Hillsdale College head football coach Keith Otterbein announced on Feb. 3 that 19 young men would be joining his squad in the fall.
The new Chargers will come from Nebraska, Virginia, and almost every Midwestern state, including two from here in Hillsdale.
“We’re really excited about this class,” Otterbein said. “We have some guys that are really good football players. There are guys that are going to be great for our program.”
Otterbein stressed the importance of looking for more than raw talent in his recruiting process.
“It has to be the right kid to come to Hillsdale College,” he said. “If he is a great football player but also a knucklehead then we don’t want him.”
Hillsdale’s rigorous academic standards make Otterbein’s recruiting process even more challenging than it already is. This class will come in with an average ACT score of 27.4 and a high school GPA of 3.82.
“A lot of times we look at a kid’s test scores and we have to move past him right away,” he said. “We find ourselves recruiting against the Ivy League schools, the academies, places like that.”
The program usually seeks recruitment classes of 25 players and will look to fill a couple of slots in the coming months.
Headlining the current list of signees are Hillsdale High School seniors Martin Petersen and Joe Philipp. Petersen is the son of Dean of Men Aaron Petersen, a former Hillsdale baseball and football player. Philipp’s mother, Diane Philipp, is a former Hillsdale College track coach and the current dean of women.
Hillsdale College football has had its eyes on Petersen and Philipp for a long time and the program is happy to finally welcome them, according to Otterbein.
Petersen, who played quarterback for the Hillsdale Hornets, will be joining the team as a tight end, the same position that his father played at Hillsdale.
“I’ve been around the college my entire life and it was really a pretty easy decision to come here. I didn’t even apply to other schools,” Petersen said. “The opportunity to follow in my dad’s footsteps makes it that much better. I really am my dad’s son.”
Otterbein believes that the transition to tight end will be a natural one for Petersen.
“Martin is a big, athletic kid. I’ve told his dad for years I saw him as a tight end,” Otterbein said. “We need to get him a little stronger first but he will do well there.”
Philipp, a lifelong soccer player, will join the team as a place kicker and punter. Philipp explained that he is primarily a place kicker but that he plans on developing his punting further.
“I really want to get the punting down a little better over the next few months,” Phillip said. “Obviously you want to be able to do all you can to help the team.”
Otterbein believes that Phillip will benefit greatly from working with current Hillsdale kicker Steven Mette.
“Steven Mette is a great football player and I’m sure he will help Joe develop a lot,” he said. “Kickers all have a guru-type guy that they go to and both these guys went to the same guru so they already have that in common.”
Lifelong friends and teammates, Petersen and Philipp are thrilled by the opportunity to play college football together.
“I met Martin before preschool,” Phillip said. “It’s going to be a lot of fun to get another four years with a friend like that.”
Petersen echoed this sentiment and explained the naturality of their friendship.
“With our parents working together we have just always been really close,” he said. “It’s actually a little surreal that we’re both going to play at Hillsdale.”
Both multi-sport athletes in high school, Petersen and Philipp stressed the importance of the academic side of Hillsdale.
“It’s going to be a really big change, no doubt about that,” Petersen said. “But hey, strength rejoices in the challenge, right?”
As of now, Otterbein has not decided which new players will redshirt and which will see time in the 2016 campaign.
“In theory you want to redshirt 100 percent of the guys, but that just doesn’t happen,” Otterbein said. “It’s pretty likely that we will see some of these guys making an impact next fall.”