The Missouri S&T football team opened its 2010 recruiting season with the signing of three freshman standouts on Wednesday, including two at the position the Miners were hit the hardest by graduation.
Wednesday was the first day freshman recruits could sign with NCAA programs.
The Miners have announced the signing of a pair of offensive linemen as well as a defensive back.
Signing with S&T yesterday were offensive linemen Justin Booth of Centralia (Mo.) High School and Francois Mann of Gosnell (Ark.) High School and defensive back Jake Schneider of Francis Howell North High School in St. Charles, Mo.
Booth (6-2, 280) was an all-state, all-district and all-conference selection at Centralia, where he was also selected as an area all-star by KRES Radio. He played for a team that finished 13-1 last season and reached the Missouri Class 2 semifinals.
Mann (6-1, 275) was an all-state selection following his senior year at the high school level, where he was a two-time all-conference selection as a lineman. Mann was also named to the Vype Magazine All-4A squad, KAIT-TV (Jonesboro, Ark.) super team and All-Courier News (Blytheville, Ark.) teams after his senior year. He is also the president of his senior class at Gosnell. Mann plans to major in history education at Missouri S&T.
Schneider (6-0, 180) was a first-team all-conference performer at strong safety following the 2009 season and also played at quarterback, where he was an honorable mention selection in the Gateway Athletic Conference. He finished the 2009 season with 51 solo tackles and 65 stops overall on defense, while throwing for 1,096 yards and 13 touchdowns at the quarterback position.
“I think it was a good start,” said Miner head coach Kirby Cannon. “Offensive line is one of the biggest concerns for us. Mann is a very powerful, athletic lineman who is capable of playing all three positions. We’re very fortunate to attract him. He had been recruited by several Gulf South (Conference) schools. Booth comes from a very good small-school program and we’re looking for him to come in and red-shirt a year and then possibly compete for a starting job after that.
“Schneider played quarterback and defensive back in high school. He’s very versatile and we think he can be a safety or cornerback. He plays with great intensity.”
Cannon said he hopes to sign between 11-to-13 freshman recruits before wrapping up the recruiting season. Because of the snow over the weekend a couple of S&T’s recruiting visits had to be rescheduled. Those visits are now scheduled for this week.
“Several (of the recruits) still have to visit our campus as well as others and they knew they’d be going past (Wednesday’s opening day of signing),” he said. “We expect to sign several more over the next few days.”
