Ryan Day briefs the media on signing day December 20, 2023.
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00:00 >> Yeah, we have a really good class already assigned and
00:04 waiting on a few more things that may go a little bit later into the day.
00:09 But right now we have 18 guys signed, really good class, seven Ohioans.
00:15 I'd like to kind of go through each of these guys as we go through the press
00:18 conference.
00:18 But this is a group that a bunch of these guys jumped in early on and
00:25 they give us great support to our already strong team.
00:33 But I'm gonna just start off alphabetically and go through some of these guys.
00:37 I really feel strongly about the Armstrong twins,
00:40 the year that they had coming from a great program and St.
00:44 Ed's, obviously what they did as a team this year and they led the way.
00:50 These guys have been tremendous in terms of their development throughout their high
00:55 school career and you're seeing them play their best football and
00:59 we're very excited about them.
01:00 Mylon Graham, we recognized him early on in the process.
01:05 Brian did a great job of building that relationship up.
01:08 We think he gives us a lot and has a really bright future ahead of him.
01:14 Max LeBlanc is at the Baylor School.
01:17 His family is from Canada and Montreal, really talented young man.
01:23 Came down from Canada and had to make the transition to a school where he was
01:29 on his own but really did a great job when he was there.
01:32 His film is tremendous.
01:33 We think he brings a lot of versatility to the team.
01:37 Miles Lockhart is a corner that I actually saw play live.
01:41 He's gonna be a nickel for us as well.
01:44 Miles is extremely competitive, fits what Jim wants right there in that nickel
01:48 position, he can also move out to corner.
01:51 But really nasty, tough player who has jumped in and
01:57 been a great part of this class.
01:59 Jalen McLean, safety from Seton Hall Prep,
02:02 another guy that had a great year, his team had a great season.
02:05 In a position of need.
02:08 He's a guy who was very productive in his high school career,
02:10 certainly had a great senior year.
02:12 Eric Mensa is a guy that came to camp, worked with Larry,
02:17 comes from a great family, Mountain View High School in Virginia.
02:20 He's really a strong player, had a good year.
02:25 He's played multiple positions in his high school career and
02:29 brings a lot of versatility there.
02:31 Ian Moore is a guy who again jumped in early,
02:35 I think he was one of the first guys to commit in this class.
02:37 He's been great.
02:39 Again, had a really good high school career, brings again some versatility.
02:42 He can move from different places inside and
02:45 Ian's gonna be a really good player for us.
02:48 Aaron Nolan is somebody who is special in a lot of different ways.
02:54 The way that he conducts himself, the way he handles himself, and
02:59 he has very high end, he's very athletic.
03:01 And he's gonna be the leader of this team.
03:06 James Peoples is a dynamic running back who, again,
03:10 has had a great high school career.
03:12 He can do multiple things.
03:13 He's strong.
03:14 He's got great change of direction.
03:16 He can catch routes out of the backfield.
03:18 He's gonna be a dynamic player and I think gonna make an impact early on
03:23 his freshman year.
03:24 Peyton Pierce out of Lovejoy in Texas.
03:26 This is a guy who, he wrestled, he's done so much for his team.
03:35 He'll play quarterback.
03:36 He's very versatile and has done a lot of things.
03:39 He comes from an unbelievable program and great family.
03:42 He brings a toughness, hard hat mentality, and we're very excited about him.
03:49 Roy Roker from Bishop Road down in Fort Myers is someone that we got on late,
03:54 had a really good senior year.
03:55 And we've had some good luck with guys who we've evaluated late,
04:00 evaluated them their senior year.
04:02 Again, guy who's very productive down there and a huge addition to the back end.
04:07 Aaron Scott was a huge addition for us.
04:09 Aaron, Tim Walton did a great job recruiting Aaron.
04:13 He had a great season this year.
04:15 He played quarterback when he needed to.
04:17 They started off kind of rocky this year and
04:19 then brought their team all the way to the state finals.
04:21 Big time player out of the state of Ohio that's gonna be a big part of our future.
04:28 And Garrett Stover is out of Big Walnut here.
04:31 Cousins of Cade Stover, brings the same type of mentality that you know with Cade.
04:36 He'll play linebacker for us or safety, has some versatility there.
04:40 But again, really, really talented player that is gonna be a big part of our class.
04:44 Gabe Van Sickles, another one that we looked at late, Justin evaluated him.
04:49 We see a really athletic guard who could possibly move in the center,
04:54 but very athletic and has a huge upside.
04:59 Bryce West is out of Glenville.
05:00 Bryce, we offered early on in the process.
05:04 Coach again was a big part of the process and
05:07 he's one of the best corners in America, huge addition to the back end.
05:11 Sam's William Dixon is a local guy who has some versatility,
05:16 was listed as an athlete at one point, but now we're gonna start him at running back.
05:21 He's been at a bunch of our practices recently coming by and
05:25 watching, brings again versatility.
05:27 He can move around, do some different things with them.
05:30 And then Damarian Witten is listed as a tight end, but he can do a lot of things.
05:34 He played wide receiver recently in the US Army game down in Texas and
05:39 had three touchdowns as the MVP, really dynamic out on the perimeter.
05:43 So those are the guys right now that we have signed.
05:47 We're still waiting on a few other guys to kind of see how that goes,
05:49 that may go on later into the day or into the night.
05:52 But those are the 18 guys and our guys and staff did a great job with these 18.