Signing Day earlier this month was a fruitful one for Morgan State head coach Donald Hill-Eley.

MSU signed 23 players to its 2008 recruiting class, including four transfers from DI programs.

Hill-Eley was kind enough to answer questions about the Bears' recruiting class last week.

From the looks of your class on paper, it appears defense -- and linebacker in particular -- were heavy areas of emphasis. Do you feel you adequately addressed those needs?

Hill-Eley: Yes, we needed to beef up at the linebacker spot as well as the defensive line. I think we got some impressive young men where in the past we had to take freshmen and sit them out a year or two to get them up to playing level. But we’ve got a group of young men who can come in and at least help us out on special teams. Because of the program and the continuity, we’ve been able to recruit a little bit better athlete every year. Every year it’s gotten better with the quality of the athletes. We’ve gone from no-star kids to two- and three-star kids. So it’s putting us in the game that we’re getting more of the first-tier than second-tier players.

You brought in two players from Detroit, four from the Atlanta area and seven Miami-area natives. How has Morgan State been able to develop a national recruiting profile?

Hill-Eley: Well Morgan has been fortunate enough and has really supported us going to these different areas to recruit these young men. I truly believe if we can get any student-athlete to our campus and show them the resources and facilities that we have, that’ll definitely give us an opportunity to get them and make it tough to lose them.

Miami in particular has been good to you. To what do you attribute your recruiting successes in South Florida?

Hill-Eley: We actually ended up getting a couple of kids out of Miami Northwestern [High School], and the thing about it is, Miami Northwestern has been in the top five of high schools nationally. To be able to go in there and get kids like [sophomore offensive lineman] Corey Sellers, [junior wide receiver] Chauncey Thompkins, this new kid, [defensive back Steve] Gallon. We’re actually working on another kid [from Miami Northwestern] as we speak. To get these national-caliber kids gives you a chance to add that competitive edge to our program. We’re fortunate enough that Miami has become one of my two recruiting areas -- south Florida is one of the areas I recruit myself. I have some relationships with players I used to coach, and that helps me bring new players to the program.

What’s your other recruiting area?

Hill-Eley: Georgia.

What’s your specific strategy in developing this national recruiting profile?

Hill-Eley: Well the thing about it is my technique is so different than any of the other coaches. I recruit the parents. I let the parents know what we have to offer. Then I can understand what they want for their son. About the third time [I go to recruit] I talk to the kid. I’ll answer any questions about myself or the university. By that time, I’ve talked to their family, they believe in what we’re doing, the successes that we’ve had on the field and off the field; People want to have their kids in a place where they can grow.

You brought in three quarterbacks. What do you expect from each?

Hill-Eley: Our biggest need was at the quarterback position. I think we shored that up with the young men we have. [We also shored up] the defensive end position. I’m looking forward to this being one of the classes to get the program going in the right direction.

[The quarterbacks are] all winners from their current schools, great passers as well as runners. Any time you have those quarterbacks that are dual-threats, that gives us a competitive edge when we’re in the one-back set. The quarterback has to be a threat to really offset the defense and limit the things they can do to us.

This class contains six players from the Washington D.C. area, but none from Baltimore. Was this a specific strategy you had with this class?

Hill-Eley: The thing about it is not intent. We have a big thing going on now of young men just wanting to get away from home. We were recruiting some Baltimore kids and some kids locally. But some kids just want to get away from home. You can look at that at any other university that doesn’t have a big turnout of local guys.

What do you expect from transfers you’ve brought in?

Hill-Eley: At the quarterback position, Carlton Jackson is a young man from the Miami, Broward area. He started some games up at Akron and did a great job there. To be able to get a player of his caliber up at Morgan -- that kid was recruited by a bunch of major DI schools out of high school. He brings experience and is a great passer and a great runner.

Another young man from Akron, Rodney Etienne, is a very explosive young man, a great hitter and plays with a lot of range in the secondary. He’s going to help us out a lot with attacking the football and fending off deep passes from the safety position.

Jody Ellis, he transferred in from Illinois. He plays both sides of the ball. He’s so talented, we’re not sure what side of the ball we’re going to play him on. He’s an excellent wide receiver and an outstanding defensive back.

E.J. Morton-Green, he’s a 6’6 wide receiver that gives us leverage outside at the wide receiver and a big target. We look forward to those guys coming in and giving us depth at a lot of positions.

What's the legal status of Ellis, who was dismissed from Illinois last March after being charged with felony burglary and theft?

Hill-Eley: He has an arrangement with the judicial system giving him a second chance at school, so they allowed him to come out here to better his life. So he got a second chance. He has another court appearance later on in the summer. At that point he’ll weigh in on what he’s done since the incident at Illinois.

Are there any other individual guys in this class who you feel can make an immediate impact for the Bears?

Hill-Eley: With this particular class, I don’t think there is not one who can’t contribute in his freshman year of college. We have a good list of guys who have been part of championship teams and have more accolades than we’ve had in the past. With that particular list, they all have an opportunity to contribute. I don’t think one stands out over another.

Photo of Donald Hill-Eley by Sun photographer Monica Lopossay.