maly, too: Drake Signs 22 Football Players

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Drake Signs 22 Football Players

The Drake University football team has received commitments from 22 student-athletes to join the defending Pioneer Football League champions for the 2013 season, head coach Chris Creighton announced Wednesday.

“We are extremely excited about our incoming freshman class,” Creighton said. “We search to find guys who are first, men of great character; secondly, are academically motivated to do something great with their life; and finally are talented and passionate about football.”

The 22 student-athletes that will continue their academic and athletic careers hail from eight states with 12 projected to line up on offense, 11 on defense and one specialist.

“We’re fortunate in that we have covered all of our position needs and we think this class has the potential to be very special,” Creighton said. “There is genuine excitement that these guys have coming into a program that is 17-5 over the past two seasons with back-to-back conference championships. Their challenge is now helping take the program to that next level.”

2013 Drake Football Commitments

Name	Position	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown	High School
Nick Amren	DL	6-2	245	Crystal Lake, Ill.	Crystal Lake South
Jared Chance	DT	6-1	250	Yukon, Okla.	Mustang
Andrew Clifford	QB	6-4	190	Lake Forest, Ill.	Lake Forest
Stephen Cochran	QB	6-0	200	Bartlesville, Okla.	Bartlesville
Colby Crawford	ATH	5-10	170	Americus, Ga.	Schley County
Matt Denning	WR	6-1	188	Wichita, Kan.	Bishop Carroll
Colby Dunn	DL	6-4	240	State Center, Iowa	West Marshall
Tanner Evans	DE	6-3	230	Gretna, Neb.	Gretna
Connor Johnson	WR	6-1	175	Eden Prairie, Minn.	Eden Prairie
Jeremy Kahen	OL	6-6	317	Northbrook, Ill.	Glenbrook North
Alex Kramer	DL	6-1	250	Clive, Iowa	Dowling
Ryan Lemke	OL	6-3	265	Germantown, Wis.	Germantown
Mack Marrin	DT	6-2	275	Mendota Heights, Minn.	St. Thomas Academy
Ryan McKeever	RB	5-10	185	Omaha, Neb.	Omaha Skutt Catholic
Grant Menard	QB	6-1	190	Whitefish Bay, Wis.	Whitefish Bay
Kyrell Newell	CB	5-10	170	Lakeville, Minn.	Lakeville North
Seth Pallissard	LB/S	6-0	205	Bourbonnais, Ill.	Bradley Bourbonnais
Tony Petta	DB	5-10	185	Frankfort, Ill.	Providence Catholic
Jordan Siebert	OL	6-4	260	Harlan, Iowa	Harlan
Jake Stauner	ATH	6-1	180	Hawthorn Woods, Ill.	Lake Zurich
Payson Wick	OL	6-3	290	Flossmoor, Ill.	Homewood-Flossmoor
Andrew Yarwood	TE	6-4	195	South Elgin, Ill.	St. Edwards

2013 Drake Football Commitments Bios

Nick Amren (DL, 6-2, 245, Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake South)

- First Team All-Fox Valley Conference

- 1st Team All-Area

- Team Captain

- Coached by Chuck Ahsmann

Jared Chance (DT, 6-1, 250, Yukon, Okla./Mustang)

- First Team All-Conference 6A

- Team Captain

- A Three-Time Wrestling State Champion

- Owns a 4.0 GPA

- Coached by Ty Prestidge

Andrew Clifford (QB, 6-4, 190, Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest)

- First Team All-North Suburban Conference

- Team Captain

- Led Team to the Class 6A state semifinals and a 9-3 record

- Coached by Chuck Spagnoli

Stephen Cochran (QB, 6-0, 200, Bartlesville, Okla./Bartlesville)

- Team Captain

- Named an Oklahoma All-Conference quarterback

- Coached by John McKee

Colby Crawford (ATH, 5-10, 170, Americus, Ga./Schley County)

- Suffered an ACL Injury in 2012 Season

- Named a team captain

- Selected to the all-region team his junior season

- Coached by Josh Kemp

Matt Denning (WR,6-1, 188, Wichita, Kan./Bishop Carroll)

- Won the 2012 5A Kansas State Championship with a 13-0 record

- First Team All-State Wide Receiver

- Kansas State 400-Meter Champion

- Coached by Alan Schuckman

Colby Dunn (DL, 6-4, 240, State Center, Iowa/West Marshall)

