INDIANAPOLIS – As if things weren’t busy enough already this spring, Great Midwest Athletic Conference football programs celebrated National Signing Day by releasing their recruiting classes on Wednesday.
Social media accounts were buzzing from the early morning as programs showed their creativity welcoming their newest student-athletes as part of the Class of 2025.
The delayed fall season has led to a six-game conference schedule with a spring kickoff on Saturday, March 13. Seven teams will compete for a Great Midwest championship trophy before using the summer to prepare for the true 2021 season, which will include the addition of Ashland as a new member institution.
Findlay head coach Rob Keys inked 28 names to his list from six different states. Kentucky Wesleyan head coach Craig Yeast had very similar number with 27 student-athletes signed from five states.
Hillsdale, which recently added non-conference games against Saginaw Valley State and Gannon, signed 27 led by head coach Keith Otterbein and his staff. Lake Erie and head coach Reilly Murphy was very busy on the recruiting trail with 46 signing NLI’s after his first full year leading the program.
Lake Erie’s numbers were mirrored by Tiffin and head coach Cris Reisert with 46 commitments delivered on signing day. Both Murphy and Reisert were named AFCA 35 Under 35 coaching honorees in the offseason. On National Signing Day, Ashland released its 2021 fall schedule and the Eagles coached by Lee Owens added 50 new names to the roster with a dominant presence in the state Ohio.
At the time of release, official numbers for Ohio Dominican and head coach Kelly Cummings along with Walsh and head coach John Fankhauser, were not yet available to the public.
The Great Midwest Preseason Coaches Poll will be released in two weeks on Thursday, Feb. 18.
Tiffin is the league’s defending conference champion from 2019 while Ohio Dominican represented the league for an additional postseason opportunity at the America’s Crossroads Bowl in Hobart, Ind.
While Hillsdale officially opens the season Saturday, March 6, vs. SVSU, the Week 1 conference schedule features Tiffin at Walsh, Findlay at Hillsdale and Ohio Dominican on the road at Lake Erie.
Great Midwest National Signing Day Releases