Eastern limits defensive recruiting to linebackers, defensive backs.

If Cory Leman can be half as good as his older brother, Illinois’ J Leman, then Eastern will have an excellent future linebacker.

The Panthers signed four defensive backs and four linebackers to national letters of intent Wednesday afternoon, including Leman from Central High School in Champaign.

Leman had 97 tackles for the Maroons last season and also rushed for 501 yards and four touchdowns as a two-way starter.

Leman is joined in the recruiting class by fellow linebackers Alain Marcelin (Mirimar, Fla.), Nick Nasti (Plano) and Matt Klein (Buffalo Grove).

Klein is the Bison’s all-time leading tackler with 378 and also holds the school record for most tackles for loss with 40.

“He has a nose for the football,” said Buffalo Grove coach Rich Roberts. “He can go.”

Roberts added that he has known Eastern head coach Bob Spoo for a long time and likes the kind of program he runs.

“Me and Bob go way back to the 70s,” Roberts said.

Marcelin turned down Dartmouth and Cornell to play at Eastern and has a chance to be the valedictorian of his class at Dade Christian High School.

“He played at a small school, which had their best season this year,” Eastern defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni said about Marcelin. “He played fullback and middle linebacker and we will start him off at linebacker and I think he has a chance to be pretty good there.”

Eastern was in need this off-season for a defensive back.

The Panthers graduated cornerbacks Ben Brown, B.J. Brown and Terrance Sanders, and starting safety Tristan Burge also graduated.

Bellantoni recruited three defensive backs from Florida that could all come in and contribute right away.

Charles James (Fort Lauderdale), Jacob Jean-Charles (Miami), and Nick Martinez (Mirimar) will all join the Panthers in the summer in addition to Darieon Hood (Chicago), who was a running back at St. Rita. Hood will first be tried out as a defensive back, said defensive line coach Shannon Jackson.

“Charles James has a chance to make a real big impact as a freshman,” Bellantoni said. “With our vacancy at corner he could come in and compete for a job. He could also have a contribution as a kick returner – he’s a pretty dynamic kid when he has the ball in his hands. We feel like he can come in and play right away.”

James participated in the Broward County all-star game and was also a member of the United States team in the NFL Global Junior Games that were held last weekend. Bellantoni also said James is one of the fastest players in Eastern’s recruiting class and has a chance to compete in the National Championship track meet held later this year.

Martinez, who scored five defensive touchdowns last season for Dade Christian, could also compete for a starting cornerback position as a freshman, Bellantoni added.

Hockaday highlights offensive recruits.

Maroa-Forsyth’s Luke Hockaday highlighted 11 new offensive recruits that officially signed national letters of intent Wednesday to play football for the Panthers.

The 6-foot-2 quarterback led his team to the Illinois State 2A Championship this year after an undefeated regular season.

The Trojans won their five playoff games by an average of 35 points and Hockaday threw three touchdown passes in the state championship game. Maroa-Forsyth defeated Westville 43-22.

Hockaday moved up to varsity as a freshman at Maroa-Forsyth and was the starter for his last three seasons. He threw for 2,844 yards and 39 touchdowns with only nine interceptions his senior year.

“We’re really excited about him,” said Jorge Munoz, Eastern’s quarterback coach. “He can throw and run the football and he played in a spread offense where he called a lot of his own audibles.”

Munoz added Hockaday wants to try and be a four-year starter at Eastern and will compete with current starter – soon-to-be-senior Cole Stinson – as well as Kyle Kniss (a sophomore last season) and Bodie Reeder (a red-shirt freshman last year) for the job next season.

Munoz and the coaching staff dealt with some rumors that Hockaday was going to de-commit and go to a large school. The rumors persisted Wednesday morning but Munoz knew from meeting Hockaday’s family that he would stick with the Panthers.

“I didn’t think he was going to waver one bit,” Munoz said. “From all the interactions we had, we knew they’re an up-front family and they tell the truth.”

Also in the quarterback mix next season will be DJ Brown from North Chicago. The 6-foot-1 quarterback was recruited primarily because of his speed, said wide receivers coach Mike Lynch, who also recruits the Chicago area.

“He will get a chance to play for quarterback for us but he could also play wide receiver or defensive back,” Lynch said. “His running makes him attractive.”

Joining Hockaday and Brown on the offensive side of the ball are wide receivers Tafari Mahou (Chicago), Torie Haywood (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Lorence Ricks (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.).

“They will add some speed to our big, physical receiving corps,” Munoz said.

Eastern returns 6-foot-6 All-OVC selection Micah Rucker next season but must fill the gaps created by the graduation of wide receivers Ryan Voss, Jermaine Mobley and Justin Duhai.

The Panthers also have holes on the offensive line because of graduating seniors.

Eastern lost three linemen – All-OVC selections Eric Johnson and Steve Sobolewski and All-American Jon Rueter.

Replacing them on the roster next season will be six incoming freshman.

Ryan Grossman (Glen Ellyn), Seth Knolhoff (Carlyle), Julian Harvey (South Holland), Eric Rettke (Orland Park), Rory Mammano (Champaign), and Willie Henderson (Lafayete, Ind.) all signed on to play for Eastern.

Eastern will look at players already on campus to fill the holes on the offensive line but the wide receivers could contribute as freshman.

Illinois players dominated the offensive signings with only three of the 11 recruits coming from out of state.

Head coach Bob Spoo was not present Wednesday after having routine surgery on Monday, Eastern Sports Information Director Rich Moser said, but did issue a statement from the hospital.

“We have brought in a fine group of young men,” Spoo said. “We want to be in a situation where we can reload. We do not want to be in a rebuilding situation and I think this year’s class will help us reload.”

Football defense secondary coach Noah Joesph discusses one of Eastern’s 19 recruits while special teams coach Justin Lustig looks on during Eastern’s National Signing Day in the football conference room Wednesday afternoon. This was the first year the coa

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