Akron football recruiting, Zips sign 7 on NCAA early signing day
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The University of Akron football team welcomed seven new players who signed letters of intent with the Zips on Dec. 3, the first day of the early national signing period for the class of 2026.
Akron’s signing class includes six high school players who are three-star recruits, according to 247Sports. The six players are quarterback Semaj Beals, wide receiver Jaborree Riggins, offensive linemen Lorvens Barthelemy and Elzea Rollins, linebacker Daunte Curtis and cornerback Savion Lewis.
“When the season ends and you assess your available scholarships either through an exhaustion of eligibility or attrition, you really quantify it by do we have to replace a starter, do we have to replace a backup or if we have starters and backups at these positions, then we can bring in a developmental guy,” Akron coach Joe Moorhead said Dec. 3.
“We never want to lose the foundational development piece of our program by recruiting high school guys. We think the guys that we signed in this class could potentially play early and are all guys that have high ceilings and can develop into pretty good players here.”
Beals is a 6-foot-1, 190-pound quarterback at Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia. Beals is ranked as a top-40 player in Pennsylvania and top 68 nationally in the recruiting cycle by 247Sports. He is originally from Millville, New Jersey.
In 32 career high school games, Beals has 8,053 passing yards, 227 rushing yards and 96 career touchdown passes, including 36 in back-to-back seasons as a junior and senior. Beals has completed 60% of his career passes (537 of 894), including 64.8% as a senior (188 of 290).
“Semaj received a lot of early [scholarship] offers as a freshman or sophomore and, for whatever reason, they became un-committable” Moorhead said. “[Akron quarterbacks] coach [Michael] Shuster did an excellent job staying on top of him. He has led his team to the [PIAA Class 5A] state championship this year. He is a really productive quarterback. He is a guy that can beat you with his arm and his legs. He has a high football IQ, is well coached and at the end of the day he is a winner.”
Beals accumulated 22 scholarship offers in high school. His first five scholarship offers came from Connecticut, Boston College, Temple, Duke and Pittsburgh in 2023. He later added notable offers from West Virginia, Penn State, Maryland, Virginia Tech, James Madison, Alabama, Syracuse, Rutgers, Indiana, Illinois, Southern California, Colorado and Nebraska.
“With Ben Finley graduating and Michael Johnson Jr. also graduating, we have Brayden Roggow, Cibastian Broughton and Semaj that we signed, and the plan is to bring in a portal or JUCO [transfer] with the other spot,” Moorhead said. “That quarterback would come in mid-year and have them all slug it out for the starting spot.”
Moorhead and his staff signed teammates from Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, Florida, with Riggins and Barthelemy.
“Anytime you can get a set of teammates who are coming from a significant distance away, doing it in pairs helps,” Moorhead said. “Jaborree is a long, tall and athletic guy [at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds] who, like a lot of high school players in this era, accrued a significant number of [scholarship] offers and then it dried up as the process continued. I think we made a good evaluation and he will be a very solid outside receiver in the system.”
Riggins is a top 104 wide receiver in Florida and top 137 nationally in this recruiting cycle by 247Sports. Riggins accumulated 27 scholarship offers in high school. His first three scholarship offers came from Purdue, Western Michigan and West Virginia in 2023. He later added notable offers from Texas A&M, Miami (Florida), Penn State, Pittsburgh, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Georgia, Mississippi State, Florida, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tulane and Nebraska.
Barthelemy, who is 6-4 and 325 pounds, is ranked as a top-153 offensive lineman in Florida and top 217 nationally in this recruiting cycle by 247Sports.
“We were much improved on the offensive line this year and have some success with recruiting linemen from Florida,” Moorhead said. “I think Lorvens is a guy that come and potentially make an impact early like Kenneth McManus IV.”
Moorhead said McManus, a true freshman from St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C., “played like 500 snaps this year” with Akron.
Rollins is an offensive lineman from Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. The seventh signee is Jon Stephens, an offensive lineman from Holmes Community College in Goodman, Mississippi. Stephens is a native of Semmes, Alabama.
Lewis is a cornerback at Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School. He is ranked in the top 130 players in Ohio and top 200 nationally in the recruiting cycle by 247Sports. He has eight interceptions and returned two for touchdowns.
Curtis is a linebacker at Pickerington North High School. He has 61 tackles (23 for loss) and six sacks this season. He has recorded over 100 tackles and returned two interceptions for touchdowns over the past two seasons. He is ranked as a top-148 player in Ohio and top 233 nationally in the recruiting cycle by 247Sports.
“Daunte Curtis from Pick North and Savion Lewis from VASJ are two in-state guys that had really, really successful careers,” Moorhead said. “Daunte was the defensive player of the year for his conference [the Ohio Capital Conference and the All-Central Ohio District Division I Defensive Player of the Year], and I know that Savion was All-Northeast Ohio Lakes District Defensive Player of the Year.
“Ironically enough, Savion was the Defensive Player of the Year and [my son] Donovan was the Co-Offensive Player of the Year with Bryce Peet from Geneva in Division III.
“Daunte and Savion are from really good programs in-state where we have relationships with the coaches. It is good when we have a chance to keep local kids at home.”
Akron football coach Joe Moorhead’s son signs with Jacksonville State
Moorhead’s son, Gates Mills Hawken senior quarterback Donovan Moorhead, signed with Jacksonville State on Dec. 3.
“This is an incredibly proud moment for all of us in our family,” Joe Moorhead said. “I am particularly happy for Donovan. He is a kid that has been around the game of football his entire life. When we were in fall camp at Fordham and he was 6 years old, he would never miss a meeting and never miss a practice. He would stay the entire day and actually had a top-10 list of schools he wanted to attend as a 6-year-old.
“This has been his dream since he has been a little kid. To see him bust his ass and do what he needed to do and to achieve it, for it to come to fruition and see him put pen to paper today, it was pretty emotional in a good way.”
Donovan Moorhead had 12 scholarship offers, including one from his father at Akron, his father’s alma mater, Fordham, Eastern Kentucky, Marshall, Kent State, Central Michigan and Buffalo. He threw for 3,250 yards and 37 touchdowns as a senior.
“There has always been an understanding between he and I that I have coached him my entire life and I think there is an added pressure for a father-son combination, particularly at quarterback, that neither of us wanted the burden of expectation or explanation,” Joe Moorhead said. “We felt that it was best for him to spread his wings and playing for coach [Charles] Kelly at Jax State and coach [Clint] Trickett, who is the offensive coordinator and the son of a college coach [Rick Trickett], and the style of offense that they want to run, it couldn’t have been a better fit.”
Donovan Moorhead is currently playing basketball at Hawken.
“They were a final four team last year [in Division IV] and he is the starting center,” Joe Moorhead said. “He didn’t play at all ever in high school. The last time he played basketball was in eighth grade. … He dedicated all of his time to improving his craft [as a quarterback].
“When he committed and signed this morning, the plan was ‘All right, that happened. Let’s enjoy your second semester.’ He is loving the heck out of basketball right now. They have a great coach and really good kids.”
Michael Beaven can be reached by email at mbeaven@thebeaconjournal.com.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron Zips football signs 7 players in NCAA early signing day
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