Eastern Michigan 2012 Recruiting

Eastern Michigan Eagles 2012 ... Head Coach: Ron English

Eastern Michigan Eagles

2011 Record: 6-6 

Sep. 3 Howard W 41-9
Sep. 10 Alabama St W 14-7
Sep. 17 at Michigan L 31-3
Sep. 24 at Penn State L 34-6
Oct. 1 Akron W 31-23
Oct. 8 at Toledo L 54-16
Oct. 15 at Central Mich W 35-28
Oct. 22 Western Mich W 14-10
Oct. 29 OPEN DATE
Nov. 5 Ball State L 33-31
Nov. 12 Buffalo W 30-17
Nov. 19 at Kent State L 28-22
Nov. 25 at No Illinois L 18-12

2010 CFN Prediction: 0-12
2010 Record: 2-10

Sept. 4 Army L 31-27
Sept. 11 at Miami Univ. L 28-21
Sept. 18 Central Mich L 52-14
Sept. 25 at Ohio St L 73-20
Oct. 2 Ohio L 30-17
Oct. 9 at Vanderbilt L 52-6
Oct. 16 at Ball St W 41-38 OT
Oct. 23 at Virginia  L 48-21
Oct. 30 Toledo L 42-7
Nov. 6 OPEN DATE
Nov. 13 at Western Mich L 45-30
Nov. 20 at Buffalo W 21-17
Nov. 26 NIU W 71-3
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The Entire 2012 Recruiting Class

Top 5 Eastern Michigan Recruits To Care About
Player writeups by Scout.com

1. RB Juwan Lewis
5-10, 200, Scout.com 81st ranked, three-star running back

2. OT Matthew Thornton
6-5, 300, Scout.com 99th ranked, three-star offensive tackle

3. OG Darien Terell
6-4, 330, Scout.com 90th ranked, three-star guard

4. WR Quincy Jones
6-3, 200, Scout.com 167th ranked, three-star receiver

5. DT Cy Maughmer
6-1, 295, Scout.com two-star JUCO transfer

The 2012 Class Was Heavy On... Defensive line, defensive line, defensive line. After a stunning turnaround season, EMU and head coach Ron English is going after defensive linemen … again. The Eagles went hard after defensive linemen in the last few classes, and they’re going after even more with more athleticism, more options, and better depth. The offense isn’t being ignored, but outside of WR Quincy Jones, almost all the talent is for the D.

Team Concerns For 2012: After years of bringing in defensive linemen, now they all have to shine with four key parts of the rotation gone from the line. Linebacker Marcus English will be missed and both safeties are gone. The offense gets back plenty of starters, but loses receivers Trey Hunter and Corey Welch.

Looking Ahead To The 2012 Season: After the breakout/breakthrough 2011, head coach Ron English is hoping for even more from an offense that struggled to score but ran well. QB Alex Gillett is among the MAC’s best dual-threat playmakers, and all the top backs return to work behind a line that gets back four starters. The defense loses two starters up front and both starting safeties.

The 2011 Class Was Heavy On … JUCO defenders. After loading up for the defensive line over the last two recruiting classes, and with little to show for it, head coach Ron English is trying to win immediately with five JUCO transfers including linebackers Justin Cudworth, Blake Poole, and Sean Kurtz, who could all be immediate starters. However, the team’s best defensive pickup was true freshman Sean Cotton, a versatile safety who could’ve gone somewhere with a bigger profile.

re much bigger. 2010 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 116. That Class Was Heavy On ... Defensive Tackles. Ron English and his staff didn't exactly restock the shelves after a horrendous season, but there was an influx of immediate help for the defensive line with three JUCO transfers to throw into the interior. Jeremey Cutler is a 6-1, 275-pound fireplug, and he's the lightweight of the trio. 310-pound Jasper Grimes and 290-pound Jabar Westerman aren't considered star prospects, but they should help gum up the works.

