DeBord, Chippewas sign 18 recruits
Chris McCarty
CMU has inked 18 high school prospects to come play football for the Maroon and Gold next fall.
“You find out you have a good class when you try to pick out the top five guys and you can’t,” said Head Coach Mike DeBord.
“A coach asked me to pull out my top five and I couldn’t.”
Heading the class for CMU are six all-staters.
Two of the all-staters are found on the offensive line. Eric Karbowski and Drew Mormino lead a class of offensive linemen that averages 296 pounds and 6 feet 3 inches in height.
Karbowski, from Standish, was the top CMU recruit off of Mick McCabe’s Fab 50 list of Michigan high school football players at No. 20. Karbowski was named to the Detroit Free Press Dream Team this fall.
Mormino hails from Buffalo Grove, Ill., where he earned his all-state honors playing for Stevenson High School.
The other two offensive linemen are Jay Gillette of Aurora, Ill., and the 6 foot 4 inch 340 pound Robert Stanger from Hamilton, Ohio.
On the other side of the line, CMU filled out its defense with four defensive linemen, three ends and one interior.
The lone interior addition is Anthony Thompson. Thompson played for Colerain High in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he earned all-state honors.
Another of CMU’s all-state additions is Defensive-end Dan Bauzin of McBain. Bauzin is accompanied at defensive-end by Robert Daugherty of Utica and Damon Petty out of Detroit Kettering.
“You always have to build your team through the lines,” DeBord said .
“Lines need years of development and depth. We needed to continue to improve our size.”
The other two all-state prospects make their home in the defensive backfield.
Linebacker Dennis Doe of Detroit Crockett and cornerback Orlando Walton of Muskegon both bolster a unit that saw several key seniors graduate last season.
Despite being a linebacker in high school, Doe has the speed to play in the secondary in college and should see time at safety.
Walton played quarterback in high school, where he ran a split veer offense.
Also adding to the depleted corps of DBs is Charles “Scooter” Archie from Grand Rapids Creston, Tyrone Kelly of Sterling Heights Renaissance, Doug Kress from Lapeer West, Mike Ogle of Caledonia and Jason Smith from Detroit Bishop Borgess.
“The guys we’ve brought in at DB have the speed to contribute immediately, whether or not they’ll be strong enough and be able to pick up the terminology though is yet to be seen.”
Safety Terna Nande from Grand Rapids Creston did not sign a letter of intent, but was reported by rivals.com to have a strong verbal commitment to the Chippewas.
Despite this verbal commitment, Nande instead signed with the Miami (OH) RedHawks.
Nande is listed at 6 feet and 200 pounds with a 4.55 40 time in the 40 yard dash.
Not to be left out is speed on offense, namely the wide receiver position.
The Chippewas inked two at wideout in Markus Naves of Grand Rapids Creston and Obed Genaille from Montreal, Quebec.
“Naves and Genaille are both guys that have the type of speed to play now, but we’re going to have see if they can understand the terminology and the system.”
Genaille has been at CMU since the fall semester taking classes and could see significant time in his freshman campaign.
Rounding out the recruits for CMU is tight-end Dave Conedi from Farmington Hills Harrison.
Absent from the list of recruits are quarterbacks and running backs. Coach DeBord sites a large presence of both in the CMU lockerroom as the reason.
“We have six guys at quarterback right now that are on scholarship, and we have depth at running back,” DeBord said.
“You have to be careful with the 85 scholarships that you get. You can’t get too heavy at one position and light at another.”
CMU does have a few scholarships remaining before they are at their limit of 85.
“We have a couple (scholarships) left, and we’ll wait to see if there are any late qualifiers,” DeBord said.
“We’ll continue to look at defensive backs and wide receivers.”
The following is a list of the 18 CMU recruits:
- Charles Archie CB 6 feet 175 pounds Grand Rapids/Creston
- Dan Bauzin DE 6 feet 3 inches 230 pounds McBain
- Dave Condeni TE 6 feet 4 inches 214 pounds Farmington Hills/Harrison
- Robert Daugherty DE 6 feet 6 inches 255 pounds Utica
- Dennis Doe FS 6 feet 4 inches 191 pounds Detroit/Crockett
- Obed Genaille WR 6 feet 3 inches 175 pounds Montreal, Quebec/Vanier
- Jay Gillette OL 6 feet 2 inches 285 pounds Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley
- Eric Karbowski OL 6 feet 3 inches 294 pounds Standish/Sterling Central
- Tyrone Kelly CB 6 feet 174 pounds Sterling Heights/Renaissance
- Doug Kress FS 6 feet 2 inches 194 pounds Lapeer/West
- Drew Mormino OL 6 feet 4 inches 265 pounds Buffalo Grove, Ill./Stevenson
- Markus Naves WR 6 feet 1 inch 175 pounds Grand Rapids/Creston
- Mike Ogle SS 6 feet 2 inches 215 pounds Caledonia
- Damon Petty DE 6 feet 4 inches 255 pounds Detroit/Kettering
- Jason Smith SS 6 feet 2 inches 210 pounds Detroit/Bishop Borgess
- Robert Stanger 6 feet 4 inches 340 pounds Hamilton, Ohio
- Anthony Thompson 6 feet 2 inches 280 pounds Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain
- Orlando Walton 5 feet 10 inches 180 pounds Muskegon
