Middle Tennessee Recruiting Trail 2010

20 on board, 19 scholarships available.

Coach Hickerson on the goal of the 2010 recruiting class:
"We are doing things a little differently than the staffs in the past have at MTSU, we are giving some big time recruits a shot. We feel like we can interest them enough in our school to come play for us, we feel that MTSU, now in the Big East, can offer just as much as many other programs in the nation. What would be better than saying you started that 5 years down the road when we are a top 10 team year in and year out? Thats the kids we are looking for, the kids who want to define their next 3 or 4 years as doing something very special with a football program. Onto positional needs though, we need to address a need along the defensive line, particulary at defensive end. We currently have 4 on the board we are going hard after and hope to land 2 or 3 of them. Not many ends showed much interest us in us, which is fine, we are building something here and that is part of it. We need to sign a center in this class and we have one we like quite a bit in Kasey Turner, he is from Tennessee and he likes us quite a bit. We also need a quarterback and a tight end, we arent quite sure where we are gonna go with tight end, we need to see how the position plays out in our offense and decide what skill set we need, we are lookign at a couple right now. Quarterback, the position everybody is most interested in I am sure, we have 1 quarterback we are recruiting, he is a long shot as he has major interest in some major programs, however we have been talking to him quite a bit and he likes what he hears from us. We also have another guy we are taking a hard look at to play the quarterback position for us in the coming years who is on the board as an athlete. As far as having anyone commit to us so far, we havent had any yet. We are in the top 3 of quite a few ballplayers that we really like however, and hopefully in the coming weeks we will have more to release on these individuals."


Stay tuned to the MTSU Recruiting Trail throughout the season for any breaking news or updates we may have.

Middle Tennessee has received their first commitment of the 2010 recruiting class in Marques McDaniel. McDaniel is a 3 star defensive tackle out of Sweetwater, Tennessee. According to *Rivals he is the number 74 defensive tackle in the nation. Marques comes in at 6'0 and 268 pounds and has the classic run stuffing body for a defensive tackle. "He is big and round, as I like to say," Coach Hickerson said with a smile, "He will come in and more than likely redshirt next season, and he knows that and is completely happy with that. He has told me he doesn't want to be on the field if he is going to hurt the team so we are comfortable making that decision, however if he works extrememly hard in the summer you never know what will happen next season." MTSU already has their starting defensive tackles for next season barring any injury in Sacoby Carter and Kendall Dangerfield, a junior and sophomore respectively, Carter is off to a great start this season. therefore Coach Hickersons words are probably true. However, the Blue Raiders are excited to finally get the 2010 class started.

MTSU picked up their second commitment of the 2010 class this morning from 2 star athlete Zac High. High is a 6'2 211 pound kid from Snellville, GA that the Blue Raider coaching staff fell in love with from day one. They feel he is a very talented athlete who they plan to possible play at the quarterback position depending on his ability to make reads at the college level. "We really love Zach's ability to make plays, he is very similar to Dwight and actually plays his ball nto far from where Dwight grew up, we feel he really has the potential to be a huge playmaker for us at the quarterback position and are really thrilled to get him," said Hickerson. Zac was one of the 2 top targets for the MTSU coaching staff this season and so far so good, the other top target love the Blue Raiders. Look for Zac to come in and compete for playing time immediately, possibly in a platoon role similar to how Dwight did his freshman season, may even start a game or two depnding how the quarterbacks currently on the roster progress.

MTSU received their 3rd commitment of the 2010 season this evening from 3 star DE George Wright. Wright is the other prospect that MTSU had as a 1-2 punch on their board with previous commit Zac High. Wright is a big tall DE standing at 6'7 and weighing 268 pounds, Coach Hickerson loves him. "When I go otu and recruit defensive ends, build defensive ends, this is how I would build them, maybe drop a few pounds on him and gain a bit of speed, but he has great aceleration and burst, he gets off the line very quickly and he will compete for playing time next season, we are really excited that he wants to build something here." Wright is the number 53 end in the class, but Coach Hickerson believes he may be one of the diamonds in the rough they have been searching for.

The Blue Raiders picked up their 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th commitment to close the regular season this past week. The Blue Raiders picked up commitments from Ryan Hancock, Beau Ryan, Cory Wilson, and Thomas Merritt.
Hancock is a 2 star athlete from Covington, GA who is projected to play wide out for the Blue Raiders next year. MTSU does not lose much in the wide out group so do not expect to see Hancock see much playing time if any next season however he does have the potential to be a solid player down the line. He has decent speed and hands, but needs to work on his ability to get open.
Beau Ryan is a 2 star tight end out Swainsboro, Georgia who has been Blue Raider crazy all year logn and finally tied the knot. He is a big target at 6'6, but lacks great catching ability and speed. He is an unusual prospect, as he has the body build to be an elusive, pass catching tight end, but in reality he is more of a blocking tight end. We believe over time he may evolve into a big target for the Blue Raiders however.
Cory Wilson is a 2 star corner out of Douglasville, GA. Wilson has enough speed and burst to play cornerback at this level, but simply needs to work on his coverage ability.
Thomas Merritt is a big physcial lineman at 6'5 280. Merrit is out of Franklin, NC and is projected to be a tackle for MTSU. Coach Hickerson likes to redshirt offensive lineman, so more than likely will nto see any action next season, but definitely has the potential to be a solid lineman for the Blue Raiders down the road.