DeMatha football: fall signees

In sports, making a commitment to a college is a very important thing. Athletes work hard for their entire lives to be able to announce their college selection. Five senior football players and one senior soccer player have made verbal commitments to different schools around the country.

Senior football players, Austin Fontaine and Evan Gregory have both made verbal commitments to the University of Maryland – College Park.

Both powerful offensive linemen enjoyed the recruiting process to the fullest. Gregory said, “The best days were mail days because you saw who was interested in you. I got a lot of mail.” Fontaine said, “The recruiting process was exciting for me. At the end of the day it came down to Maryland, Penn State and Ohio State”. When it came down to it, Evan’s top school choices were Maryland, Rutgers, Wisconsin and UCLA.

Cornerback Judson Tallandier II and defensive end/ tight end John Morgan are headed up to the University of Pittsburgh where they will compete in the talented ACC conference. Both Judson and John got a great family feel at Pitt which made the decision easy.

Tallandier said, “They care. They genuinely care about you, it’s a school I’ll play at and it was the gut feeling that it gave me. It felt like home.” Morgan added, “It was a conscious decision between me and my family. Pitt is just a great area for football and it is a great opportunity to pursue my educational goals.”

Defensive monster Anthony Hill is headed to Old Dominion University where he will continue to wreak havoc on the opposition. Hill is excited to move to the next level and challenge himself. Ant said, “I decided to commit to ODU because I felt like it was a great decision for my family and for myself.” For Hill, the recruiting process wasn’t as fun as others found it. “It was stressful because a lot of schools gave me false hope.”

Hill emphasized how well DeMatha is preparing him for the next level. “Dematha is a college prep school so it has prepared me well academically. It also has pushed me as an athlete”. All of these athletes praised the educated and athletic training they received at DeMatha.

Senior soccer player Justin Gielen is the lone senior soccer commit and he is headed to arguably the best program in the nation… University of Maryland – College Park. He will join Paul Frendach’17 on the very talented Terps men’s soccer team. Gielen is looking forward to home soccer games and fulfilling his childhood dream of playing for the Terps. Justin said, “I love the campus, coaching staff and style of play.”

All of these seniors have achieved their childhood dreams of being highly touted and recruited. DeMatha has grown them and turned them into the strong athletes that they will be at their prospective colleges.