National Signing Day: EMU's Best Class Ever
National Signing Day: EMU's Best Class Ever
EMU's signing class of 18 is graded as the best in program history.
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From one historic moment to the next. It hasn’t even been a full day since Eastern Michigan won a bowl game to reach nine wins for the first time since 1987 and the focus is already shifted to the future.
Tuesday featured a historic bowl win for the program, and now, Wednesday, 18 recruits from the high school and junior college ranks put pen to paper to wear green and white (and gray) for their football futures.
Of the 18 players signed today, three came from the junior college ranks — a quarterback, a defensive tackle, and a cornerback — while the rest signed with EMU as seniors in high school. Of the high school signees: three are from Michigan — including the highest-ranked in-state signee in program history — four are from Georgia, two are from Indiana, and one from each state of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and Florida. Eight signees are pledged to play for EMU’s offense while the remaining 10 will be on the defensive side of things.
Going by 247sports.com’s composite scoring system, EMU’s signing class is the best that it’s ever been with a #3 rank in the Mid-American Conference and #89 nationally. It’s previous best mark came in in 2020 when EMU signed the #101 ranked class in the nation. Even though it was a fleeting moment, it’s worth nothing that at one point over the summer, EMU’s 2023 class was ranked as the MAC’s best, which was a first for the program.
During the summer, EMU had one player back out of his original commitment to the team. Canadian-born QB Drew Viotto from Walled Lake Western HS flipped his decision during the summer to play for, and now signed with, Minnesota.
Below is the list of 18 recruits who signed their National Letters of Intent Wednesday morning to play at EMU:
Eastern Michigan Football Signing Class of 2023
QB, Ike Udengwu III (Paramount, Calif. - Mt. St. Antonio College) / NR
RB, Deion Brown (St. Louis, Mo. - Kirkwood HS) / 3-star
WR, Joseph Walker Jr. (Indianapolis, Ind. - Warren Central HS) / 3-star
WR, Makhail Wood (Hoschton, Ga. - Mill Creek HS) / 3-star
TE, Cedric Anton (Rabun Gap, Ga. - Rabun Gap-Nacoochee HS) / 3-star
OL, Kellen McDonough (Pittsburgh, Pa. - Woodland Hills HS) / NR
OL, Terrance Saunders (Stilwell, Kan. - Blue Valley West HS) / NR
OL, Trenton VanBoening (Libertyville, Ill. - Libertyville HS) / 3-star
DE, Messiah Blair (Detroit, Mich. - Martin Luther King HS) / 3-star
DE, Luke Fletcher (Port Huron, Mich. - Porth Huron Northern HS) / 3-star
DT, Ugochukwu Nosike (South Holland, Ill. - Butler C.C.) / 2-star
DT, Malik Tullis (Fairburn, Ga. - Creekside HS) / 3-star
DL, Kevion Wellington (Indianapolis, Ind. - North Central HS) / 2-star
LB, Bryce Eliuk (Linden, Mich. - Linden HS) / 2-star
S, Jaivian Norman (Springfield, Ohio - Springfield HS) / 3-star
CB, Caleb Dobbs (Cocoa, Fla. - Cocoa HS) / 3-star
CB, Jaheim Jenkins (Bainbridge, Ga. - Iowa Western C.C.) / NR
CB, Daiquan White (Fairburn, Ga. - Creekside HS) / 3-star
