Forty players, including one transfer, inked scholarship letters to play for Chadron State College football in 2018, on National Signing Day this past Wednesday.
“I feel great about the class of young men who made the choice today to be an Eagle,” said Head Football Coach Jay Long. “We think this may be one of our best academic classes ever. When you have those kind of kids in your program, they’re also the kids who stay in school and succeed, and that means they can stay on the football field for us as well. Not only is this class talented in the classroom, but it’s an extremely talented group of football players.”
Unsurprisingly, 32 of the 40 are from what the coaching staff considers its four “core” recruiting states: Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota.
This year, with several offers still extended, the biggest catch came from the Rocky Mountain State. The 10 Coloradans who signed are as follows: TJ Blazon III of Silver Creek High in Longmont; Tayven Bray of ThunderRidge High in Highlands Ranch; Michael DeCamillis of Broomfield; Juan Estrada-Sanchez of Denver’s Lincoln High; Coronado High’s Jordan Evans, Pine Creek’s Christion Louis, and Widefield’s Sam Reed of Colorado Springs; Dylan Koretko of Johntown’s Roosevelt High; Loveland High’s Kyle Levault; and Chris Ringus of nearby Thompson Valley High.
Nine Nebraskans have signed, so far. They include Curtis Freeze of Bridgeport; Trent Grizzle of Fairbury; Mason Lofquist of West Holt High in Atkinson; Ogallala’s Jordan Orr; Chadron’s Sam Rischling and Logan Tiensvold; Riley Schliep of Grand Island Northwest; Valentine’s DJ Stephen; and Hershey’s McKade Smith, son of CSC’s 1995 All-RMAC cornerback Ryan Smith.
The class includes seven players from Wyoming. They are: Brady Fullmer of Yoder’s Southeast High; Max Gallagher of Powell; Casper’s Joey Geil, who joins his brother Jake from Kelly Walsh High; Greybull’s Riley Hill; Buffalo’s Isaac Nicholson; Riverton’s Brodie Roden, and Noah Schwalbe of Thermopolis’s Hot Springs County High.
Then, there are the six South Dakota players, four of whom all matriculate from St. Thomas More High in Rapid City. The quartet of Cavaliers are Ryan Ahrenstorff, Jacob Larson, Thomas Rafferty, and Kobe Whipple. The remaining two are Sturgis’s Joel Carpenter and Douglas’s Justen Zbranek.
The Eagles plucked two this year from Washington state. Jaeden Pritchard and Aksel Turk will continue as teammates at CSC, after playing for Mercer Island High, both as linemen, in the Evergreen State.
Two from the southeastern United States are Tayondric Crowder, of Blanche Ely High in Pompano Beach, Florida, and Thomar Smith of Wayne County High in Jesup, Georgia.
A pair from the southwestern region of the country are Kael Juelfs of Lee Williams High in Kingman, Arizona, and Brooks Pavlic from Robertson High in Las Vegas, New Mexico. The former is the son of CSC Hall of Famer Joe Juelfs.
The final state represented by the class is Idaho, where Sam Cafferty of Kuna High will arrive from in the fall.
The 40th member of the signing day class is Riku Kitamura, a transfer from Santa Monica College. The junior defensive lineman is a rare football-playing international student, originally from Hiroshima, Japan.
In addition to the 40 players signed on Wednesday, walk-on players and other transfers are expected to add to the incoming player roster in the following days and weeks.
