Mentor continued its trend of sending players to Division I colleges to play football on National Signing Day on Feb. 4.
Cardinals standouts Eddie Daugherty (Eastern Michigan), Nico Lautanen (Bowling Green) and Marc Walton (Ball State) all signed their letters of intent at a ceremony at the Board of Education building. Jake Floriea (Pennsylvania), Trevor Morrison (Mercyhurst) and Brenden Parker (Lake Erie College) also committed during a ceremony in front of family, coaches, teachers and friends.
Mentor athletic director Jeff Cassella introduced the football players and soccer player Brianna Overly (Mount Vernon Nazerene) to the big crowd, which included several media outlets during the morning event.
Excitement and some nerves were the overlying theme for all the players as they made their verbal commitments official.
Mentor coach Steve Trivisionno said it never gets old or tired to see his players take that next step toward a college education and playing at the next level.
“This is one of those fun days and all the hard work pays off. This is a great group of kids and these guys have had a lot of success and they are good kids on and off the field so it is neat to see,” Trivisonno said. “They have had a great run and have won a lot of football games. I am really proud of them.
“It’s nice because (the MAC) is a great league with great academic schools. It’s super. I think we’ve got (a nice pipeline) with BG, (Ohio University), Ball State. We’ve got a bunch of them. It’s fun.”
Trivisonno lauded the potential college impact of all of his signees and said he wouldn’t be surprised if Lautanen, Daugherty and Walton play immediately in the MAC.
