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View Full Version : Div I-AA Move Changes WSSU's Recruiting Approach



TexasTerror
August 8th, 2006, 05:52 AM
A very pertinent read with all these teams moving up from Div II to I-AA. Lots of players who were once eligible to be Div II players can't make the cut as the university makes a move up. I think UCA had quite a few scholarships open up as well in their process because guys didn't academically meet the standards of Div I as compared to Div II. Enjoy!

A NEW AGE: Rams changing their approach to recruiting

By John Dell
JOURNAL REPORTER

Landing impact players won't be as easy as it once was for Winston-Salem State. Bringing in transfers or players who might have started and stopped their careers was easier in Division II than it will be in Division I-AA. Division II rules allowed the Rams to sign a 26-year-old kicker (Shawn Thomas) and a 25-year-old offensive lineman (Aaron Federspiel).

Those days are over, and Coach Kermit Blount of WSSU is aware of the differences.

"At Division II, you had an advantage in some aspects to recruiting," Blount said.

In recent years, some of WSSU's best were players who fell through the cracks of Division I programs. Stephon Kelly, a hard-hitting safety, was such a player. He left Division I-AA S.C. State one spring and wound up at WSSU in the fall. He became a two-time All-CIAA selection and was the CIAA defensive player of the year in 2001.

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149189856984