Rieder chooses Rochester

By Dan Tracy, BRCFootball.com Reporter/Blogger

Commitments from the BRC Class of 2011 continue to come in as Eau Claire North wide receiver has decided that he will play his college ball at Rochester Community and Technical College.

The BRC’s leading receiver in 2010, Rieder hauled in 60 catches for 887 yards and eight touchdowns. In addition to the interest from RCTC, Rieder was also in contact with Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota-Crookston, St. Thomas, UW-Stout, UW-LaCrosse and UW- Platteville.

Rieder will join Menomonie’s Jonny Koehler and Travis Welch, both 2010 graduates, who were on the 10-2 and Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC) State Championship winning Yellowjackets this past season. The Yellowjackets are 95-19 over their last ten seasons.

Hudson kicker, defensive end near decisions

By Dan Tracy, BRCFootball.com Reporter/Blogger

Two of Hudson’s six 2010 All-BRC selections have come closer to making their college decisions. One will be attending either Wisconsin or Minnesota for academics while the other will wait a few months before picking a college destination where he can play football and run track and field.

The first is kicker and All-BRC second-teamer Jake Denison and the second is Will Johnson who was also an All-BRC second-teamer at defensive end.

 

Jake Denison

Jake’s parents Michele and Jim have informed BRCFootball.com that their son will not be continuing his college football career next season.

“While Jake would love to be a kicker at the college level, and several D3 schools have shown interest, none offered the engineering degree (either chemical or mechanical) that he hopes to pursue. He has decided to focus on academics either at UW-Madison or U of M Twin Cities.”

Denison contributed 31 points to the Raiders this season, making field goals of 23, 25, 27 and 33 yards and splitting the uprights on 19 of 23 extra points. The second-team All-BRC kicker in 2010 went 23 of 25 on extra points and 3 of 6 for field goals as a junior.

The 6’2 215 lb. Denison also played defensive end for the Raiders.

Here is a look at his highlight film. http://bit.ly/elXakg.

 

Will Johnson

Johnson plans to wait until after his senior season on the track before making his college decision.

“I have been weighing my options on many of the schools within the WIAC but it has proven to be a very difficult decision to make,” Johnson said. “I’m sure wherever I go will be a great fit for me and I’m excited about an entirely different level of play.”

“I can’t wait to get back on the field as soon as possible.”

Johnson’s current three top school choices are UW-Stout, UW-River Falls and UW-Eau Claire.

“I am not committing to any one school yet because I also plan on running track in college and I want to leave my options open come this track season,” Johnson said.

The 6’1 185 lb. Johnson runs the 200 and 400 meter dashes as well as running on the Raiders’ 4×400 meter relay team.

National Signing Day Recap

By Dan Tracy, BRCFootball.com

Whew.

For BRCFootball.com there are the days we put together our final Preseason Team, our final All-Conference team and now with our recruiting coverage, there is the first Wednesday of February, National Signing Day. The ink has dried on the letters of intent signed 12 days ago and we’ve heard back from a number of recruits in the last 12 days who are still mulling over their college decisions.

Let’s take a look back at National Signing Day and a look at which other BRC recruits will be making or have already made their college decisions.

Who signed:

Note: These players’ college destination was not known before National Signing Day. For a complete list of commitments from the BRC Class of 2011, check out 2011 Commits List on the right side of our page.

Eau Claire North LB Gregory Button– Bemidji State

Menomonie RB Joey Neeb– Northern Michigan

Chippewa Falls TE/LB Mario Stephens– Bemidji State

Eau Claire North TE Grant Lokken– University of Minnesota-Crookston

Who hasn’t decided:

Here are some updates on some of the players of the BRC Class of 2011 who will make their college decisions sometime in the next few weeks.

Eau Claire Memorial DL Chuck Ayres: Definitely the most interesting recruiting process of any BRC recruit this season, Ayres is being courted by nearly all of the Ivy League with MIT, Princeton and Harvard in his top three. Ayres will be visiting MIT on Feb. 19 and he plans to make his decision soon after the visit.

Eau Claire North QB Mitch Degrasse: BRC’s leading passer in 2010 will not be playing college football next season and instead will opt to enlist in the United States Air Force.

Menomonie LB Nick Didier: Honored as first-team All-State and first-team All-BRC at both OL and LB, Didier has received interest from Division II Northern Michigan and Minnesota-Duluth but is also interested in Division III UW-Lacrosse.

River Falls WR Jack Herum: 6’4 170 lb. target caught 37 passes for 404 yards and three touchdowns on his way to an All-BRC second team selection. Deciding on UW-Stout and UW-Whitewater and has not yet decided whether or not he will play football at the next level.

Hudson DL Will Johnson- All-BRC second-teamer plans to play at the next level and is receiving interest from numerous WIAC schools.

Hudson OL Matt Krier: Narrowed down his list of potential schools to two, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Lacrosse. Krier, a second-team All-BRC offensive lineman in 2010, visited UW-Lacrosse on Feb. 5.

Eau Claire Memorial QB Mark Munger: Old Abes signal caller will wait until after his senior season of hockey to decide between interest from UW-Eau Claire, Gustavus Adolphus and St. Thomas. All three schools are interested in Munger for football.

Eau Claire North WR Austin Rieder: The BRC’s leading receiver in 2010. He snagged 60 catches for 887 yards and eight touchdowns. Rieder is receiving interest from Minnesota-Duluth, Minnesota-Crookston, St. Thomas, UW-Stout, UW-LaCrosse and UW- Platteville. Rieder informed me on Jan. 25 that he had hoped to make his decision “sometime soon.”

River Falls RB Nick Zimmerman: 1st-team All-BRC running back rushed for 1,352 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2010. Zimmerman has received interest from UW-Eau Claire, UW-River Falls, St. Thomas, St. John’s, Gustavus Adolphus and UW-Whitewater. Both UW-Eau Claire and UW-River Falls are high on Zimmerman’s list.

Who we haven’t heard from:

Here is a list of Class of 2011 BRC players that were named All-Conference in 2010 but have not made their college plans known.

Ben Danovsky- Menomonie OL

Collin Couey- Rice Lake OL

Chris Ester- Rice Lake RB

Eli Sankey- Menomonie DL

Eric Elwood- Rice Lake DL

Taylor West- Rice Lake DB

Tyler Kinderman- Chippewa Falls DB

Tyler Naatz- Menomonie DB

Dylan Faulker- Eau Claire Memorial OL

Kelly Larson- River Falls OL

Aaron White- Menomonie RB

Tyler Hermann- Eau Claire North WR

Jamie Kozak- River Falls DL

Tim Weller- River Falls DL

Avery Sega- Eau Claire Memorial LB

Jake Denison- Hudson K

If you have any information about these players and their college plans, Dan Tracy can be contacted via e-mail at dtracy@iastate.edu.

No BRC Bulldogs:

The 2010 Division II National Champion University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs signed 22 players on National Signing Day but none from the BRC. The Bulldogs currently boast 10 former BRC players on their roster but it appears that that number won’t grow until next season as head coach Bob Nielson continues to build a dynasty up in Duluth.