Recruiting boosts Navy prospects

Impressive class commits to Mids

By BILL WAGNER, Staff Writer

Capital Gazette Communications

Published 02/04/10

Navy football fashioned one of the most successful seasons in program history in 2009, going 10-4 with signature victories over perennial powerhouse Notre Dame and Missouri of the Big 12 Conference.

Find Us On Facebook

AP VIDEO more>>

Head coach Ken Niumatalolo and staff capitalized on that on-field success by putting together arguably the finest recruiting class in recent program history. The Midshipmen landed 19 "direct-entry" recruits, many of which had scholarship offers from other Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) schools.'

"This year we've beaten a lot of schools on legitimate Division I prospects. Normally we are...

This story has expired!
You can purchase the full text in our news archives.

YOUR COMMENTS

RULES OF PARTICIPATION

If you encounter other problems, please email nlundskow@capitalgazette.com and include your name, username, and any errors or messages that are displayed. The more information you can provide, the better able we will be to assist you.

In order to post or vote on a comment, you must be signed in with a hometownannapolis account.

Take a look at a summary of Commenting Guidelines.

Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight. 0 0

blah blah blah - 2010-02-21 15:06:36

sorry your son wasn't good enough, mrs kuntz.

unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?

mike james - , - Karma: Neutral

The Academy Blew the Recruitment of - 2010-02-11 22:52:26

The Academy is supposed to be about Honor, Courage and Commitment. The Academy's football recruiting's reputation was seriously compromised in this past recruiting season. The Honor and Commitment part were seriously lacking in the football recruitment of this kid:
McDevitt's Kuntz tabs Lehigh
By E F. EPLERPatriot-News

Make no mistake.

Surrounded by family, teammates and friends of the Bishop McDevitt community Wednesday, Ryan Kuntz celebrated a terrific high school football career. The 6-3, 230-pound defensive end signed his national letter of intent to Lehigh University, a perennial FCS player with deep history in the ranks of college football.

Kuntz scholarship package is just that, a sensational reward for long hours in the gym, his time devoted to technique and preparation both on McDevitt Field and inside the institutions hallowed halls.

Kuntz, a key component on the Crusaders ultra-talented defense this past season, certainly deserved this clean finish. Sometimes its hard to find in the often dirty world of college football recruiting.

"Colgate was very aggressive from the beginning, being my father is an alumni there," said Kuntz, sharply dressed for his LOI ceremony. "Lehigh was just as aggressive. I really like their coaching staff. Coach [Andy] Coen is a great guy. When the Navy thing didnt work out, Lehigh was there with open arms."

The Navy "thing" is not unique to the recruiting circus, but Kuntz was planning for life in Annapolis, MD. His academic credentials were exemplary and he secured the necessary nomination letter from Congressman Tim Holden.

As for his football skill set, Kuntz said the coaching staff gave him Blue Chip status, meaning a recruit is fast-tracked through the admission process. Since several committees must approve a candidate, acceptance can take a bit of time.

"Last Monday we started having some issues. It was disheartening, disappointing," said Kuntz.

"They told me I was a guy they wanted