Beth Long’s football recruiting notebook

Fenwick quarterback Jacob Keller picked up his first football scholarship offer in March, from Eastern Michigan. The 6-4, 195 pound senior has plenty of interest from basketball coaches as well.

“Receiving the offer from Eastern Michigan was a great feeling, knowing that the staff and head coach thinks that I can play football at the next level,” Keller said.

Keller has improved his game in the past several months. He’s focused on several specific parts of being a signal caller.

“I’ve learned this season that I can stay in the pocket,” Keller said. “I don’t need to escape a lot of the time to get the ball out. I’ve become more comfortable in there from the drills we do at practice.”

Keller has interest from several other colleges, including Northern Iowa, which watched the Friars play top-ranked Loyola on Friday.

“I’ve been talking to Northern Iowa a lot, and they came out and watched me,” Keller said. “They said they liked my film, the way the ball comes off my hand and how I can make plays with my feet. The season has been going pretty well for me thanks to the help of everyone on the offense. We have a great group of guys.”

It hasn’t just been mechanical improvements for Keller this season. He’s shown he can win.

“The best parts of the season for me have been beating Phillips and Montini,” Keller said. “Especially coming from behind and being down to Phillips at the half.”

As for next steps for recruiting, Keller is just taking everything in stride.

“I’m m just focusing on my last season of high school football and enjoying the season, one game at a time,” Keller said.

Speeding up for McCabe

One week ago, recruiting was just getting started for Marist’s 6-3, 250 pound defensive lineman Gavin McCabe. This past week he picked up his first scholarship offer, from Iowa State.

“I received a direct message on twitter early in the day on Monday after the game from one of the coaches from Iowa State asking if I could call them,” McCabe said. “I gave them a call later that night and I though they just wanted to introduce themselves to me and say hello. We were talking for a little bit and they asked how my season was going and a couple other questions.”

That’s when McCabe got news that he wasn’t expecting.

“Then while talking [Iowa State coach Matt Campbell] told me they were going to offer me a scholarship,” McCabe said. “I was so surprised.”

McCabe and Marist take on St. Patrick on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.