Teams load up with talent on signing day

Published 9:16 am Thursday, February 2, 2017

Western Michigan, Michigan State, Michigan and Notre Dame were all busy Wednesday signing recruits to national letters of intent.

In Kalamazoo, the Broncos signed 25 student-athletes for the 2017-18 season, two of which will be early enrollees.

Western, which went 13-0 last season and played in the Cotton Bowl, signed players from 10 different states. Eleven players were from the state of Michigan, while five were from Illinois.

Treshaun Hayward from Ypsilanti and Na’Jee Clayton from Paramus, New Jersey, are already enrolled at Western.

Jack Darby, from Batavia, Illinois and Izaak Gerkis, of Birmingham, are both walk-ons.

In East Lansing, the Spartans ran into a bit of a snag when verbal commit Donovan Winter of Orlando, Florida, did not sign his letter of intent after being arrested Monday.

Winter, a three-star defensive end, was arrested and charged with burglary and larceny of a firearm. Winter is no longer enrolled at Bishop Moore High School.

The Fighting Irish had all 18 verbal commits sign their national letters of intent Wednesday morning.

Edwardsburg standout Cameron Ekanayake will be a preferred walk-on at Notre Dame.

Michigan’s recruiting class is being ranked No. 4 nationally, and No. 2 in the Big Ten before Ohio State.

That includes St. Joseph’s Corey Malone-Hatcher, a defensive end who is an early enrollee.