Northeastern State Inks NLI Commitments

TAHLEQUAH, Okla.  ---  Northeastern State head football coach Kenny Evans announced the signing of 18 freshmen and 9 transfers on the first day of signings of national letters of intent for football Wednesday.

"We are very excited about this class," said Evans. "In the two years since I've been here and going into my third season this is probably the best class we've been able to recruit with limited money, because we do have a lot of players coming back.

"But the caliber of player we did sign with the limited money, we have come up with some very good players. This is the first year of recruiting we've had with a full staff. Having a full staff here for a year has definitely made an impact and the caliber of players we've brought in here," said Evans.

The RiverHawks brought in 9 transfers for the second semester, which Evans feels will give the program some immediate help.

"We've added greatly to our program over the last two years and we are looking forward to seeing them on the field."

Evans and his staff brought in seven defensive linemen and three offensive linemen. Evans said they were looking for offensive and defensive linemen and he feels they have filled their needs in that area.  "It's like they say, you never know until you get them on the field and against competition that you know how it will work out.

"You are always looking for linemen and you take guys that are going to have to develop in that area," said Evans. "You try to get some immediate help in that area, but of course we were young and have a lot of people back in those areas.

"We looked at some big guys from premier programs, like Dalton Duckett from Union High School. And we brought some athletes at receiver and running backs, such as (Steven) Hopper from Broken Arrow, along with some other quality young  men."

"We are very excited about this class and hopefully we'll see a lot more wins in the future," said Evans.

MIDTERM TRANSFERS

Name	Pos	Ht	Wt	Previous	Hometown
Gus Jones	LB/DE	6-3	235	Oklahoma	Wagoner, OK
Cody Lenz	P	6-0	190	Trinity Valley	Deer Park, TX
Chris Meyers	LB	6-2	225	Kilgore	Houston, TX
Gionni Harris	WR	5-9	170	Arkansas Tech	Fayetteville, AR
Shahpore Khalifeh	WR	5-9	175	Henderson St.	Joplin, MO
Keith Owens	DE	6-2	215	McKinney Boyd	McKinney, TX
Kendall McKellum	WR	6-2	195	Northern Iowa	Tulsa, OK
Travon Brooks	DB	6-0	200	Emporia St.	Muskogee, OK
Ryan Nolan	QB	6-1	180	Missouri Southern	Keys, OK

FRESHMEN SIGNEES

NAME	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown/High School
Joseph Alston	DE	6-4	220	Berryhill, OK/Berryhill HS
Daryn Alves	ATH	5-10	180	Durant, OK/Durant HS
Justin Butterfield	DL	6-4	255	Bartlesville, OK /Bartlesville HS
Isikeli Cocker	OL	6-2	290	Euless, TX/Trinity HS
Terrance Dixon	RB	5-11	195	Sand Springs, OK/Charles Page HS
Dalton Duckett	OL	6-1	320	Tulsa, OK/Union HS
Jaimon Gilstrap	RB	5-10	180	Tulsa, OK/East Central HS
Steven Hopper	RB	6-0	195	Broken Arrow, OK/Broken Arrow HS
Willie Hubbard	ATH	5-11	180	Euless, TX/Trinity HS
Ethan James	OL	6-5	295	Gore, OK/Gore HS
Cole Johnson	DE/LB	6-1	215	Tulsa, OK/Lincoln Christian HS
Langston Jones	DB	6-2	195	Calisburg, TX/Calisburg HS
Derek Lowe	CB	5-11	180	Wylie, TX/Wylie HS
Drew Patton	K	6-0	175	Fayetteville, AR/Fayetteville HS
James Renfrow	DE	6-2	215	Broken Arrow, OK/Broken Arrow HS
Joel Rockmore	RB	5-7	185	Lake Worth, TX/Lake Worth HS
Dylan Taylor	ATH	5-9	180	Vian, OK/Vian HS
Ryan Thomas	DE	6-3	215	Decatur, TX/Decatur HS

Signees' Bios
 
Kendall McKellum , 6-2, 195, wide receiver: McKellum is a mid-term transfer from Northern Iowa University. He is Biology major and wants to attend medical school. At Tulsa's Hale High School, he was selected to play in the Football Coaches Association All-State game and was selected for the Jim Thorpe Game.
 
Ryan Nolan, 6-1, 180, quarterback: Transfer from Missouri Southern State University and played high school at Keys. An Education major, he was an All-District selection and an All-State selection at Keys High School.
 
Shahpore Khalifeh, 5-9, 175, wide receiver:  Transfer from Henderson State, where he was a Gulf South All-Academic Team member. He was an All-Conference selection at Joplin High School.
 
Gionni Harris, 59-170, wide receiver: Transfer from Arkansas Tech, where he made 16 catches and scored 3 touchdowns a year ago.  A Health and Human Performance major, Harris was an All-Conference selection and was a member of the Arkansas All-State team while at Fayetteville High School. He was a three-year starter and scored 57 touchdowns.
 
Gus Jones, 6-3, 235, linebacker/defensive end: Transfer from the University of Oklahoma, where he was redshirted. At Wagoner High School he was named the Male Athlete of the Year and was a member of the All-State team, while being selected the KJRH  channel 2 player  of the week .
 
