Red-letter day for Carmel's Baucus, Lester
Two of Carmel's best linemen in recent memory aren't quite there yet.
But they did get one step closer on Wednesday to fulfilling a long-time dream: playing major college football.
Steven Lester and Mickey Baucus, along with top-level football players all over the area, such as Mark Weisman of Stevenson, Jon Hoffing and James Zotto of Libertyville and Brandon Prate of Wauconda, signed their NCAA Division I national letters of intent on National Signing Day.
Lester, a defensive lineman, will be headed to Air Force while Baucus, an offensive lineman, signed on with Arizona.
Now, all they have to do is wait. For one more year.
Lester has decided to spend the next school year at the Air Force's college prep school, which is located right on the Air Force campus. Baucus says he will likely redshirt.
Both linemen say that deferring their dreams for one more year won't be easy, but will help in the long run. They will be able to use the time to get their bodies bigger and stronger for the grind of Division I football.
"For linemen, redshirting is huge," the 6-foot-8, 265-pound Baucus said. "The strength difference is so big between an 18-year-old and a 23-year-old. You can be good at high school football, but making that jump is hard. Plus, you have that extra year to learn the system. It's a good move."
At Air Force, new athletes can't redshirt. Instead, they attend the prep school on campus that prepares them for everything they'll face once they become full-time students. Academics, military life and athletics are all covered.
"In terms of football, I'll still be going through a college lifting schedule and I'll be working on my strength and speed and everything else," the 6-foot-3, 266-pound Lester said. "By the time freshman year comes around, I'll really know the ropes."
Lester really knew that Air Force was for him after seeing the 1980s movie "Top Gun" for the first time. He says it's his favorite movie.
"The pilots in 'Top Gun' are Navy pilots, not Air Force pilots, but that didn't matter to me," Lester said. "I just really fell in love with flying and the planes and I knew that I either wanted to fly planes when I grew up or I wanted to help design them.
"I've always been really into drawing and I thought for a long time that I wanted to be an architect. But once I saw 'Top Gun,' I knew that if I designed anything, it would be planes."
The coaches at Air Force had designs on Lester from the moment they saw him.
They were at a game in the fall of 2008 recruiting former Carmel safety Jake Sinkovec (who eventually signed on with Boston College) when they noticed Lester and his strength and aggressiveness. Within weeks, Lester, who says he's become a far more physical football player by wrestling all through high school, had an offer on the table.
He's been waiting slightly more than a year to make it official.
"I've been wanting to go to the Air Force for so long now," Lester said. "I'm really excited. The coaches tell me that I have the potential to start as a freshman if I work my butt off like I did at Carmel."
Baucus is dreaming of starting, too. Alongside his brother.
A fringe benefit to Baucus' college choice is that his older brother, Jack, is also on the football team at Arizona.
Jack, a tight end and offensive lineman, redshirted last year after suffering an injury during his senior season at Carmel. He will be just one year ahead of Mickey. The two brothers could conceivably play together side-by-side for three years.
"Back when we were younger, maybe third grade, we played side-by-side, one of us was a tackle and the other was a guard," Baucus said. "But that's it. Other than that, we've never really played together. Our family is glad they'll be able to watch us play together in college.
"It was a big factor for me that Jack was at Arizona. That was a big plus. We're pretty tight."
So tight in fact that once Baucus committed to Arizona last spring, he had no qualms about turning down other Pac-10 schools as well as schools from the Big Ten and the SEC.
"The other thing I really like about Arizona is that the program is really up-and-coming," said Baucus, who could see significant playing time in the 2011 season since the Wildcats graduate all of their veteran tackles after the 2010 season. "Five years ago, Arizona was the doormat of the Pac-10. Last year, they took second place. I wanted to be a part of building something there."
Meanwhile, four other football players in the Daily Herald's Lake County coverage area are hoping to do the same thing for the Division I programs they signed with on Wednesday.
Weisman, a workhorse fullback and the captain of the Herald's 2009 Lake County all-area team, will join Lester at Air Force.
Hoffing, a 6-foot-4, 275-pound offensive lineman, signed on with Western Michigan while Zotto, Libertyville's top running back, will continue on at Wofford.
Wauconda's Prate, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound defensive lineman, will look to get his career back on track at Illinois State. He missed much of last season due to injury.