The recruiting and speculation for the 2015 football season is over – at least in regards to incoming
players.
Bowling Green State University’s football team completed its 2015 signing class Wednesday morning. In all
the Falcons received 21 national letters of intent and added three players as preferred walk-ons.
Ten of Bowling Green’s 24 incoming players are from Ohio and eight come from Florida. Three are from
Illinois and there is one each from Wisconsin, Maryland and Kansas.
Derek Lee, a Butler Community College transfer, was the first to sign. The 6-foot-4, 255-pound tight
end/fullback from Wichita, Kansas, has already enrolled at Bowling Green, along with running back Matt
Domer.
Domer (5-11, 190) is a 2013 graduate of Mount Carmel High School in Illinois. As the 24th-ranked running
back in the country out of high school, Domer was originally committed to play at the University of
Illinois before he was denied admission in the fall of 2013. He switched his commitment to Bowling Green
the week of Jan. 12.
Bowling Green’s classed brought a scattered ranking from top recruiting websites such as Rivals.com,
247sports.com and Scout.com. But Falcons coach Dino Babers prefers not to get caught up in the rankings.

“If you have the ability, then you have the ability,” Babers said. “… It doesn’t necessarily matter what
you’re ranked. We would like to have high rankings. We think we have some good football players. But I
would also trust the evaluation of not only myself, but the football coaches on this staff.”
In the class of 24 Bowling Green brought in 12 defensive players, nine offensive players, a kicker,
punter and one who is listed as an athlete.
It was the first class Babers had entirely put together at Bowling Green as he added just “two or three”
players to last year’s class after being hired in late December 2013.
But he wasn’t just looking for anybody. Babers wanted physical kids who also bring a dynamic athletic
ability to the field.
“It is a class of big people,” he said. “It is a class of small people who are very, very fast, and it’s
a class that’s very long. And one thing that we never want to turn our back on, as I’ve said many times
before, is the physicality of the game. … You need to have some creatures. You need to have some big
human beings out there that like to run into each other. We really did accomplish that at a lot of
positions.”
Among the standouts in the class are quarterback James Morgan, a four-star recruit according to ESPN.com
and a three-star recruit according to Rivals and Scout.
Morgan, at 6-4, 215 pounds, hails from Green Bay, Wisconsin. He passed for 5,964 yards and 60 touchdowns
over his final two season in which he went 19-3.
Harrison Roberts (linebacker), Deric Phouthavong (wide receiver), Nico Lautanan (defensive line), Jack
Kramer (defensive line), Bobo Jones (defensive back) and Robert Jackson Jr. (defensive back) were all
ranked as three-star recruits by at least one recruiting site.
“These young men are coming in because we believe they can help us win,” Babers said. “Outside of the
offensive lineman … everybody in this offensive class has an opportunity to play early if they do the
things that they need to do …. They’re going to get an opportunity to play early. We need help at all
positions.
“There’s going to be a lot of openings on defense,” he added. “And if they’re not starters we’re going to
need a lot of players to come in there and back other guys up.”
Along with physicality and athletic ability Babers and his staff sought players with explosiveness and an
ability to be noticed on the field.
“I think you really want to look for a guy that’s explosive,” he said. “You really want to look for a guy
who can change direction – a playmaker. If you’re watching tape and you’ve watched a quarter, a second
quarter, a third quarter and all of the sudden a guy flashes at you, you’re probably watching the wrong
guy. You need somebody that’s going to jump out at you. You’re not watching his highlight tape, you’re
watching the game tape. It shouldn’t take long for a player to get going in a game and let everybody
know that he’s there.”
OHIO TIES: Including the three preferred walk-ons, 10 members of Bowling
Green’s signing class come from Ohio, with four coming from the Columbus area, four more coming from the
Cleveland area, and two coming from near Dayton.
“(It’s) just by chance,” Babers said “… When you’re kind of new on the scene a lot of those kids in some
of those other areas were already committed. Now that we’ve been in the state for a year I think people
have a better feel for what brand of football we’re going to bring.”
FLORIDA TIES: With the addition of a walk-on eight members of Bowling
Green’s signing class hail from Florida, where assistant coach Nick Monroe has strong ties.
“We always start with the state of Ohio,” Babers said. “We look for our players close. If we can’t find
them in Ohio then we want to try them in (Pennsylvania), we want to try them in Indiana, we want to try
in the state of Illinois. When we can’t find exactly what we’re looking for we’ll start to branch out to
different places – Wisconsin and Florida. For us, that’s just a happening. We’re really excited about
our Florida connection.”
A complete list of the 2015 recruiting class can be found below.
Derek Lee, TE, 6-foot-4, 255 pounds, Butler Community College, Wichita,
Kansas.
Matt Domer, RB, 5-foot-11, 190 pounds, Mount Carmel HS, Hazel Crest,
Illinois.
Lee and Domer have already enrolled at Bowling Green State University.
The newest signees are …
Nico Lautanen, DT, 6-foot-3, 270 pounds, Mentor HS, Mentor, Ohio.
Jamari Bozeman, DB, 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, Suncoast Community HS, West Palm
Beach, Florida.
Blake Lucky, LB, 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, South Fork HS, Hobe Sound, Florida.

BoBo Jones, DB, 6-foot-1, 181 pounds, Xenia HS, Xenia, Ohio.
Tyler Horstman, LB, 6-foot-4, 230 pounds, Vero Beach HS, Vero Beach,
Florida.
J.C. Bartok, OL, 6-foot-5, 275 pounds, Worthington Kilbourne HS,
Worthington, Ohio.
Deric Phouthavong, WR, 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, Hamilton Township HS, Columbus,
Ohio.
James Morgan, QB, 6-foot-4, 195 pounds, Ashwaubenon HS, Green Bay,
Wisconsin.
Jack Kramer, DT, 6-foot-3, 295 pounds, Plainfield North HS, Plainfield,
Illinois.
Robert Jackson Jr., DB, 5-foot-11, 168 pounds, Bishop McNamara HS, Ft.
Washington, Maryland.
Brandon Harris, ATH, 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, Shaw HS, East Cleveland, Ohio.

Antonyo Sotolongo, DB, 6-foot, 200 pounds, Gulliver Prep, Miami, Florida.

Harrison Roberts, LB, 6-foot-1, 220 pounds, Euclid HS, Euclid, Ohio.
Kyle Junior, DE, 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, Middletown HS, Middletown, Ohio.
Matthew Finkler, LB, 6-foot-2, 234 pounds, Kirtland HS, Kirtland, Ohio.
Scott Miller, WR, 5-foot-10, 163 pounds, Barrington HS, Barrington,
Illinois.
Janarvis Pough, WR, 6-foot-1, 175 pounds, American Heritage Plantation HS,
Hollywood, Florida.
Zack Sharp, OL, 6-foot-8, 320 pounds, Lake Mary HS, Lake Mary, Florida.
CJ Lamar, RB/LB, 6-foot, 204 pounds, Lake Mary HS, Lake Mary, Florida.
Joining Bowling Green as preferred walk-ons are:
Michael DuVernois, P, 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, St. Thomas Aquinas HS,
Plantation, Florida.
Shemar Moss, DL, 6-foot-1, 240 pounds, Marion-Franklin HS, Columbus, Ohio.

Sam Crosa, K, 5-foot-8, 140 pounds, Dublin Scioto HS, Columbus, Ohio.