Fifteen high school seniors solidified their futures as Mountain Hawks by signing National Letters of Intent to join Lehigh football’s class of 2021, according to an announcement by coach Andy Coen on Feb. 1.
The incoming class is smaller than past years’ classes, and is down from 17 players in the class of 2020 and 31 in the class of 2019.
Joe Bottiglieri, who has spent the last three seasons as the team’s defensive coordinator and just assumed the role of senior adviser to the defensive staff, offered some insight regarding the class size.
“In the Patriot League, we are limited to 90 players on our roster at one time,” Bottiglieri said. “After graduation, we’ll have 70 returning players so we have 20 spots. So, with our signees and some walk-on spots we’re going to fill, we’re going to get up to the 20 new players we’re allowed to bring in.”
The coaching staff has brought in two defensive linemen, Jason Dooling from Florida and Jack Kircher from Connecticut. Dooling comes from Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas, and Kircher garnered first team all-conference honors and multiple all-state selections following his senior season at New Canaan High School.
Joining them on defense will be two linebackers from Pennsylvania, Pete Haffner and Nate Norris. Haffner compiled a notable high school resume, being named first team all-state by both the PA Sportswriters and PA Football News following his senior year. He was also named the Mid Penn Commonwealth Defensive MVP for the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Completing the class’s defensive players are four defensive backs: Divine Buckrham, Tre Cundiff, Jaylen Floyd and Tre Neal.
On special teams, Jack Dean from New Jersey will join the Mountain Hawks as a long snapper.
The offense will also add some linemen from the incoming class. Jackson Evans, a 6-foot-3, 300-pound player from Pennsylvania, who served as team captain of the St. Joseph’s Prep’s football team that won the state championship and was nationally ranked last season. His play senior year garnered him first team All-Philadelphia Catholic League, all-city and all-state honors. Joining him on the line will be Canadian native Christopher Fournier, who received all-conference and all-state honors playing high school football in Virginia.
The wide receiving corps will gain two additions in Matt Jordan from Michigan and Jorge Portorreal from New Jersey. Both gained all-metro and all-state accolades as seniors.
Rounding out the class of 2021 are running back Evan Chadbourn and quarterback Addison Shoup. Chadbourn, a Pennsylvania native, missed most of his senior season because of an injury but had a standout junior season in which he was named Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class A Player of the Year and USA Today All-USA Pennsylvania second team running back by finishing the year with 2,297 yards and 53 touchdowns.
Shoup gathered all-county and honorable mention all-state honors in his home state of Georgia during his high school career.
Chris Wakely, associate director of athletics for recruitment, said the quarterback position is always an important part of an incoming football class.
“You cannot be successful in football if you have not recruited effectively well at the quarterback position,” Wakely said. “Over the long history of success in this program, we’ve always had a quarterback among the best in the league. So when I talk with the coaches about the class, one of the first questions I’ll ask is, ‘How did we do at quarterback?’ And they’re really happy with Shoup.”
Four members of the upcoming class are from the same high schools as current Lehigh players. The Mountain Hawks also added two more players from Florida, a state the team has heavily recruited in the past few years.
“As a staff, we’re pitching the right things about Lehigh,” said Scott Brisson, the team’s offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. “We sell your role as being a part of an entire program and something bigger than yourself. Our thought is that if you’re a great player at one of these major high school programs, you probably already have some past history of buying into that.”
Wakely said the team won’t begin to evaluate the success of the class until they’re juniors and seniors when they have more chance to grow.
“I remember my first year in this role,” Wakely said. “I told Dean of Athletics Joe Sterrett that I thought we had a really good class coming in, and his first response was, ‘Well, we’ll know in four years.’”
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