Coming off their first winning season in nearly 20 years, Head Coach Jim Fleming and Rhody Football continued to boost the program as they added 11 new recruits on National Signing Day.
With National Signing Day yesterday, Rhode Island welcomed nine high school seniors and two junior college transfers for the 2019 season. The class features three linebackers, four offensive lineman, one defensive back, one tight end and one quarterback.
“You look at the history of where we have been over the past five years and the six wins is something we fell very good about,” said Fleming. “But the ones that got away were the ones we are hopeful to bring in these new guys with the spirit that is in line with players we have in our program right now and be able to push the three more feet our program is talking about.”
The new Rams come from all over the country, with recruits coming from as far as Valley Village, California, just north of Los Angeles, and coming from as close as South Kingstown, Rhode Island. The class also includes four players from New Jersey, two from Florida and one each from California, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York and Rhode Island.
The only quarterback in the class is California native Darius Perrantes. Perrantes went to school at St. Francis where he threw more than 5,200 yards and had 48 touchdowns in 25 games over his final two seasons. Perrantes is also a threat on the ground as he rushed for 704 yards as well as posting 17 touchdowns on the ground. He was able to lead St. Francis to the 2017 California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Division III championship game and earned All-Area Player of the Year as well. College athletics run in the family as his older brother, London Perrantes, was the starting point guard for Virginia University in basketball from 2013-2017.
Another standout is Rhode Island’s very own, Montaner Fresilli. Montaner was born and raised in Rhode Island and grew up just two miles from URI in South Kingstown. Fresilli was a three-time all-state selection for South Kingstown High School. Fresilli was one of the classes earliest commits and had no doubt where we would continue his football career.
“I always had that ‘want’ to be here, there wasn’t a lot to be sold but it was just them showing me that I can be here and make a difference for my own state,” said Fresilli. “There is no other place that I can really envision myself.”
The 280-pound interior lineman attended URI football camps in high school and even learned from Rhode Island’s current center, Dwayne Scott.
It is Jim Flemings sixth recruiting class and smallest in terms of numbers since he took the reins. His team also return 66 players from last season, including 17 players who were able to redshirt as freshmen in 2018.
A full list of the 11 recruits can be found on GoRhody.com.