When Russ Yeast took an 11th-hour visit to the University of Notre Dame two weekends ago, football recruiting analysts around the country speculated about whether the Center Grove star was going to back out of his verbal commitment to Louisville and sign with the Fighting Irish.
Yeast stayed silent after his South Bend trip, leaving observers to guess about his final destination.
On Wednesday afternoon, Indiana’s Gatorade Player of the Year officially ended his flirtation with Touchdown Jesus and signed a national letter of intent with the Cardinals.
“In the end, it was the relationships at the school and the fit, and also I remembered all of the reasons why I committed (to Louisville) in the first place,” Yeast said.
He was one of two Trojans football players to sign with prominent FBS (formerly Division I-A) programs. Classmate Parker Ferguson, an All-State defensive lineman, will continue his football career at Air Force.
“When I went out to Colorado Springs in mid-June and took a tour of the campus, saw the coaching staff and met with them, I knew pretty much from then that this was going to be the place,” Ferguson said.
Yeast and Ferguson were the headliners on a day that saw numerous Johnson County seniors inking letters of intent to play sports at the collegiate level.
Whiteland kicker Jacob Ballain also will be playing FBS football next year after signing with Northern Illinois as a preferred walk-on.
Other Center Grove athletes who signed with Division I athletics programs Wednesday included Val Clark, who will play basketball at Eastern Kentucky; Maddie Keeley, who plans to play softball at IUPUI; Macy Carrabine, who will join the University of Denver volleyball team; Josh Hall, who will run track at Indiana; and golfers Shelby Schier (Valparaiso women) and Ethan Shepherd (Indiana men).
Several other Trojans football players will be suiting up for college programs, led by running back Titus McCoy, who signed with FCS (Division I-AA) program Indiana State. Clay Hadley signed with the University of Indianapolis, Sam Bolin and Seth Ferrando with Taylor University, and Bailey Bennett and Dan Root with Marian University.
Joining Hadley on the University of Indianapolis football roster next year will be a pair of Whiteland standouts, Tarnjeet Singh and Anthony Schantz, as well as Franklin’s Alex VanDyke. Hadley, Singh and VanDyke each earned All-State honors this past season as offensive linemen.
Center Grove’s Connor Campbell will play men’s soccer at the University of Indianapolis, while Emmie Ward signed to play women’s soccer at Missouri Valley College. Allison Utterback will play women’s basketball at Lewis University. Other Trojans signees included Katelyn Gray (Taylor University tennis) and Nicole Abrams (St. Joseph’s College softball).
Franklin softball player Katie Crump signed with Goshen College on Wednesday. She and VanDyke join classmates Addie Payne (Evansville volleyball), Jerris Lee (Danville Area CC baseball) and Marian University signees Sam Barnett (track and field), Delanie Hill (women’s soccer) and Noah Roberts (men’s tennis) in continuing their athletic careers at the collegiate level.
