Allison Pleased with 22-Member Football Signing Class
2/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
The 2008 football signing class has a definite
Head Coach
Following the 2006 season, Allison sent two assistant coaches to the West Coast to evaluate talent from the highly-regarded
“We decided as a staff to give the
The
Chris Blanson (6-1, 180) and Doug Faatiliga (6-3, 258) should fill immediate needs in the secondary and at inside linebacker respectively. Especially with the graduation of four defensive backs and leading tackler Chris Johnson at linebacker. Blanson played cornerback for
The Mocs found success from the State of
Allison dipped into the junior college ranks for more recruits than in previous years, signing a total of nine. Other than the five California signees, the Mocs signed outside linebacker Josh Beard (6-1, 250) and tight end Patrick Wilkinson (6-7, 255) of Georgia Military College, receiver Justin Buckhalter (6-3, 198) of Jones County Community College in Mississippi, and quarterback Jare Gault (6-3, 220) of East Mississippi Community College.
Wilkinson was a two-star recruit by Rivals.com, and Buckhalter has two brothers who have spent time in the NFL, including current Philadelphia Eagles' running back Correll Buckhalter.
Gault and McDonald will battle for the quarterback job during spring practice as both were December signees who enrolled at UTC in January. Also in the mix for the starting signal caller position are returnees Tony Pastore, a junior, sophomore Cody Romans and redshirt freshman Sloan Allison.
“I felt strongly that our quarterback issue had to be addressed,” Allison said. “We are still going to give Tony, Cody and Sloan chances to play. They are going to have to perform. We felt like there were some deficiencies in what we did offensively and felt like we needed to address that.
“The two new guys are not like Antonio (Miller, a three-year starter). They are a little different. They can make plays, can throw the ball down the field, can hold the ball a second longer, dump it down, can make all the plays in the passing game. That was something that we were not good at last year. We needed to address that. We are bringing in some competition for these quarterbacks, and may the best man win.”
Thirteen talented high school players also turned in their paperwork to the
Offensive lineman Nick Gipson (6-2, 285), defensive back Robert Harrison (5-9, 160) and running back J.J. Jackson (5-9, 190) helped lead Walton to the
Also joining the fold are linebackers Arsenio Clemmons (6-1, 205) of
Craig was also rated with two stars by Rivals.com and was recently named the Defensive Player of the Year in the State of
“This possibly could have been our best class,” Allison said. “I thought our coaches worked extremely hard in our recruiting. We tried some new things, tried the
Five junior college signees ? Blanson, Buckhalter and Wilkinson joined Gault and McDonald as December junior college signees. All five enrolled at UTC in time for the spring semester which started in January. They will be eligible to participate in spring practice beginning in March.
(Click here for signee bios, highlight videos and Coach Allison comments)
