Team

·         First Team All-Area

·         First Team All-BWAC

Omar Sitto

·         All-League

·         All-County

·         All-Area

·         Team Leader

Dakota Smith

·         All-Area Second Team

·         O-K Red All-Conference

·         All-State Honorable Mention

Lance Smith

·         First Team All-Essex County

·         All-Area

·         Runner-up Offensive Player of the Year

Jordan Strope

·         First Team All-State

·         First Team All-Big North Conference

Jay Tollefson

·         AP All-State Player of the Year

·         All-Area

·         28-0 as Two-Year Starter

·         Two-Time State Champion

Keshawn Walker

·         All-League

·         All-City

·         All-Metro West

·         All-Conference

Adam Williams

·         All-State

·         All-Area

·         All-Conference

Drew Wudtke

·         First Team All-Conference O-Line

·         Second Team All-Conference D-Line

·         All-Region Team

Austin Young

·         All-State QB

·         U.P. Offensive Player of the Year

·         All-Area

·         All-GNC

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