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Strong season helps Air Force

By Jim Benton, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 7, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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A winning season and a bowl appearance does wonders for recruiting.

Just ask Air Force's Troy Calhoun, who led the Falcons to a 9-4 record last season and an appearance in the Armed Forces Bowl in his first season as coach.

"Absolutely, it makes a difference," Calhoun said of the impact winning has had on the Falcons' recruiting efforts.

Because it takes a congressional appointment for potential players to be accepted at the Air Force Academy, it likely will be a few months before Calhoun knows which players will attend the academy or Air Force prep school.

Calhoun has altered Air Force's recruiting strategy to emphasis quality over quantity.

"We aren't recruiting a lot of guys," he said. "It's a very small group, but they are very talented players. Just relationshipwise, we feel like we know these guys pretty well, and more importantly, they know us as coaches and they know the Academy very well. This is going to be a very good group.

"This is our first true group. This is the first opportunity we've had to comb the country and hand pick a very selected few guys that in three or four years from now will be really great representatives of the Air Force Academy."

Air Force commitments

Players who have given verbal commitments to play for the Falcons, according to recruiting Web sites. Because of the academy's appointment process, names of incoming freshmen (including recruited athletes) will not be released until they arrive on campus in the summer. Some prospects sign a Certificate of Intent on national signing day, but it is a nonbinding, conditional offer from the athletic department, not an institutional written offer of admission.

Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown (school)

David Behr K 5-6 169 Summerville, S.C. (Summerville)

Jeff Benson C 6-1 273 Hoover, Ala. (Spain Park)

Austin Briehl TE 6-5 220 Scottsdale, Ariz. (Notre Dame Prep)

Beau Brittenham RB 6-3 180 Longmont (Longmont)

Corbin Brown S 6-1 178 Las Vegas (Spring Valley)

Joe Collura TE 6-5 245 Elkridge, Md. (DeMatha)

James Colvin RB 6-1 205 Colorado Springs (Pine Creek)

Charlie Crouse TE 6-2 225 Denver (Heritage Christian)

Matt Davis WR 6-0 165 Waco, Texas (Midway)

Raylen Davis RB 6-2 205 Royal Oak, Mich. (Royal Oak)

Austin Demmel LB 6-0 187 Highlands Ranch (Mountain Vista)

Evan Epstein C 6-4 285 Dallas (Bishop Lynch)

Colton Floyd LB 6-0 225 McKinney, Texas (McKinney)

Daniel Forester DT 6-4 258 Birmingham, Ala. (Briarwood Christian)

C.J. Fowler DB 5-9 160 Corsicana, Texas (Corsicana)

Nick Green QB 6-2 205 Portland, Ore. (Central Catholic)

Josh Hall DB 6-0 180 Duluth, Ga. (Northview)

Brandon Hirneise WR 6-2 175 Scottsdale, Ariz. (Notre Dame Prep)

Zach Ilse OT 6-4 303 Colorado Springs (Doherty)

George Irvin RB 5-8 192 Orlando, Fla. (Lake Highland)

Harry Kehs TE 6-3 239 Vienna, Va. (James Madison)

Ben Kopacka TE 6-3 223 Roswell, Ga. (Blessed Trinity)

Lindsey Leavoy LB 6-3 235 Baton Rouge, La. (St. Michael)

Brady Lukas LB 6-2 225 Anaheim, Calif. (Esperanza)

David Lucas WR 6-0 175 Port Orange, Fla. (Spruce Creek)

Austin Menner OT 6-4 265 Garland, Texas (Garland)

Justin Merrick OT 6-5 260 Parker (Ponderosa)

Cody Miller DT 6-0 275 Guyton, Ga. (South Effingham)

Ryan Misare RB 6-0 200 Castle Rock (Douglas County)

Mark Nelson TE 6-5 200 Alamonte Springs, Fla. (Lyman)

Jonny Newman LB 6-3 225 Chattanooga, Tenn. (McCallie)

Matt Saucier QB 6-0 180 River Ridge, La. (John Curtis)

Jake Sharum S 5-10 190 Arlington, Texas (Martin)

Garrett Shinkle LB 6-1 200 Lewisville, Texas (Hebron)

Austin Sidwell C 6-1 225 Foley, Ala. (Foley)

Kebin Umodu DT 6-2 245 West Covina, Calif. (South Hills)

A.J. Wallerstein OG 6-3 272 Canyon Country, Calif. (Canyon)

Jonathan Warzeka DB 5-9 170 Lake Elsinore, Calif. (Temescal Canyon)

Jackson Wehmeyer TE 6-3 218 Austin, Texas (Anderson)

Mike Whittier QB 6-2 197 Webster Groves, Mo. (Webster Groves)