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Local Sports

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

College Football: Three transfers join UF squad for 2009
Cooper Service
By BRIAN LESTER

STAFF WRITER

Building a football program that can compete for a championship takes time.

The University of Findlay took another step toward becoming a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contender by landing three NCAA Division I transfers.

Outside linebackers Mark Johnson (Ohio State) and Jeff Cleveland (Miami of Ohio), along with offensive lineman Brett Keller (Toledo) enrolled in school on Monday and will be eligible to play this fall.

"The nice thing about getting mid-year transfers is that they can go through spring ball and get used to everything here," UF head coach Jon Wauford said. "It's a big advantage because now they can learn the system and be ready to go in the fall."

Johnson is the headliner of the group.

The 6-foot-3 redshirt junior was ranked as the 12th best linebacker in the nation coming out of Dorsey High School in Los Angeles and had offers from several major powerhouses, including Florida, Virginia Tech, Louisiana State and Oklahoma. He racked up 258 tackles in his final two seasons at Dorsey.

Cleveland (6-2, 220 pounds) helped Huber Heights win a Greater Western Ohio Conference championship and an appearance in the regional final while averaging 10.5 tackles per game as a senior. He sat out last fall at Miami as a redshirt.

Johnson and Cleveland will join a defense that gave up 340.4 yards per game a year ago, the fifth best total in the GLIAC.

Keller was actually recruited by UF when he was a senior at Toledo Whitmer — Grand Valley State recruited him as well — but he settled on the Rockets. He sat out last fall as a redshirt freshman.

The 6-6, 315-pound lineman should make an impact for a UF team that gave up 15 sacks and averaged 307.6 yards of offense per game.

"The idea is when you bring in Division I transfers, you expect them to make an immediate impact," Wauford said. "Our football team has gotten closer to being competitive in this league and adding a few players to key positions is important to that progress."

Wauford has brought in D-I transfers who have made an impact since he head coach of UF in 2007. Those include wide receiver Mike Chambers (Minnesota) and linebacker Jesse Kontras (Wofford).

Chambers caught 74 passes for 915 yards last year and Kontras was the team's third-leading tackler in 2008, making 70 tackles.

"It has been a concerted effort by our staff to find transfers," Wauford said. "A lot of times we read on the internet about guys who quit a team and we do our best to bring them here."

The Oilers (2-9, 1-9 GLIAC) lost six games by eight points or less last season and finished with a nine-game losing streak.

Despite the troubling year, Wauford believes the program is on the right path.

"We feel like the program is getting closer to where we want it to be," Wauford said. "We lost a lot of close games last year and hopefully we can find a way to win those kinds of games this year."

On the Net: www.findlay.edu/athletics



Lester: 419-422-5151,

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