Saint Francis Ink Eight to NLI

[downbythebeach]

LORETTO, Pa. (Feb. 8, 2011) – The Saint Francis football team announced that it has signed eight student-athletes to national letters of intent to continue their academic and athletic careers at Saint Francis University.

“We're excited about the prospect of bringing this class to Saint Francis,” said Red Flash head coach Chris Villarrial. “They're going to be the next step in building this program to where it needs to be. We need to build a culture of winning.”

http://www.sfuathletics.com/news/2011/2/8/FB_0208111444.aspx

[downbythebeach]

Garrett Lucas
6-3, 290, OL/LS
Johnstown, Pa. / Westmont Hilltop

Lucas was one of two major local catches for the Red Flash, coming to Saint Francis from Westmont Hilltop high school in Johnstown. Lucas was a standout on the offensive line for the Hilltoppers, and showed capable of playing every position on the line as well as long snap. He was named to the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat All-Area Team, the PFN All-State Team, the WesternPAFootball.net All-State Team, and was the 2009 NUC O-Line MVP for the Pittsburgh Region. Lucas was a two-sport athlete that lettered in both football and basketball. He is the son of Gail and Brian Lucas; his mother Gail currently attends Saint Francis. Garrett Lucas intends to major in History/Secondary Education.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDluni8SsYw

[Poly's Brutality]

Man that QB was fun to watch last year.... Great player!

[downbythebeach]

Austin Miele
6-0, 205, RB/LB/DB
Valencia, Pa. / Mars Area

Miele comes to Saint Francis from Mars Area High School, where he lettered in both football and track & field. Miele helped lead the Fighting Planets to a pair of conference championships. He holds Mars Area records with three consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons, 4,168 career rushing yards, and 46 total touchdowns. He was named to the 2010 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 Team and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Terrific 25 Team. Miele earned three All-Conference Offensive Player honors and one Second-Team All-Conference Defensive Player honor in his career, and was named the WTAE Student Athlete of the Week when he set the WPIAL record for most yards rushing in a playoff game with 448 yards. A four-time honor student at Mars Area, Miele plans to major in Physical Therapy. He is the son of Bernie and Bill Miele.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5297060

[Franks Tanks]

Look like you guys snagged some very good players.

I know St. Francis now gives scholarships, but do you have any idea how many are full vs. half rides? Also do kids not on scholarship still get need based aid or aid in the manner you gave out before the NEC gave scholarships?

[aceinthehole]

Look like you guys snagged some very good players.

I know St. Francis now gives scholarships, but do you have any idea how many are full vs. half rides? Also do kids not on scholarship still get need based aid or aid in the manner you gave out before the NEC gave scholarships?

I can't speak about SFPA directly, but from what I heard when the NEC first phased-in scholarships, very few players were on full rides. Maybe just 2 or 3 players out of the first 10-15 scholarships. Now that most of the the league is at 30+ scholarships, I think many teams have about half (12-20 players) on full scholarships. The remainder are split among 30 or more players.

Again, I just remember Coach Ford and Coach Mac reporting in interviews that they only gave out only 1 or 2 full schoalrships in first 1 or 2 years of the transition. Just based on the number of NLI CCSU has signed the last 2 seasons (about 15 per year), I would guess that at about half are on full scholarship, with the remainder being partials.