2009 CFN Recruiting Ranking: 113. That Class Was Heavy On ... Defensive line. The last few classes have addressed the offense with a bulk of prospects coming in, and this year’s smallish class got a little bit of help on the ends. Melvin Crews is more of a tweener and Devon Davis should be moved to linebacker early on until he hits the weights, but Orlando McCord could grow into a player early on.

Nov. 25 at Northern Illinois 18 … Eastern Michigan 12
(AP) DeKALB, Ill. -- Chandler Harnish ran for 148 yards, including a 68-yard touchdown, and threw a 54-yard touchdown pass as Northern Illinois wrapped up a spot in the Mid-American Conference championship game by beating Eastern Michigan 18-12 on Friday.

The Huskies (9-3, 7-1) clinched a share of the MAC West title, and because they beat Toledo 63-60 on Nov. 1, they own the tiebreaker and have earned a second straight trip to the MAC championship game. NIU will play Ohio on Dec. 2 at Ford Field in Detroit for the MAC championship.

Harnish's 54-yard touchdown pass to Willie Clark opened the scoring. The Huskies led 12-3 at the half and Harnish's 68-yard run on a third-and-1 play extended their lead to 18-6.

The Eagles (6-6, 4-4) cut the deficit in half on Alex Gillett's 24-yard TD pass to Nick Olds with 6:19 to go, but were stopped on their final possession.

Nov. 19 at Kent State 28 … Eastern Michigan 22

Nov. 12 at Eastern Michigan 30 … Buffalo 17

Nov. 5 Ball State 33 … at Eastern Michigan 31

Oct. 22 at Eastern Michigan 14 … Western Michigan 10
CFN Analysis: An argument could be made that this was the biggest win for EMU in the last 15 years. Now the program has won three of the last four games, it’s in the mix for a winning season, and the five wins shows the program really and truly is turning around. This was a high-powered Western Michigan offense that was all but shut down, while the offense perked up with it had to thanks to Javonti Greene’s 50-yard touchdown dash. Greene set the tone early taking a pass 50 yards for a score, and while the offense was hardly consistent, with most of the production coming from those two plays, the defense picked up the slack with a phenomenal defensive effort. With home games up next against Ball State and Buffalo, and with a layup against Kent State coming, seven wins has to be expected … at least.  

Oct. 15 Eastern Michigan 35 … at Central Michigan 28
CFN Analysis: So Eastern Michigan can’t throw the ball. As long as Alex Gillett is on the move, the offense is working. The Eagles gashed Central Michigan for 350 yards and five touchdowns with Gillett taking off for the game winning score in the final moments in one of the most exciting wins the program has had in years. All of a sudden, EMU is 4-3 and is looking and playing like a real, live, football team. The run defense did a nice job against CMU, partly because the pass defense was giving up yards in chunks, but the offense made up for the problems with timely runs converting 8-of-13 third down chances. To nitpick, if the O is going to run for 350 yards and five touchdowns, it needs to do more to control the clock. Is a bowl bid possible? It’ll take three more wins to do it, and with Ball State, Buffalo, and Kent State coming up after Western Michigan, it’s okay for this team to dream big if the ground game is going to keep working like this. 
 
Oct. 8 at Toledo 54 … Eastern Michigan 16
CFN Analysis: The Eagles couldn’t keep up with the Toledo machine. The defense that’s been improved over the last few games wasn’t even close, while Alex Gillett couldn’t keep the chains moving and the game got out of hand in a hurry. 12 penalties, three turnovers, and no key third down stops were disastrous, but it’s one game. The passing game doesn’t have any ability to get down the field, and if the running game isn’t dominating, EMU doesn’t have an offense. Against Central Michigan, the offense has to find something else that works and the line has to execute far better.

