Lehigh head football coach Andy Coen officially welcomed his fifth class of the scholarship era Wednesday afternoon, with the group of 15 signees helping to replenish depth across the roster and adding “a little bit of everything.”
Here are 10 takeaways after talking with Coen:
Local talent: Though he wasn’t officially announced as part of the class on Wednesday, per NCAA guidelines since he will technically be a preferred walk-on, Phillipsburg senior tight end/defensive lineman Zach Troxell will be suiting up for the Mountain Hawks next fall. Coen said he expects to add up to four players through walk-ons, which should become official by March or April.
Championship bump: With Lehigh coming off a Patriot League title and an FCS playoff game, Coen said he did notice a bump in recruiting because of it.
“Before we were in the scholarship world, we would have tremendous teams … (but) kids wouldn’t want to come and play for us because they didn’t think they’d have a chance to play,” Coen said. “Now, I think the group of kids in this world are maybe a little bit more competitive and they don’t care about who’s in front of them as much. They just want to come and play on a good team.”
Where Lehigh Valley football players are committing
Staff mixup: While offensive coordinator Drew Folmar left South Mountain to take the same position at Elon just weeks before National Signing Day, it didn’t have any effect on the staff’s recruiting efforts. Scott Brisson — also the Mountain Hawks’ recruiting coordinator — was quickly promoted from wide receivers coach to offensive coordinator to help maintain continuity without losing any recruits.
“Our kids are pretty mature kids, they understand that coaches leave at times,” Coen said. “There were a couple questions from parents and those type of things, but we’re not changing the offense. We’re not doing anything different from before. I had some angst right away, like guys were going to do this or that, but we didn’t really have anybody trying to get involved with our guys.”
Powerhouse programs: Coen made note of some of the top-flight programs that Lehigh recruited players from this year and the impact that will have both in the present and future. With players coming from schools like State College (LB Pete Haffner) and St. Thomas Aquinas (DL Jason Dooling) for the second year in a row in addition to tapping into St. Joe’s Prep (OL Jackson Evans), the staff gets players with high-level experience while making inroads for future players from those programs to follow suit.
“It’s important for us to do that and create relationships with these (high school) coaches,” Coen said. “… Usually good high school players are the ones that become good college players. The ones that play at a high level and are on championship teams, those guys seem to understand better than others what it takes — the commitment you need to have to win a high school championship.”
Battle for Chadbourn: One recruit that the Mountain Hawks staff may have been holding its breath with at times is running back Evan Chadbourn from another perennial state power, Bishop Guifoyle. The versatile three-star playmaker, per 247sports, was swimming in offers before tearing his ACL in July. Lehigh stuck with him while others pulled away, and though Delaware and Temple were still in the picture late, Chadbourn rewarded the Mountain Hawks by signing Wednesday.
“I don’t really care who we compete against, but to know that other people value him that way too, that’s good,” Coen said.
Chadbourn may be able to provide a 1-2 punch behind 2015 Patriot League Rookie of the Year Dom Bragalone.
“Dom has just been a one-man wrecking ball, and we have good tailbacks in the program, but we needed to go out and get another dynamic tailback and I think Evan is that type of guy,” Coen said. kralbet “If he can’t be a tailback, I know he can play as a wide receiver or move him to defense. He’s a really talented kid.”
Time for a QB: Since he joined the Lehigh coaching staff under Kevin Higgins, Coen said they have always tried to bring in quarterbacks on a two-year interval. With reigning Patriot League Player of the Year Nick Shafnisky set to graduate and Brad Mayes set to take over the reins as a rising junior, it was time to bring in another signal caller.
The Mountain Hawks believe they have another talent in 6-foot, 190-pound Addison Shoup out of Walton High School in Marietta, Ga.
“I think (Shoup) is going to be a really good one,” Coen said. “I’m not closing the door on any of the guys who are in our program right now. Obviously Brad has proven himself to be a very good player, so Brad’s going to be our first guy. Then it’ll be a lot of competition for the second guy, I would imagine.”
Secondary shored up: The biggest count at any position from this class is defensive back, where Lehigh made a push to secure some depth by signing four: Divine Buckrham, Tre Cundiff, Jaylen Floyd and Tre Neal. Due to numbers, some of them could see immediate playing time in the secondary.
“Cundiff, he’s a thumper,” Coen said. “Buckrham is a really talented athlete.”
Meanwhile, Central Bucks South linebacker Nate Norris drew a comparison to former Emmaus star and current Army running back Andy Davidson.
“Real tough linebacker,” Coen said. “Nate reminds me a lot of Andy Davidson. He played tailback, ran for a lot of yards and he’s obviously a heck of a defensive player. He’s going to fit right in with our defensive schemes.”
Canadian maturity: Lehigh kept to many of its normal recruiting areas, with a combined eight signees from Pennsylvania and New Jersey and two more from Florida, but went north for another: offensive lineman Christopher Fournier.
The 6-foot-4, 275-pounder is from Ottawa but most recently prepped at Episcopal High School in Virginia.
“What’s interesting with the Canadian kids is they actually have five years of high school, so you have five years and then they go to a prep school,” Coen said. “You’re getting kids who are very mature. I think we’re going to see Chris have a lot of opportunity to play early for us.”
Keeping it in the family: There are no brothers or sons of Lehigh alums in this class, but there is still a family connection — St. Peter’s Prep wide receiver Jorge Portorreal is a cousin of junior defensive back Quentin Jones.
“He’s going to be a real dynamic receiver for us,” Coen said.
Fifth-years: Part of the reason why the class came in a bit low at 15, in addition to natural restrictions in the scholarship era, is that the Mountain Hawks will have three seniors coming back for a fifth year next season: offensive linemen Zach Duffy and Brandon Short and defensive lineman Jimmy Mitchell.
Pos Player Hometown/School Ht./Wt.
DB Divine Buckrham Queens, N.Y./Kiski Prep 6-0/180
RB Evan Chadbourn Altoona, Pa./Bishop Guilfoyle 5-11/180
DB Tre Cundiff Somerville, N.J./Immaculata 6-0/185
LS Jack Dean Chatham, N.J./Chatham 6-2/185
DL Jason Dooling Sunrise, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas 6-3/275
OL Jackson Evans Garnet Valley, Pa./St. Joseph’s Prep 6-3/300
DB Jaylen Floyd Miramar, Fla./Miramar 5-9/175
OL Christopher Fournier Ottawa, Ont./Episcopal (Va.) 6-4/275
LB Pete Haffner State College, Pa./State College 6-0/210
WR Matt Jordan Beverly Hills, Mich./Brother Rice 6-1/175
DL Jack Kircher Norwalk, Conn./New Canaan 6-5/265
DB Tre Neal Harrisburg, Pa./Susquehanna Twp. 5-11/180
LB Nate Norris Chalfont, Pa./Central Bucks South 6-1/225
WR Jorge Portorreal Jersey City, N.J./St. Peter’s Prep 5-9/170
QB Addison Shoup Marietta, Ga./Walton 6-0/190
Greg Joyce may be reached at gjoyce@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @GJoyce9.
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