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Player Profiles
Augustana College head football coach Brad Salem announced Wednesday that 22 high school standouts have signed national letters of intent or written offers of admission and financial aid from Augustana to play football for the Vikings this fall.
“Every year you are excited about your recruiting and this year is no exception,” said Salem, who begins his fifth season with the Vikings in 2009. “We feel like we got great players all of the areas we targeted. These are all guys who fit at Augustana both athletically and academically.”
Salem said a focus of this year's recruiting class was along the offensive and defensive lines as 10 of the signees were linemen in high school.
Salem and his staff maintained their recent success of signing several local players. This year, six players from the Sioux Falls area signed with the Vikings. That group features four players from Sioux Falls Roosevelt High School, including Brock Bills, Derrick Dunn, Ross Peterson and Josh Pruett. Sioux Falls Lincoln standout Mike Magnuson and Brandon Valley's Darren Niklason round out the South Dakota contingent.
Salem credited recent facility upgrades, including the new Kirkeby-Over Stadium, the Vikings' new on-campus stadium that is currently under construction, as positives during the recruiting process. Augustana will open play in Kirkeby-Over Stadium this fall.
“I know this group is excited to be the first class to play their entire careers at Kirkeby-Over Stadium,” Salem said. “You could tell when they saw the stadium under construction that this is a place where they wanted to play.”
Augustana posted an 8-4 overall record and a 7-3 record in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, its first season in the league. It was the most wins in a season since the 1992 squad went 8-3. The Vikings tied for fourth place in the NSIC overall standings and were third in the NSIC Southern Division. Augustana capped its season by defeating Missouri Western State 37-16 in the Mineral Water Bowl.
2009 Augustana Football Recruiting Class
Player, Pos., Ht., Wt., Hometown / High School
Devon Alber, WR/DB, 5-11, 175, Manchester, Iowa / West Delaware County Comm. School
Zach Barbur, RB/LB, 5-10, 205, Eden Prairie, Minn. / Eden Prairie HS
Drew Barman, RB/DL, 6-2, 225, Sun Prairie, Wis. / DeForest HS
Brock Bills, RB/DB , 6-1 , 190 , Sioux Falls, S.D. / Roosevelt HS
Derrick Dunn, OL/DL, 6-3, 275, Sioux Falls, S.D. / Roosevelt HS
Thomas Filer, WR/DB, 5-9, 155, Bellevue, Neb. / Bellevue East HS
Garrett Glaus, RB/DB, 5-10, 180, Rosemount, Minn. / Rosemount HS
Alex Hasse, TE/DL, 6-4, 220, North Mankato, Minn. / West HS
Noah Huisman, WR/DB, 6-3, 180, Mason City, Iowa / Mason City HS
Sean Kelly, WR/DB, 5-10, 160, Naperville, Ill. / Naperville Central HS
Jake Lee, OL/DL, 5-11, 250, Blue Earth, Minn. / Blue Earth Area HS
Mike Magnuson, OL/DL, 6-2, 265, Sioux Falls, S.D. / Lincoln HS
Troy Manley, OL/DL, 6-7, 310, Hainesville, Ill. / Graylake Community HS
Darren Niklason, WR/DB, 6-0, 165, Brandon, S.D. / Brandon Valley HS
Ross Peterson, RB/LB, 6-0, 210, Sioux Falls, S.D. / Roosevelt HS
Tim Prucha, OL/DL, 6-3, 270, Omaha, Neb. / Bryan HS
Josh Pruett , TE/LB , 6-2 , 208 , Sioux Falls, S.D. / Roosevelt HS
Pat Regan, OL/DL, 6-5, 270, Stillwater, Minn. / Mahtomedi HS
Joel Slinden, TE/DL, 6-3, 215, Grove City, Minn. / Atwater Cosmos & Grove City HS
Anthony Tucker, RB/DB, 6-1, 195, Indianola, Iowa / Indianola HS
Brent Webb, RB/DB, 6-2, 200, Bellevue, Neb. / Bellevue West HS
