Bowling Green State University has not opened a branch campus in Florida, although there is a Bowling
Green, Fla., a community of approximately 2,800 in Hardee County, Fla.
Still the ‘state of Bowling Green’ has expanded to Florida.
When Dave Clawson was hired as BG’s head football coach two years ago, he talked about recruiting the
‘state of Bowling Green.,” which was every high school within a five-hour radius of the BGSU campus.
That changed this year as secondary coach Nick Monroe hit the state of Florida very hard for the current
recruiting class.
Of the 21 recruits who submitted signed letters of intent to Bowling Green on Wednesday, seven were from
Florida. Ohio was next with six while Illinois and Michigan each had two. California, Indiana, New York
and Pennsylvania each had one recruit.
Clawson, 9-16 in his first two seasons at BG, announced the class and commented on video highlights of
each player during a Wednesday press conference.
“We have to get faster as a program,” Clawson answered when asked about ‘the state of Bowling Green’
expanding into Florida. “In the first two recruiting classes we built a very good base of players and
this year was about (filling) specific needs … We wanted to get defensive backs and offensive skilled
players.
“We’re going to get the heart and soul of our team from the ‘state of Bowling Green’ but the arms and
legs are going to come from somewhere else,” Clawson added.
Headlining the Florida recruits are:
• defensive back Johnny Joseph from St. Thomas Aquinas in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. St. Thomas Aquinas went
undefeated in 2010 and won a Florida state championship and the national high school championship;
• wide receiver Herve Coby, from American Heritage in Delray Beach, Fla. Coby’s high school team advanced
to back-to-back state championship games, winning the title his junior year;
• Travis Greene, who was recruited as an athlete from Monsignor Edward Pace in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Clawson said Greene would first get a look at cornerback.
• defensive back Darrell Hunter, from William T. Dwyer in West Palm Beach, Fla. Hunter helped his school
win a state title as a junior; and
• running back Anthon Samuel, also from Monsignor Edward Pace. He rushed for 1,441 yards and 23
touchdowns and made five interceptions as a senior.
Clawson and his coaches also worked to improve the offensive and defensive lines.
“We wanted to add some bulk on our defensive line and also on our O-line,” Clawson said. “We had to get
immediate help on the offensive line … We had to create depth at (defensive) tackle and we graduated
our top three defensive ends, so we had to recruit ends.”
On offense, the Falcons recruited five linemen.
Scott Hodges, 6-feet-7, 297 pounds, who played two seasons at Sacramento City Junior College, and
Dominique Wharton, 6-3, 300, who played two seasons at ASA College of Excellence in New York City, are
both on campus along with Christian Piazza, 6-7, 275 from Ann Arbor, who played last season at Fork
Union Military Academy in Virginia. All three will be participating in spring football.
The Falcons signed four defensive linemen, including Zach Colvin, 6-4, 260, from Minooka High School in
Shorewood, Ill.; Shaquille Hall, 6-3, 225, from Palmetto Ridge High School in Naples, Fla.; and Hunter
Maynard, 6-1, 310, from Columbus Bishop Watterson.
Also included in the recruiting class are a quarterback, a tight end, and a kicker.
The quarterback is Matt Johnson from Bishop McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Pa. Johnson ranks eighth
in Pennsylvania high school history with 85 passing touchdowns and is fifth with 7,994 passing yards. He
is scheduled to play in the Big 33 game.
“Every year we are going to recruit a quarterback,” Clawson said. Matt Johnson … is the first
quarterback we offered. We got the commitment in the summer and held on like crazy.
Zach Steinmetz from Toledo St. John’s is the tight end. He had 25 receptions for 356 yards and four
touchdowns.
One of Steinmetz’s highlight film moments was catching a touchdown pass in Perry Stadium during a high
school playoff game against Toledo Whitmer.
The kicker is Tyler Tate from Bloom-Carroll High School, south of Columbus. He was 6-of-9 on field goals
with a long of 50 yards and 32-of-33 on extra points as a senior while recording touchbacks on 85
percent of his kickoffs. Tate also played wide receiver and defensive back for the Bulldogs.
“We want to recruit leaders and winners … those are the first two characteristics that we look for,”
Clawson said. “In this class of the 21 guys, 16 were team captains.
“Of course time will tell, but based on the recruiting battles we had to win to get these players, we
have a lot of confidence that this is going to be an outstanding group that’s going to help Bowling
Green get back to the championship level.,” he added.
Also walk-ons Jovan Leacock and Cameron Truss have been given scholarships for the 2011 season after
earning starting positions in 2010, Clawson said.
Clawson said he was pleased that there has been very little attrition from his first two recruiting
classes — losing three players from the 2009 class and one, quarterback Caleb Watkins, from the 2010
class. Clawson said that from the three recruiting classes before he took over (2006, 2007, 2008) there
have been 31 players leave the program.