Welcoming the future

Ferris athletics welcomes new class of recruits

One of the biggest days on Ferris Athletics’ calendar is in the books, leaving many sports teams with a good idea of what next season’s rosters will look like. 

The Ferris football program celebrated National Signing Day with the announcement of this year’s 28-member class. Bulldog football has been a powerhouse in recent years, reaching the NCAA Division II National Quarterfinals in 2017 for the second consecutive year and making their fourth-straight trip to the D2 Playoffs. 

Ferris head coach Tony Annese hopes to keep the rhythm alive with this year’s players, many of which have championship experience and have received all-state accolades on an individual basis. 

“We’ve found some really quality players all over the country,” Annese said. “We’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of guys who are really athletic and we lost quite a few of those athletes. So, we just really wanted to put a good group together with great balance.” 

Offensively, FSU added six linemen, three wide receivers, four slots, three potential quarterbacks, a tight end and a running back. 

On the defensive side, the Bulldogs brought in five in the secondary, four on the defensive line and a linebacker. 

“Even though we lost a lot of guys on defense, people are going to find out that we reloaded pretty well and I feel good about that group of men we have on that side of the ball,” Annese said. 

Ferris women’s soccer has also found themselves in the spotlight after welcoming nine recruits to their 2018 roster. 

“The group that we have on campus is like a family right now,” Ferris head soccer coach Andy McCaslin said. “The way that these nine young women are going to add in is going to be tremendous. They are a phenomenal group, they’ve got the right mentality, they’re talented, they’re hard working and they’re the right type of kids for that family type environment.” 

Among the nine recruits, six are from Michigan with other players being from Illinois, Ohio and New Jersey. The class overall includes one goalkeeper, one midfielder, three defenders and four forwards. 

This past fall, the Ferris women’s soccer team had an 11-8 overall record while placing third in the GLIAC with a 6-3 league record.

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