Months after the two dates when college football teams typically sign high school recruits, the University of Delaware suddenly has an incoming quarterback.
Noah Sanders, a senior at Brooke Point High in Stafford, Virginia, announced on Twitter Wednesday morning he’d be attending Delaware.
“Thank you God for this opportunity that I’ve dreamed about since I first picked up a football,” it read in part.
The 6-2, 210-pound Sanders was a starter since his freshman year and had, according to various recruiting sites and Twitter, been offered scholarships by FBS programs Old Dominion and Charlotte.
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A high-achieving student with a 3.8 grade-point average, Sanders had also been wooed by Ivy Leaguers Harvard, Yale and Columbia.
But it appears Delaware is his next stop.
The Blue Hens didn’t have a quarterback in the recruiting classes they announced on the Dec. 15 or Feb. 2 Signing Days.
The December group was made up of players who committed to previous Delaware coach Danny Rocco and his staff but stuck with Delaware after Rocco was fired Nov. 29 and replaced by Ryan Carty on Dec. 10. The February signees were all transfers.
Since then, Delaware added another incoming freshman in Jo’Nathan Silver, a running back from Washington Township, New Jersey.
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Now along comes Sanders, whose highlight video from last season shows him flinging long passes but also running through and away from tacklers. The multi-threat quarterback passed for 1,361 yards and ran for 420 while accounting for 22 touchdowns in nine games.
At Delaware, he’ll join a quarterback crew led by Smyrna High grad Nolan Henderson, who set a UD single-season completion percentage record while being first-team All-CAA in the spring 2021 season but had his fall cut short by injuries in the fourth game.
It also includes Salesianum graduate Zach Gwynn, who stepped in for Henderson last year; Anthony Paoletti, who has been used mainly as a wildcat quarterback to run the football; Cade Pribula, who has appeared in one UD game and been plagued by injuries; and freshman Ryan O’Connor, who climbed to No. 3 on the depth chart in the recently completed spring drills.
Delaware is also recruiting Class of 2023 quarterbacks.
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