RINDGE, N.H. (February 5, 2020) – With one season at the NCAA Division II level in the books and the next on the horizon this fall, head coach Russell Gaskamp and the Franklin Pierce University football team are proud to announce their 2020 recruiting class on Wednesday afternoon. The class consists of 25 student-athletes from nine states. A full list of commitments can be found below.

“There is so much excitement about this second class as we add to our football family,” said Gaskamp. “Our staff did an unbelievable job identifying players who not only fill needs on our football team, but who will be great additions to the Franklin Pierce community.”

The recruiting class features a local flair, mixed with recruits from traditional football hotbeds. The Ravens will welcome 11 total commits from New England, including six from neighboring Massachusetts. Adding New York and New Jersey to the mix makes 17 recruits from the Northeast, who will not have far to travel to get to Rindge. Further afield, the Ravens landed six recruits from the fertile football soils of Florida, as well as one signee each from Indiana and Texas.

The 2020 class will join last year’s initial recruiting class as Gaskamp begins to build the depth needed to construct a successful program. The 2020 campaign will open on Saturday, Sept. 5, with a return trip to Division III Wesley College, which came to Rindge in 2019. The Ravens will travel to Northeast-10 Conference foe New Haven for a non-conference contest the following week (Sept. 12), before returning home to open their eight-game NE10 slate on Sept. 19. The home opener is slated for a 6 p.m. kickoff against American International. Franklin Pierce will also welcome Assumption (Oct. 3), Southern Connecticut State (Oct. 24) and New Haven (Nov. 14) to Sodexo Field in 2020, all for 1 p.m. kickoffs. The full 2020 schedule is available here: https://www.fpuravens.com/sports/fball/2020-21/schedule

“The addition of 25 players to our team accomplishes two things: it gives us enough depth to compete in the NE10, and it creates competition at every position on the field,” added Gaskamp. “I am so proud of our first class, as they laid the foundation for our football program. This second class will now give us a chance to compete for a conference championship in the near future.”

A full list of committed student-athletes follows, broken down by home state, with their high school or previous college in parentheses. For bio info on the signees, please see our Signing Day Central 2020 page at: https://www.fpuravens.com/sports/fball/2019-20/SigningDay2020/SD-Central

2020 Franklin Pierce Football Recruiting Class 

Connecticut (1)
TE Matt Wright (Hamden Hall HS) 

Florida (6)
DL Beji Auguste (Liberty HS)
RB CJ Dietzel (Naples HS)
DL Jacob Mckenney (Osceola HS)
DL Kewon Moore (Kathleen HS)
LB Terrance Tate (Miami Carol City HS)
DL Treyven Varnado (Osceola HS) 

Indiana (1)
QB Cole Alexander (Lapel HS) 

Maine (2)
K/P Brady Forbes (Thornton Academy)
LB Camden Jordan (Leavitt Area HS) 

Massachusetts (6)
LB CJ Cerrella (Milford HS)
K/P Tyler Drinan (Lynn English HS)
DB Harrison Barjolo (South High)
LB Trey Sejour (Everett HS)
OL Max Sepulveda (Minnechaug Regional HS)
OL Nathan Zacharakis (North Middlesex Regional HS) 

New Hampshire (2)
OL Torrey Helton (Bedford HS)
TE Kyle O’Connor (Nashua HS South) 

New Jersey (5)
DL James Blake (Lyndhurst HS)
RB Michael Joyce (Wayne Hills HS)
OL Zach Najem (DePaul Catholic HS)
QB Robbie Nungesser (Ocean Township HS)
DB Qudair Sims (Monroe College) 

New York (1)
DB James Depalma (LIU Post) 

Texas (1)
RB Evan Burgess (ASA College Miami)

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://fpuravens.com). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce apparel can do so at the Department of Athletics' online store (https://fpuravens.com/store). You can also follow the football team on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Ravens_FB) and Instagram (http://www.instagram.com/franklinpierce_fb).