Cards Welcome 2010 Recruiting Class!

With the recruiting season winding down, the Cardinal football team currently has commitments from 33 excellent high school players. While the class will continue to grow through the next few months, the Cards believe they have the foundation in place for what looks to be an excellent recruiting year.

The class of 2014 will look to contribute to the North Central football team's "Drive for Five" consecutive CCIW titles this Fall. The committed players are:

Name	Pos.			Hometown/Previous School
Jonathan Adkins	LB			Lombard, Ill./Glenbard West
Brandon Borkovec	WR			Erie, Ill./Erie
Andrew Bradburn	OL			St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East
Alejandro Castaneda	RB			Elmwood Park, Ill./Elmwood Park
Tyler Claeys	LB			Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo
Nick Dace	K			Freeport, Ill./Freeport
Shane Dierking	DB			Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South
Connor Douglas	DB			Lombard, Ill./Glenbard South
Trey Hartema	DB			Bloomington, Ill./Normal West
Tony Kennedy	DB			Skokie, Ill./Niles North
Jack Klein	DB			Aurora, Ill./Oswego East/Truman State Univ.
Steven Kmiotek	WR			Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South
Christian Lentz	DL			Mishawaka, Ind./Mishawaka
Patrick Manion	OL			Elmhurst, Ill./Immaculate Conception
Alex Mann	DL			Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South
Peter Mann	DL			Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South
Jacob McCarty	OL			Champaign, Ill./St. Thomas More
Chad O'Kane	WR			Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond-Burton
Nolan Possley	QB			St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East
Ryne Rezac	WR			Gilbert, Ariz./Desert Vista
Ryan Rizzio	LB			Loves Park, Ill./Harlem
Ben Simons	DL			Mishawaka, Ind./Mishawaka
Nick Slezak	WR			Warrenville, Ill./Glenbard South
Jacob Steele	K			Peru, Ill./LaSalle-Peru
Adam Szudarski	WR			Wonder Lake, Ill./Marian Central Catholic
Ryan Szudarski	WR/DB			Wonder Lake, Ill./Marian Central Catholic
A.J. Thomas	TE			Winnebago, Ill./Winnebago
Alex Tripp	LB			Belvidere, Ill./Belvidere North
Shane Walsh	TE			Vernon Hills, Ill./Stevenson
Michael Weidner	LB			Wyanet, Ill./Bureau Valley
Greg Whalen	DL			Algonquin, Ill./Marian Central Catholic

Coach Thorne and the rest of the football staff would like to thank the recruits, the Cardinal players and the faculty of North Central for their contributions to another successful recruiting season. The Cardinals are currently in Spring Ball which runs Tuesday-Thursday, from 4-6 PM and is open to the public at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium.

Welcome Back!

After nearly a three month hiatus, I am glad to say that the Cardinal football blog is back and running. Throughout the time off the Cardinal football team has been hard at work in both the weight room and class room, looking to do all that they can to improve for the 2010 football season. With recruiting in full swing, the prospects for the 2014 class of North Central College are shaping out to be a great group of players. Early next week their will be an up to date report of the recruiting season. Some great things have happened already this off season;

-Senior quarterback Aaron Fanthorpe, senior defensive tackle Tim Janecek, Coach Brad Spencer and Coach Rick Ponx all participated in the 2009 Tazon de Estrellas Bowl in Mexico this past December. Fanthorpe also participated in the North-South Division III All-Star game in Salem, Virginia.

-In the classroom 63 Cardinal football players posted 3.0 GPA or higher. This was the highest in the history of the program.

-Cardinal football players have seen tremendous gains in the weight room, due in large part to newly appointed Strength and Conditioning coach Tony Pape. Pape was a four year starter on the offensive line at the University of Michigan. He was drafted in the 7th round in 2004 by the Miami Dolphins and also spent some time with the San Diego Chargers and the Berlin Thunder and Amsterdam Admirals of the NFL Europe league.

-Assistant Head Coach Rick Ponx was promoted to Defensive Coordinator at the conclusion of the 2009 season. Ponx spent three years at his previous school (Ohio Northern University) in the same position.

