Head coach Bill Lynch received five letters-of-intent from football breeding grounds Florida and Texas to top a 22-member recruiting class Wednesday afternoon. The football team announced its 2002 recruitment class Wednesday in a press conference held by Lynch in Worthen Arena.
"It's a good group. A coach always says after the signing date that it's 'the best group ever,'" Lynch said. "But it is a good group. They are guys we really wanted to get and, for the most part, we were pretty successful.
Leading the class from Indiana is Larry Bostic, a potential running back from Fort Wayne South High School, and Chris Jackson, a wide receiver from Delta High School.
Lynch spoke well of all of his new recruits, but especially of Bostic and Jackson, who coincidentally is the younger brother of men's basketball player Petie Jackson.
"Larry Bostic is an exciting player," Lynch said. "He is a big play kid. We are really excited to get him because of what he brings. He is a kid out of high school who is exciting, physical and quick."
Lynch explained that the 5-foot-7-inch back will be used mostly in punt and kickoff returns. Bostic finished his senior year having rushed for 1,297 yards with 15 touchdowns on 202 carries.
"His future is all in front of him," Lynch said. "I know Chris very very well and I have watched him grow up. Chris is a young guy who has really grown and he's a physical kid but he has really come on as a football player. He's a lot like Bostic in that he is a big play kind of guy. He's one that can take a five-yard pass and turn it into a 75-yard play."
Jackson finished his senior year with 76 receptions for 1,655 yards and 20 touchdowns. Tossing him the ball to acquire those numbers was Joey Lynch, coach Lynch's son who also signed a letter of intent to play for Ball State.
As a quarterback in high school, Joey Lynch threw for 3,261 yards and 34 touchdowns as a senior. "Joey is a guy who has a good future as well," Lynch said of his son. "He is a very accurate passer and has a lot of the characteristics you look for in a quarterback."
Derek Broussard, a wide receiver from Deer Park, Texas, played in just four games his senior year at Deer Park High School, but tallied 19 catches for 340 yards and four touchdowns. Broussard missed the rest of the season due to a broken leg. Jason Sieman is a linebacker from Katy, Texas.
Also from out of state are three players from Florida: Justin Schweighardt, Aaron Matthews and Vincent Davis. Other than Indiana, Texas and Florida, there were seven other players scattered among Missouri, Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin.
"A couple of years ago we decided we needed to get out in a couple different areas," Lynch said. "We needed to broaden our base. We decided to go back to south Florida because 10 years ago we had a lot of kids from there and we kind of got away from it.
"The other area we decided was Houston, Texas," Lynch said. "We wanted to get in areas where football is important and football is played year round."
Another aspect of the recruitment class that Lynch spoke highly of was the size of some of the players. For the offensive line, the Cardinals nabbed 6-foot-5-inch, 304-pound Kris Anastopoulos and 6-foot-4-inch, 300-pound Mike Brown.
"Chris is a big offensive lineman. He's huge," Lynch said."We are a better football team now. We were an undersized football team a couple of years ago, I don't feel that way any more. We need those kind of guys to play against the people we play against."
One area of the game that Ball State alone was kicking. Lynch explained that both Reggie Hodges and Mike Langford have a couple of years left at Ball State. Lynch said he feels they are performing well enough to not have to worry about the position.
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