Recruiting Update

Happy Ground Hog Day (unless of course you're sick of the winter and didn't care for Punxsutawney Phil's forecast this morning)!

While major college football programs were all over the media as part of "National Signing Day", many, many more student athletes and their families made just as, if not more significant, commitments to their future college and university future's, but with much less pomp and circumstance.

While D3FB and school commitments aren't binding per se', declarations by students at this stage of the admissions process usually indicates an early acceptance by the college and the student athlete's indication the school they plan to attend in the fall is their first and only choice.

With this in mind, it appears as though the first couple of new recruits to the Hobart College Football team's FY class are in from the state of NJ.

Based on an article in NJ.com, the Statesmen can look forward to a couple of strong recruits in the form of Rumson-Fair Haven HS SR WR Tyler Pierson and Ridgewood HS SR WR/DB/PK (and lacrosse star) Wylie Sherman.

Pierson literally towered over his competition in HS, standing 6' 5" and shows good skills in getting separation off the snap and being tough to bring down in the open the field given his size and long stride. He certainly can and did win "jump ball" passes given his height.

His highlight reel can be seen here. Pierson helped the Bulldogs to a 10-3 overall record in 2016 and an appearance in the NJ State Semi-Finals. Pierson also plays basketball for RFH.

Sherman will initially compete to earn playing time as a PK. He earned 3rd team All-State honors in football at Ridgewood as a special teams / utility player. Sherman averaged 53 yards on KOs (an area the Statesmen need to find a replacement due to the graduation of Sean Kirshe '17), while also going 39-43 on PATs and 6-8 on FGs (with a long of 42 yards).

Sherman's kicking stats are impressive, but it should be noted he added seven INTs to go with 29 tackles his SR season as a CB while helping the Maroons to an undefeated 12-0 season. Wylie's highlights as a WR/CB can be viewed here. He certainly would have no trouble making an open-field tackle as part of KO coverage based on the tape.

Sherman will follow players like Sean Cunningham '17 and others in participating in both football and lacrosse at Hobart. For the latter he will likely play attack, as he has excelled there for Ridgewood and earned several awards and recognition for his ability to score goals.

Please join me in welcoming both of these student athletes to the Hobart Football family.

Thanks for reading and go 'Bart!