-North Central College opened its beautiful new Res/Rec Fieldhouse in January. The field house provides the Cardinal Football team with an indoor practice facility.

These, among other things, kick off a great start to the 2010 off season. Next week the 2010 Cardinal Football Spring Practice schedule will be posted. All in all, things are going well in the world of Cardinal football!

Recruiting Update

I would like to start by welcoming another talented recruiting class into the North Central College Football Family! As of today, May 8th 2009, 56 athletes have put down a deposit and are committed to playing for the Cardinals! In addition, there are 5 more recruits who have verbally committed. This is especially exciting as we have just added a 9th freshmen game. Beginning on September 13th, our newcomers will participate in game competition each and every week through November 8th! As the recruiting coordinator, I would like to publicly thank all the coaches, admission counselors, players and administrative staffs that have helped these fine young men enjoy their recruiting experience and make the decision to attend North Central College.

With next season’s team returning 17 key starters that are seniors or juniors, it was imperative to follow up last season’s recruiting class with another very talented group. As the recruiting season comes to a close, the coaching staff feels our last 2 classes have solidified our future at each and every position. This should allow the Cardinals to continue to be the winningest program in the CCIW! (25-3 over the last 4 seasons)

This years recruiting class features 7 players from out of state and brings our team total up to 18 (FL -5, MO-3, MI-3, IN-2, AZ-1, CA-1, KS-1, NJ-1, WI-1). To find out more about each new player, you can visit our web page at: http://northcentralcardinals.com/index.aspx?tab=football&path=football and link to “2009 Recruits” on the right hand side of the page.

As we finish up spring ball and get started on the Switzerland practices, I want to invite any and all recruits to stop out to the stadium and watch a practice. (And if you stop out, bring the best junior player from your high school team to come with you!)

Enjoy your summer and keep working hard.

Coach Ponx
Assistant Head Coach
Recruiting Coordinator
reponx@noctrl.edu

Football Recruiting At North Central College

Welcome to North Central College’s first football recruiting post. As the recruiting coordinator, I would like to explain a little bit about our process and program through a question and answer session. I will post some of the frequently asked questions and our program’s response.


1. When does North Central begin contacting recruits?

A: We will begin mailing and emailing as early as the spring of your junior year. Some coaches will begin calling to introduce themselves in the summer. Most coaches will begin calling recruits once we finish with our pre-season camp in September.

2. How do you collect my contact information?

A: I will send out questionnaires (mail and email) to all Illinois high school coaches asking for student athletes who are interested in continuing their football career in college. This goes out during the spring of your junior year. We also purchase recruiting information from a private vendor who contacts high school coaches individually.

3. When should I start to visit campus?

A: As early as your junior spring/summer you should begin to visit college campuses. Our coaches will have an opportunity to sit down and talk with you when you are on campus. We also invite recruits to campus on Saturday’s during our season to view a game and meet the staff.

4. How many athletes do you plan on recruiting each year?

A: Because of our “Make it Fun” philosophy, we have established an 8 game Freshman Program. In order to maintain a functional freshman and varsity team we will always strive to enroll 50-60 new student athletes. These numbers will include walk-on participants.When you consider a 2-deep roster is composed of 44 players, the addition of kickers & punters will quickly bring this number up to 50 new players.

5. Can freshmen participate on the varsity?

A: Absolutely. Each year we have 10-12 players from the freshmen class earn a letter for varsity participation. In fact each of the last 7 years freshmen have earned starting positions on the varsity roster.

I will continue to post questions/answers that frequently arise during the recruiting process. In addition, I will begin to post updates on our current recruiting class. As of this writing, we have secured 15 outstanding recruits for this year’s class along with another 15 verbal commitments. This weekend we will have 9 recruits on campus from Florida, 1 from Missouri, and 1 from Maryland. There is still lots of work to do, but this class is shaping up nicely.


Coach Ponx
Assistant Head Coach
Recruiting Coordinator
reponx@noctrl.edu