The Pace University football team signed 16 new recruits for their 2016 Recruiting Class last Wed., Feb. 3

The team signed 13 high school athletes and three junior college athletes. There are 10 signees on offensive, five on defense, and one specialist.

Head Coach Andrew Rondeau stressed the need on going out and getting depth at the quarterback and wide receiver position.

“We came into the offseason saying we had to address the quarterback position mid-year,” Rondeau said. “By bringing in two quarterbacks who are older guys, we expect that quarterback position to mature a bunch. The very next concern after that was to make sure we bolstered our receiver position. That was the big battle cry on the offensive side. On the defensive side we said we needed to go out and get some D-lineman, and were still on the hunt for more.”

The following have signed their National Letters of Intent to play for Pace University:

• Marc Arboleda (Levittown, NY/General D. MacArthur)
• Mark Ball (Warren, NJ/Watchung Hills)
• Jared Bolden (Windsor, CT/Kingswood-Oxford)
• Ryan Curtiss (Franklin Lakes, NJ/Ramapo)
• Patrick Davis (Forked River, NJ/Lacey)
• Nicholas DeVere (Novato, CA/Marin Catholic/City College of San Francisco)
• Brendan Doheny (Monroe, NY/Monroe-Woodbury)
• Jason Habash (Costa Mesa, CA/Santa Ana College/San Jose State)
• Brandon Harrison (Franklin, NJ/Franklin)
• Nicholas Lyon (Mays Landing, NJ/Absegami)
• Bennett Parkinson (Hudson, NH/Alvirne)
• Faustino Saucedo (Perth Amboy, NJ/Perth Amboy/Lackawanna College)
• Matthew Snow (Henrietta, NY/Rush Henrietta)
• Patrick Thomas (Union, NJ/Union)
• Phyllip Thomas (New London, CT/Bridgton Academy)
• Isaiah Williams (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy) all have

Saucedo, DeVere and Habash have enrolled at Pace University for the Spring 2016 semester and will be working with the team during their winter and spring practices.

Coach Rondeau explained that the football team prefers to recruit locally rather than nationwide to build a sense of a strong community within the Eastern region.

“We feel like the known commodity has got to have more value than the unknown,” Rondeau said. “If we had camps this summer and we had 200 local kids who came to camp, if we had two try out days where 50 guys came to try it out, if we had official visits in which everybody brought their parents, we felt like we could have a more comprehensive knowledge.”

The trials and tribulations of a college football season are a process, and he feels that having family and community involved and bought into the direction of the team will help them be stronger.

“There’s going to be ups and downs along the way,” Rondeau said. “If we know that everybody’s bought in, mom and dad, and they can be here in a short period of time to support their family, we can have open dialogue with them about it maybe we can grow stronger that way.”

The football team feels that this recruiting class can be one of their strongest.

“This year was unique for us in recruiting because it’s the first time we’ve had the full cycle, where there hasn’t been an interruption through December and January,” Rondeau said. “We’re further ahead in recruiting than we’ve ever been. I’d eventually say that well have our whole class in place by the end of February.”

The Pace Football team will continue their offseason workouts in preparation for spring practice in March.