Spack pleased with Illinois State recruiting haul

Normal, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - FCS national runner-up Illinois State announced the signing of 22 high school seniors as part of its 2015 recruiting class on Wednesday.

The Redbirds had added transfers Stephen Amoako (defensive back, Oregon), David Kenney (defensive lineman, Indiana) and Reggie Spearman (linebacker, Iowa) prior to the start of the spring semester.

Wednesday's signees included 13 players from the state of Illinois as well as players from Wisconsin, Missouri, Michigan, Kansas and Texas.

"The long playoff affected us both positively and negatively, but we will take that any year, and I think we have a great class in 2015," coach Brock Spack said. "We were able to get a lot of players to commit early before we even started the playoffs, which helped, but we had to scramble at the end to close out a few of the guys because we weren't able to get in their homes to see them like other schools did after the regular season ended. I think we will see the biggest effects in next year's class and we should see an uptick with that class."

Illinois State lost to North Dakota State last month in its first appearance in the national championship game. The Redbirds finished 13-2 while setting a program record for wins in a season.

2015 Illinois State Signing Class

Player (Pos) HT WT Hometown (High School)

Jawill Aldridge ATH 5-10 185 Chicago, IL (Marist)

Jeremy Bivens ATH 6-0 180 Springfield, IL (Rochester)

Jamal Brown DB 6-0 185 Chicago, IL (Phillips)

Tuvone Clark LB 6-2 205 St. Louis, MO (McCluer South)

DeMarco Corbin RB 6-0 205 Euless, TX (Colleyville)

Steve Covington DB 6-1 175 Peoria, IL (Notre Dame)

Willie Edwards DB 6-1 175 Wichita, KS (East HS)

Jason Harris DL 6-5 215 Barrington, IL (Barrington)

Jake Hendershot TE/H 6-2 230 North Salem, IN (Tri-West)

Drew Himmelman TE/OL 6-8 230 Geneseo, IL (Geneseo)

Bryce Jefferson ATH 5-10 190 Wentzville, MO (Lutheran)

D. Kelly-Martin LB 6-3 205 Plainfield, IL (Nazareth Academy)

Luther Kirk DB 6-2 170 Garland, TX (Garland)

Michael Kolzow WR 6-2 175 Naperville, IL (Central)

Aston Langley DL 6-1 280 Pleasant Prairie, WI (Indian Trail)

LaCale London DL 6-4 270 Peoria, IL (Peoria)

Erik Mikkelson OL 6-3 280 Oswego, IL (Oswego)

Marc Miller OL 6-2 270 Beverly Hills, MI (Brother Rice)

Hasan Muhammad-Rogers QB5-11 170 Calumet Park, IL (Richards)

Jared Rients OL 6-5 290 Minonk, IL (Fieldcrest)

Josh Syromovsky ATH 6-2 200 Brooklyn, WI (Oregon)

DeMarco Washington QB 6-3 205 Peoria, IL (Notre Dame)

*Stephen Amoako DB 5-11 185 Arlington, TX (Martin/Oregon)

*David Kenney DL 6-2 250 Indianapolis, IN (Pike/Indiana)

*Reggie Spearman LB 6-3 230 Chicago, IL (Simeon/Iowa)

* - Transfer