UCONN Letter of Intent Signings

[Azazel]

A year ago, the first Wednesday in February came and went without much fanfare for local high school football players. A grand total of one — Barlow's Ryan Brown, with Navy — signed his name over to a Division I college football program.
That won't be the case today.

In Greater Bridgeport alone, four high school football players and one junior college player will be signing their official letters with Division I college programs on National Signing Day.

As expected, Fairfield Prep defensive lineman Masengo Kabongo will sign with Maryland, Stratford tailback Torrey Mack will sign with Virginia, Staples offensive lineman Ryan Sedlacek will sign with Illinois and Ansonia linemen Erik Kuraczea will sign with UConn.

Elsewhere, Dudley Laporte, a 2005 Stratford graduate, will sign a letter of intent to play at Mississippi after spending two years as a tight end for Santa Barbara (Calif.) Community College.

Greenwich's three best prospects — two of whom had multiple Division I offers — will actually spurn athletic scholarships.

The most surprising of them all is Greenwich fullback/linebacker Jonathan Meyers, who will leave behind 20 Division I offers from schools like Florida and Michigan and sign with Division I-AA Princeton.

Center Chris Bisanzo, who had offers from UConn, Temple and Syracuse, will sign with Division I-AA Georgetown, alongside quarterback Tucker Stafford, who turned down a full ride to New Hampshire.

"I don't know about the rest of the state, but talent-wise, this is one of our best classes," Greenwich coach Rich Albonizio said. "For three kids to turn down full rides says a lot about our kids, that they came putting education on an equal weight as football."
Ansonia's heralded tailback Alex Thomas, the 2007 Gatorade Player of the Year in Connecticut, and Staples' all-state linebacker Josh Kozel will both sign with Yale.

"Obviously, this is a class with a lot of great football players," said Ansonia coach Tom Brockett, whose program will kick off the festivities at 7:30 a.m. with a ceremony for Kuraczea, Thomas and linebacker Dan DeGennaro, who will attend Southern Connecticut State.

"But it's also great because of the amount of kids who have done so well academically. I mean, rarely do you see a kid spurning Division I schools and going Ivy League. So this is a great class for Connecticut on a lot of different levels."

Unless a surprise emerges, Kuraczea will be the only Connecticut native to make his UConn commitment official. Central linebacker Trevardo Williams, who verbally committed to the Huskies a year ago, will attend prep school at Canterbury before going to UConn.

Octavias McKoy, Stratford's other Division I prospect, will attend Garden City Community College in Kansas, where former New England Patriots running back Corey Dillon once played before moving to the University of Washington.

It will be a similar path to the one taken by Laporte.

After taking his last snap at Stratford during the 2004 season, Laporte attended Milford Academy in New Paltz, N.Y., in 2005 before committing to Santa Barbara (Calif.) Community College.

There, the 6-4, 255-pound tight end had a stellar, two-year career at the California school and last year led Santa Barbara with 30 catches for 500 yards and four touchdowns. He was named the top JUCO tight end in the country by Scout.com before committing to Ole Miss two weeks ago.

Are you a football player signing a letter of intent today? E-mail sbowley@ctpost.com.

Top Recruits
Here's a look at southwestern Connecticut's top recruits, who will be making their college choices official on National Signing Day.

PLAYER POS COLLEGE

Masengo Kabongo, Ffld. Prep OL/DL Maryland

Torrey Mack, Stratford RB/DB Virginia

Erik Kuraczea, Ansonia OL/DL UConn

Ryan Sedlacek, Staples OL/DL Illinois

Jonathan Meyers, Greenwich FB/LB Princeton

*Dudley LaPorte, Stratford TE Mississippi

Alex Thomas, Ansonia RB Yale

Chris Bisanzo, Greenwich OL Georgetown

Octavias McKoy, Stratford RB/DB Gard. City CC

*Spent last two years at Santa Barbara (Calif.

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