It comes as no surprise that none of the Academy football teams ended up on ESPN, Sports Illustrated or any of the recruiting Web sites’ top-50 football recruiting class lists.
Convincing a four- or five-star recruit to commit to a school that comes with a five-year military service commitment isn’t easy. Yet Navy and Air Force continue to find themselves playing in bowl games at the end of every season, thanks in part to the ability of their coaching staffs to identify talented players who are also cut out for military life.
It’s tough to even figure out who the academies have recruited. If not for the work of some of the team’s local beat writers, boosters and alums would have to wait, because the schools can’t release their recruits’ names until Congress announces the students they have appointed.
Below are links to the most comprehensive lists that we could find. They were put together by Jake Schaller of the Colorado Springs Gazette, Bill Wagner of the Annapolis Capitol and GoBlackKnights.com. Sal Interdonato at the Times Record also has some of the best coverage on Army’s recruiting list, but we couldn’t find a list of recruits on their site.
Air Force 2010 Recruiting Class
Of all the recruits, though, we did want to highlight one. Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo landed Ian Durham, the 34th best college kicker in the 2010 high school class, according to ProKicker.com. Listed at 5′ 5″ 140 pounds, he might also break records as one of the smallest players to ever take the field for a Div. 1 college football game.
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James “Jay” Tully is a transfer to Army from Samford where he played Tailback for Pat Sullivan. He did a tour at USMAPS and is 6′ 220lbs and 20 y/o. He is from Tennessee, but I think his parents live in Utah. Watch Out Navy.