Following a season in which the Tribe captured the CAA title, Head Coach Jimmye Laycock and his staff capped off the successful 2010 on National Signing Day campaign by adding 15 more players to next season’s roster.
“I felt very comfortable with the young men we recruited and eventually signed,” Laycock said. “They are good players, and they certainly have the potential to improve. That’s what we are looking for, guys who can get even better. I feel like we met our needs and have flexibility with a number of them to play a number of positions.”
This year’s recruiting class includes promising talent on both sides of the ball.
Highlights include quarterback Christian Brumbaugh, an accomplished signal caller who led his South Fayette High School to two straight undefeated seasons and was named to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fabulous All 22 Team twice.
Zach Fetters, a quarterback from Gaithersburg, Md. will also enter the College with an impressive resume. Fetters threw for more than 2,000 yards and rushed for more than 600 yards during a senior season in which he was named the 2010 Maryland Old Spice High School Football Player of the Year and the Washington Post’s 2010 Player of the Year. Fetters was apparently very close to committing to CAA rival James Madison, but chose the Tribe at the last minute, according to media reports.
Along with Brumbaugh and Fetters, the College signed Mikal Abdul-Saboor, a quarterback from Alpharetta, Ga., signaling Laycock’s desire for talented signal callers.
“I felt like we needed to get a couple good quarterbacks in our program,” Laycock said. “That’s something that you always have to do, and that’s pretty evident this year with [three] of them. You have to get guys who can play quarterback, but have the ability to play a different position and come back to playing quarterback, like R.J. Archer.”
The Tribe also scored a big transfer as tailback Keith McBride transferred from FBS power Navy to the College. McBride redshirted at Navy and will enter the College with four years of eligibility.
“Keith is one kid we recruited out of high school when he was in Memphis,” Laycock said. “It came down at the end to us and Navy and he decided that he wanted to try Navy, and evidently it didn’t work out the way he wanted it to. So they contacted us … He was very interested in changing his mind and coming with us … and we felt like it was a good match.”
Defensively, Laycock and his staff continued to show a penchant for identifying good defensive backs. A program that has already developed New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper ’97, Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Derek Cox ’09 and sophomore standout B.W. Webb landed another promising prospect with the signing of defensive back Jared Velasquez from Robinson High School.
“Our coaches did a good job talking with him right from the beginning, and I think he felt very comfortable,” Laycock said. “He’s a very gifted athlete.”
Velasquez was honored as the Concorde District Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, Northern Region Defensive Player of the Year and the Washington Post All-Met first team. Velasquez entertained offers from FBS school West Virginia and CAA rival Richmond before choosing the Tribe.
Ultimately, while Laycock and his staff cannot predict that any members of the class of 2015 will be successful, he said he believes that they have a great deal of promise.
“They come from good programs, they are used to winning,” Laycock said. “They are very sharp young men, they are very good students. How far they go, what they do here, I don’t know, but I think that they both have shown that they can do what it takes at the high school level, and they are athletic.”
