Incoming freshmen set to make impact early on

By Mark Rudi
Western Herald

Every season fresh faces of freshmen athletes come to Western Michigan University.

For the Bronco football team, recruiting is mainly spent on filling holes in certain positions, like tight end, wide receiver and the defensive backfield.

“Some guys are going to have to play,” head coach Bill Cubit said. “We’ll have some depth issues and we’ll redshirt as many as we can.”

With tight end Branden Lebetter graduating, the tight end position needed to be filled. Cubit went out and got Chris Blair, a 6-foot 4-inch 230-pounder from East Grand Rapids High School.
Cubit said that Blair might be one of the freshmen to play because of the opening of that area.

Blair was ranked 99th best tight end in the nation by ESPN.com and the 23rd overall best player in Michigan by the Detroit Free Press. Blair is also a two-time Detroit Free Press all-state selection with 50 receptions for 928 yards and nine touchdowns.

WMU also singed tight ends Dallas Walker from Chattanooga, Tenn. and Clark Mussman from Ogden Dunes, Ind.

Walker is a junior college transfer from Georgia Military College and also played quarterback and wide receiver in college.

With Jarmarko Simmons, Juan Nunez and Schneider Julien leaving, the wide receiver position had to be addressed. Cubit picked up five wide outs and all are 6-foot or taller.
“We’ll redshirt a couple of them, but it’s more a factor of a maturity level for who will play and who won’t,” Cubit said.

For the men’s basketball team, head coach Steve Hawkins went around the horn with his five freshmen for the 2009-10 season.

David Brown, a 6-foot 3-inch shooting guard from Rockton, Ill., will bring strong and solid wing play for the Bronco offense.

“He’s a good scoring wing,” Hawkins said. “He jumps out at you and he will be a good scorer.

Brown is a Rivals.com three-star recruit and was named second-team Illinois all-state by the Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette.

Nate Hutcheson, a 6-foot 7-inch small forward from Marion, Iowa, will add size down low for the Broncos. Hutcheson is a Rivals.com three-star player recruit and was given a grade of 84 by ESPN.com.

“He’s got good shooting range well behind the three-point arc,” Hawkins said. “He’ll still have to adjust to the physical nature, but he can really jump.”

Hutcheson is said to be lights out from three-point range and is automatic from behind the arc if left open, according to ESPN.com.

“He’ll help out with rebounding and he jumps well and shoots the ball decent,” Hawkins said. Huteheson chose WMU over the University of Toledo, St. Louis University, Santa Clara University and the University at Albany.

The Broncos added more size down low in 6-foot 10-inch center Shayne Whittington, a local student from Paw Paw. Whittington is the No. 4 center in Michigan, according to Bankhoops.com and led Lawrence High School to the Class D state semifinals in 2008 and 2009.

“I’m excited for him,” Hawkins said. “He’s like a big blob of Play-Doh. We can mold him into anything we want to.”

“But he’s going to need to gain some weight before he’ll be a factor,” Hawkins added.

Whittington was given a grade of 79 by ESPN.com and chose WMU over Central Michigan University and the University of Detroit-Mercy.

The final piece of this year’s recruiting class is 6-foot 2-inch point guard Austin Harper from Grand Haven. Harper is described to have a great basketball IQ and has the ability to score like a wing, according to ESPN.com.

“Austin has great court vision and can see the floor really well,” Hawkins said. “He can score for himself and has the ability to get to the basket.”

“Austin also has the ability to make players better,” he added.

According to Bankhoops.com, Harper is the No. 3 senior point guard in Michigan and averaged 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals per game in 2007-08.

“As good as we’ve filled our needs, nobody’s played a minute,” Hawkins said. “They still have to adjust to Division I basketball. How they adjust will determine their playing time.”

The volleyball team is coming off one of the most successful seasons in recent history and signed four in November.

Even though the Broncos only graduated one player from 2008 and every starter back, head coach Colleen Munson said the freshmen need to be ready to play.

“They need to be ready to play as much as they can,” Munson said. “They have to adjust to the schedule and be ready for anything.”

This year’s class will need to learn as much as they can because the 2009 squad consists of four seniors in key areas.

The Broncos went mainly with the front row in recruiting, adding three middle blockers/outside hitters and one setter.

Kelly Griffin, a 6-foot 1-inch middle blocker/outside hitter from Chicago, will fit right in with the Bronco offense. Griffin attended Mother McAuley High School, which also was the high school of junior libero Caitlin Strimel and sophomore middle blocker Kate Corbett.

“She played mainly outside in high school and needs to learn as much as she can,” Munson said.

Griffin was named ESPN Rise National Volleyball Player of the Week on Oct. 24 after she recorded 47 kills on the AutumnFest Tournament, where she won Most Valuable Player.
Jess Brown, a 5-foot 11-inch outside hitter/middle blocker, comes from a very good high volleyball program at East Kentwood High School. Brown was a four-year letter winner at East Kentwood and led the Falcons to the 2006 Class A State Championship and the state semifinals in 2007.

“She’s a fighter,” Munson said. “We like what she does in the middle blocker position.”

Brown averaged 2.6 kills per set, a .371 hitting percentage and has 338 blocks for her high school career.

The other front row recruit is 5-foot 9-inch outside hitter/middle blocker Courtney Waffle from Coldwater. As of Oct. 22, 2008, Waffle had 1,074 kills, 584 digs, 214 blocks and 148 aces in her high school career.

Waffle is an all-around player and will be good for Broncos as a hitter and the back row.

The final piece is 5-foot 7-inch setter Brandie Merren from Hopkins. Merren owns several records at Hopkins High School, including career assists (3,605), career aces (480) and career digs (1,606).

Because of the number of returning players, Munson may look to redshirt a few of the incoming freshmen.

The hockey team will add three defensemen and three forwards for the 2009-10 season. However, the names are disclosed because they are not signed yet.

“Without question, they have tremendous character and athletic ability,” head Jim Culhane said about the class.

The women’s basketball team announced they have added wing Kemmy Dominique from Miami and guard Aurielle Anderson from Gary, Ind.

Dominique stand 5-foot 9-inches tall and is a transfer from Rend Lake College in Ina, Ill. She averaged 16.1 points per game and 1.8 three-pointers.

Anderson was an honorable mention for Indiana All-State and averaged 12 points per game the last two seasons. Last season, she averaged 5.8 boards per game, 4.4 steals and 3.4 assists.

The Broncos also signed 5-foot 10-inch forward DeAirra Goss of Indianapolis in November.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Apr 20 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
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