AURORA | Two of the city’s most effective defensive football players from different Aurora schools announced their verbal commitments to Colorado State-Pueblo within a day of each other.
Eaglecrest defensive lineman Deyon Sizer made his official pledge to the ThunderWolves — a blossoming Division II powerhouse program — on Saturday, while Regis Jesuit linebacker Quinn VandeKoppel followed suit on Sunday per his Twitter account.
The national athletic letter of intent signing day for football is Feb. 5.
The 6-foot-2, 245-pound Sizer led the Raptors with five sacks in his senior season and totaled 43 tackles (33 solo, 10 assists), which earned him first team All-Centennial League honors.
VandeKoppel, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound linebacker, has been one of Aurora’s most prolific tacklers over the past two seasons with back-to-back 100-tackle campaigns.
In addition to five fumble recoveries and an interception, VandeKoppel had 103 stops this season (64 solo, 39 assists) after he was credited with 141 (68 solo, 73 assists) as a junior.
He joins a growing list of Regis Jesuit commitments that also includes defensive lineman Terran Hasselbach (Colorado).
The preliminary 2014 CSU-Pueblo roster already includes a few other players who went to Aurora schools: CB Stephen Dickens (Cherokee Trail), LB Robert Davis (Overland) and RB Jonathan Mathews (Rangeview), plus Blake Swain (Denver East) and Ronell McNeal (Prairie View), who list Aurora as their hometown.
Former Grandview assistant coach Steve Sewell is on the ThunderHawks’ coaching staff.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or [email protected] Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