The complete incoming player roster as of Wednesday is below:
| NAME | POS | HT | WT | HOMETOWN | PREV SCHOOL |
| Ryan Ahrenstorff | RUSH | 6-0 | 215 | Rapid City, S.D. | St. Thomas More HS |
| TJ Blazon III | WR | 5-9 | 165 | Longmont, Colo. | Silver Creek HS |
| Tayven Bray | DE | 6-1 | 205 | Highlands Ranch, Colo. | Thunder Ridge HS |
| Sam Cafferty | OT | 6-4 | 310 | Kuna, Idaho | Kuna HS |
| Joel Carpenter | DT | 6-1 | 230 | Sturgis, S.D. | Sturgis Brown HS |
| Tayondric Crowder | DB | 5-11 | 165 | Pompano Beach, Fla. | Blanche Ely HS |
| Michael DeCamillis | OG | 6-3 | 270 | Broomfield, Colo. | Broomfield HS |
| Juan Estrada-Sanchez | OT | 6-4 | 245 | Denver, Colo. | Lincoln HS |
| Jordan Evans | RB | 5-10 | 195 | Colorado Springs, Colo. | Coronado HS |
| Curtis Freeze | OG | 6-2 | 260 | Bridgeport, Neb. | Bridgeport HS |
| Brady Fullmer | QB | 6-2 | 180 | Yoder, Wyo. | Southeast HS |
| Max Gallagher | DT | 6-2 | 265 | Powell, Wyo. | Powell HS |
| Joey Geil | LB | 6-1 | 215 | Casper, Wyo. | Kelly Walsh HS |
| Trent Grizzle | OG | 6-3 | 240 | Fairbury, Neb. | Fairbury HS |
| Riley Hill | QB | 6-3 | 220 | Greybull, Wyo. | Greybull HS |
| Kael Juelfs | LB | 5-10 | 195 | Kingman, Ariz. | Lee Williams HS |
| Riku Kitamura | DT | 6-0 | 290 | Hiroshima, Japan | Santa Monica College |
| Dylan Koretko | DE | 5-11 | 226 | Johnstown, Colo. | Roosevelt HS |
| Jacob Larson | RB | 6-1 | 190 | Rapid City, S.D. | St. Thomas More HS |
| Kyle Levault | DT | 6-2 | 240 | Loveland, Colo. | Loveland HS |
| Mason Lofquist | DE | 6-2 | 220 | Atkinson, Neb. | West Holt HS |
| Christion Louis | DT | 6-3 | 285 | Colorado Springs, Colo. | Pine Creek HS |
| Isaac Nicholson | RUSH | 6-3 | 210 | Buffalo, Wyo. | Buffalo HS |
| Jordan Orr | LB | 6-4 | 190 | Ogallala, Neb. | Ogallala HS |
| Brooks Pavlic | OG | 6-2 | 270 | Las Vegas, N.M. | Robertson HS |
| Jaeden Pritchard | RUSH | 6-0 | 255 | Mercer Island, Wa. | Mercer Island HS |
| Thomas Rafferty | WR | 6-0 | 185 | Rapid City, S.D. | St. Thomas More HS |
| Sam Reed | DT | 6-2 | 230 | Colorado Springs, Colo. | Widefield HS |
| Chris Ringus | DE | 6-2 | 220 | Loveland, Colo. | Thompson Valley HS |
| Sam Rischling | TE | 6-2 | 215 | Chadron, Neb. | Chadron HS |
| Brodie Roden | WR | 6-0 | 170 | Riverton, Wyo. | Riverton HS |
| Riley Schliep | TE | 6-5 | 205 | Grand Island, Neb. | Grand Island Northwest HS |
| Noah Schwalbe | RUSH | 6-2 | 200 | Thermopolis, Wyo. | Hot Springs County HS |
| McKade Smith | WR | 6-4 | 172 | Hershey, Neb. | Hershey HS |
| Thomar Smith | DB | 6-2 | 165 | Jesup, Ga. | Wayne County HS |
| DJ Stephen | LB/LS | 6-0 | 195 | Valentine, Neb. | Valentine HS |
| Logan Tiensvold | LB | 6-0 | 190 | Chadron, Neb. | Chadron HS |
| Aksel Turk | OT | 6-6 | 245 | Mercer Island, Wash. | Mercer Island HS |
| Kobe Whipple | DT | 6-1 | 255 | Rapid City, S.D. | St. Thomas More HS |
| Justen Zbranek | WR | 6-1 | 185 | Douglas, S.D. | Douglas HS |