- Played in the storied West Marshall program

- Named First team All-State in 2012

- Team Captain

- National Honor Society member

- Coached by Ken Winkler, President of the Iowa Football Coaches Association

Tanner Evans (DE, 6-3, 230, Gretna, Neb./Gretna)

- Was Academic All-State in football and wrestling

- National Honor Society member

- Was an undefeated 225-pound wrestler at 38-0

- Team Captain

- Coached by Chad Jepsen

Connor Johnson (WR, 6-1, 175, Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie)

- Two-time Minnesota State Champions

- Moved to defensive back for the 2012 playoff run and recorded two interceptions

- Owns the Eden Prairie squat record in his weight class

- Competed in Drake Football Summer Camp, running in top five of all 40-yard times

- Coached by Mike Grant

Jeremy Kahen (OL, 6-6, 317, Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North)

- Played just one season of football after switching from a basketball career

- Despite lack of football experience, has tremendous potential as an offensive lineman.

Alex Kramer (DL, 6-1, 250, Clive, Iowa/(Dowling)

- Won the 2010 State Championship

- Led team to a pair of 9-3 records in 2011 and 2012 as a two-year starter

- Was a 2012 First Team All-Division 3 4A defensive lineman

- Coached by Tom Wilson

Ryan Lemke (OL, 6-3, 265, Germantown, Wis./Germantown)

- Led team to a 7-3 finish and the second round of the Wisconsin playoffs

- First Team All-North Shore Conference offensive lineman in 2011 and 2012

- Coached by Jake Davis

Mack Marrin (DT, 6-2, 275, Mendota Heights, Minn./St. Thomas Academy)

- All-Conference honoree

- Recorded 70 tackles, 14 tackles for losses, three fumble recoveries and one interception

- Ran the best 40-yard time by a defensive tackle at the Drake Summer Football Camp

- Coached by Dave Ziebarth

Ryan McKeever (RB, 5-10, 185, Omaha, Neb./Omaha Skutt Catholic)

- An All-Conference and All-District selection

- Rushed for 1,000 yards as a junior

- Academic All-Conference honoree

- National Honor Society member

- Team captain that led team to a playoff appearance.

- Coached by Matt Thurman

Grant Menard (QB, 6-1, 190, Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay)

- First Team All-North Shore Conference as a quarterback

- Led Whitefish Bay to the Wisconsin State Championship semifinals and a 10-2 record

- Team Captain

- Coached by Jim Tietjen

Kyrell Newell (CB, 5-10, 170, Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North)

- Led team to the 2012 State Championship Game

- Competed in Drake Football Summer Camp

- All-Academic All State honoree

- All-Conference Honorable Mention

- Was a three sport athlete

- Coached by Brian Vossen

Seth Pallissard (LB/S, 6-0, 205, Bourbonnais, Ill./Bradley Bourbonnais)

- All-Southwest Suburban Conference

- Team Captain

- All-Area

- Coached by Mike Kohl

Tony Petta (DB, 5-10, 185, Frankfort, Ill./Providence Catholic)

- All-Conference honoree

- Chicago Sun-Times Southtown All-Area Team member

- Academic All-State

- Led team to an 8-3 record

- Coached by Mark Coglianese

Jordan Siebert (OL, 6-4, 260, Harlan, Iowa/Harlan)

- Played in tradition rich Harlan program that produced former Drake and NFL Pro Bowl kicker Billy Cundiff.

- Is an Eagle Scout

- National Honor Society member

- Was a heavyweight wrestler for record setting Harlan wrestling team.

- Coached by Hall of Fame coach Curt Bladt

Jake Stauner (ATH, 6-1, 180, Hawthorn Woods, Ill./Lake Zurich)

- Team Captain

- Coached by David Proffitt

Payson Wick (OL, 6-3, 290, Flossmoor, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor)

- IFCA All-State Team

- Chicago Sun-Times Southtown All-Area

- All-Southwest Suburban Blue League

- Anchored a line that helped Vikings average 34 points per game

- Coached by Craig Buzea

Andrew Yarwood (TE, 6-4, 195, South Elgin/St. Edwards)

- First Team All-Area in 2011

- Academic All-State in 2011

- Second Team All-Area in 2012

- Team Captain

- Coached by Mike Rolando

[This story was written for Ron Maly by Ty Patton, Drake's assistant athletic director for communications].

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.