The Class of 2022 has 42 student athletes from CT, FL, KY, MA, MD, NJ, NY, PA and VT. When you break it down further, you find an interesting, diverse and accomplished group. While it's no surprise NY tallied the most players (with 16 of 42 or 38% of commits), there were some other interesting notes I took away from this class that I'd like to share:
NY - 16
Pretty much in line with the 40% in state overall student population, based on last year's Admissions profile data. Definitely has some strong players - from Rochester all the way down to Long Island - across the board.
MA - 9
Also not a surprise, as far as it being the state with the second most student athletes, with the one caveat. One of the players here went to prep school in CT, but hails from the Boston area, a common home for many HWS students.
NJ - 5
Hobart's seen more and more players from NJ in recent years, thanks to a greater recruiting focus on this state. This group is a nearly even split of offensive and defensive players, with 1 RB, 2 WR, 1 LB and 1 DB.
FL - 4
Some may think this is due to the "Brandon Shed effect" but the Statesmen have been recruiting in FL for many years (Shed's success certainly has helped, of course). Like Brandon, three of these student athletes are from South FL (near West Palm and Miami). One is from Tampa (get that kid a Tampa Bay Marpet jersey, stat!). Also, two of them were HS and now, college, teammates (which is kind of a "thing" with this class - more on that later).
CT - 2
See MA above. For the other two CT natives, I for one was happy to see a recruit from the area I grew up in and the other was coached by one of Hobart's best ever.
PA - 2
Ties with CT either way (2 or 3 bc of the MA / prep school mention) as one of the NJ players is actually from PA, but attended HS just over the border in NJ.
KY, MD and VT - 1
While MD and VT are pretty common draws for Hobart, I can't recall the last time the Statesmen had a recruit come up from the Bluegrass State.
Other interesting things about the Class of 2022:
- Several of these players are the sons of HS coaches
- There are four pairs of teammates coming into camp together, including one set of twins!
- Another common theme was there's a large number of multi-sport (e.g., basketball, lacrosse, track and wrestling) athletes in this class
- The usual accolades such as team captains, All-County, State, etc.
- A guitarist / pianist is the the mix too!
DB - 5
This group is a combination of CB and FS. A couple of these players have converted from other positions (e.g., from RB or OLB in HS), but one noticeable change is many of these players are bigger than past Hobart DBs, which is a good trend.
DL - 8
This group is a combination of DTs and DEs, like the above, and there's a pretty even breakdown of each. The Statesmen have needs at both positions, and while they have some experienced players returning, it wouldn't surprise me if some of the new recruits have a shot to contribute as part of the DL rotation that the Statesmen have run for many years.
LB - 8
This group is also fairly even, but I'd say it leans slightly towards ILBs vs OLB (the latter having more depth / experience after last season). There were a couple of players in this group that I could see vying for starting roles, and it'll be one of the top competitions to follow in preseason camp.
PK - 1
Will compete with SO PK Kyle Hackett but could also end up as the punter / replacement for Rio Schmidt '18 who was huge boon to Hobart's special teams unit the last couple of seasons.
OL - 10
Hobart has a lot of depth here, and the main needs are at center and guard for this season after the graduations of Stephen VanHoesen and Alex Helm '18. Center is a position a couple of the incoming FY did play at a high level in HS, so this will be an important area to watch how it develops in preseason camp.
QB - 1
Hobart is not returning a lot of (varsity) experience at this key position given the graduation of Shane Sweeney '18. There should be a good amount of competition between the players on the current roster in the preseason.
RB - 3
Some interesting players in this group. FB could be an area of opportunity longer term, as this position was utilized more often by Coach DeWall back when he was OC for the Statesmen under Mike Cragg.
WR - 6
Lots of good athletes here who could make an impact in a number of special teams or other reserve roles, pending a number of factors.
Overall, the class leans a little bit more to the defensive side (22-20, including the PK as a punter / defensive side) of the ball and I think this is as balanced a class as I think the Statesmen could have hoped to sign.
We're less than 90 days away from the 2018 season kicking off!
Thanks again for reading and go 'Bart!
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