Oct. 1 at Eastern Michigan 31 … Akron 23
CFN Analysis: Eastern Michigan is 3-2? No matter how it happened, no matter what the competition, and no matter how many flaws there are, it’s October and the program has a winning record. Take it. The passing game is a disaster with Alex Gillett not able to generate anything deep down the field, but he’s running well and the ground game is rolling. Dominique White had a big game running for 164 yards and three touchdowns, while Gillett added 62 yards and a score to go along with a 4-of-9, 94-yard passing day. The secondary did a nice job of coming up with stops to get the defense off the field, and it’ll have to be extra tight next week at Toledo.  

Sept. 24 at Penn State 34 … Eastern Michigan 6
CFN Analysis: Eastern Michigan wasn’t expected to have any sort of a shot against Penn State, but at least Alex Gillett and the passing game kept pushing. The offense could only manage two garbage time field goals and turned the ball over three times, and while there wasn’t any running game, Gillett did manage to move the chains a little bit. That’s small consolation for a second straight blowout win, but the Eagles do look far better than they did last year. It’ll have to prove that against an awful Akron team next week. 

Sept. 17 at Michigan 31 … Eastern Michigan 3
CFN Analysis: Eastern Michigan ran the ball well against the porous Wolverine defense, but it didn’t get any passing game whatsoever to balance things out. Javonti Greene ran for 80 yards on 21 carries, and Alex Gillett didn’t mess with the passing attack – completing only 3-of-5 passes for 29 yards, but ran for 61 yards. EMU had its chances and had its opportunities, but didn’t take advantage of them. Against Penn State’s tough defense next week, EMU has to find a way to get points whenever the opening is there. 

Sept. 10 at Eastern Michigan 14 … Alabama State 7  

(AP) YPSILANTI, Mich. -- Dominique Sherrer ran for a touchdown and Eastern Michigan piled up 336 rushing yards on the way to a 14-7 victory over Alabama State on Saturday.

Sherrer finished with 111 yards on 16 carries, while Javonti Greene ran 22 times for 146 yards for the Eagles (2-0), who held Alabama State of the FCS to minus-13 yards rushing.

Quarterback Alex Gillett ran for 74 yards -- including a 58-yard run that set up Sherrer's 6-yard score in the third quarter -- and threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Nick Olds for the game's only first-half points.

The Hornets (1-1) got on the board on Devin Dominguez's 22-yard pass to T.C. McWilliams.

It was the first meeting between the schools.  

Sept. 3 at Eastern Michigan 41 ... Howard 9
CFN Analysis: Never, ever dismiss what it’s like for Eastern Michigan to blowout a team. Howard might be awful, but the Eagles needed a 41-9 win just to have a little fun being on the other end of an ugly game. Alex Gillett might have had a few problems with the passing game, completing just 12-of-21 passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns with a pick, but the Eagles had no problems pounding away with Dominique Sherrer and Javonti Greene each running 14 times for 120 yards and a score. The EMU defense only allowed a field goal, with a pick six accounting for the other points, and now the hope is for the fun to continue against Alabama State before reality – and Michigan – sets in.

(AP) YPSILANTI, Mich. -- Dominique Sherrer and Javonti Greene each ran for 120 yards and touchdown to lead Eastern Michigan to a 41-9 victory against Howard on Sunday in a game that was pushed back a day because of thunderstorms in the Midwest.

Julien David gave Howard (0-1) a 6-0 lead in the first quarter, returning an interception 29 yards for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion failed.

Trailing 9-3, the Eagles scored 24 points in the second quarter to take command.

After a field goal, Alex Gillett hooked up with Garrett Hoskins for a 25-yard touchdown pass at 11:31 of the second quarter.

Greene added a 1-yard touchdown run with 1:31 remaining before half and Gillett scored on a 14-yard run t0 make it 27-9.

Gillett finished with 115 yards passing and two touchdowns and 76 yards rushing.

Sherrer had a 77-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. It was the first touchdown of his career and the second longest for an EMU player in Rynearson Stadium.