Chris Myers, 6-2, 225, linebacker: Transfer from Kilgore Junior College. A Criminal Justice major, at Dickenson High School in Houston, Myers was an All-District selection and took park in the Space City Classic game.
 
Keith Owens, 6-2, 215, defensive end: Graduated high school at mid-term and enter Northeastern State in spring semester as a Business major. Owens was an All-District selection for McKinney ,Texas , High School. He was an Honorable mention Academic All-State selection.
 
Travon Brooks, 6-0, 200, defensive back: Transfer from Emporia State where he had 35 tackles and three interceptions last season. A Health and Human Performance major, at Muskogee High School, Brooks was an All-Conference, All-Area and All-State selection. He participated in the Oil Bowl in 2008.
 
Cody Lenz, 6-0, 190, punter: Transfer from Trinity Valley Junior College where he was a Southwest Junior College Football Conference All-Conference selection. He was also a pre-season All-American selection.  A Criminal Justice major, while at Deer Park, Texas, High School, and Lenz was an All-District linebacker selection.
 
Dalton Duckett, 6-1, 320 offensive line:  At Union High School he played in state championship game three times, winning back-to-back titles. He also participated in track and wrestling.  Duckett was awarded Hit Man award for football.
 
Joseph Alston, 6-4, 220, defensive end: At Berryhill High School he was an All-District kicker of the year, played kin state championship game and was a state champion wrestler.
 
Derek Lowe, 5-11, 180, cornerback: At Wylie Texas High School, Lowe was an All-District selection and had 37 career starts, second most at Wylie, where the Pirates won the Class 5A 2008  state championship.
 
Daryn Alves, 5-10, 180, athlete: At Durant High School, was an honorable mention All-State selection, rushed for 1,517 yards his senior season, scoring 23 touchdowns. During his sophomore year he ran for 2,643 yards and scored 32 touchdowns and followed with 1,283 yards his junior season.  He has rushed for 5,443 yards during his high school career, scoring 72 touchdowns.
 
Ryan Thomas, 6-3, 215, defensive end: At Decatur High School in Texas, Thomas was an All-District receiver and second team All-district defensive end his senior  season.
 
Dylan Taylor, 5-9, 180, athlete:  At Vian High School Taylor was an All-Conference, All-District  selection and was named the Offensive Player of the Year by the Muskogee Phoenix newspaper. He was an All-State honorable mention selection.
 
Terrance Dixon, 5-11, 195, running back: At Sand Springs High School, Dixon was an All-State selection, Tulsa World Player of the week selection and was voted Sand Springs MVP. He was ranked the No. 2 running back in the state by the Tulsa World.
 
Steven Hopper, 6-0, 195, running back: While at Broken Arrow High School, Hopper broke the all-time career rushing record, most yards in one game and holds all the Broken Arrow rushing records. He is a three sport letter winner in football, basketball and track. Holds school record for high jump at 6-8.
 
James Renfrow, 6-2, 215, defensive end:  At Broken Arrow High School his senior season was an All-District performer, played in the Oil Bowl Classic, was an Wendy's Heisman Award winner and was selected the defensive player of the game three times. He played in two state quarterfinal football games.  He was an All-Frontier Conference selection in track and field and qualified for the state shot put competition.
 
Langston Jones, 6-2, 195, defensive back: At Calisburg (Texas) High School, Jones was a first team All-District selection at running back and linebacker and honorable mention All-State, while being named co-offensive and defensive MVP for the Wildcats. He was also an honorable mention lakes Conference basketball selection.
 
Ethan James, 6-5, 295, offensive lineman: At Gore High School, James was an All-District, and All-State selection. He will be playing for Oklahoma in the Oil Bowl Game on June 12th.
 
Jaimon Gilstrap, 5-10, 205, running back: At East Central High School Gilstrap was the district running back of the year, All-State selection, All-Metro selection, Football Classic Player of the Game and Army Strong Player of the Week. Played in the 2007 5A state championship game in which he kicked four extra points.

Joel Rockmore, 5-7, 185, running back: At Lake Worth (Texas) High School, Rockmore was a first team Class 3A All-State selection and the district offensive MVP. Lake Worth was the Texas 5A state champions in 2009.

Isikeli Cocker, 6-2, 290, offensive line:  At Euless Trinity (Texas) High School, Cocker was a first team All-District selection, a member of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper super team and a first team 5A All-State selection. He was listed by the Star-Telegram as a top- 50 recruit.

Willie Hubbard, 5-11, 180, athlete: While at Trinity Euless (Texas) High school Hubbard was an All-District pick and was named the offensive MVP and team MVP.

Drew Patton, 6-0, 175, kicker: While at Fayetteville (Ark.) High School Patton was a pre-season VYPE All-State selection, All-7A West team, Arkansas All-State member, All-Northwest selection and three-year starter and was named outstanding specialist for 2009.

Justin Butterfield, 6-4, 255, defensive line: At Bartlesville High School,  Butterfield was an Oklahoma Coaches Association All-State selection, 6A All-District selection and was the co-offensive lineman of the year. Butterfield will play in the Oil Bowl this June.

Cole Johnson, 6-1, 215, defensive end/linebacker: While at Lincoln Christian High School was named one of the top 10 defensive ends in the state and was named to the Tulsa World's All-State team.