BG Gains Five Football Commits

Recruiting for '26 continues and BG has guys visiting every weekend.  Here are five recent commits...we welcome them all to the families.

Elijah Durham Smit

is from the Buckeye State, Pickerington North.  He's a 3-star EDGE with offers from Akron, BSU, UB, EKU, EMU, Gardner-Webb, Kent, Ohio, ODU, Toledo, UMass.

He's 6'3" and 240 pounds. He was 3rd-team All-State for D1 last year.

Deshon Jenkins

is a RB from Bishop Verot, in Fort Myers.  He had offers from EMU, Elon, FIU, Florida A&M, North Dakota, Toledo and WVU.

He's 5'10 and 225. He is a consistently productive runner for a very high-scoring offense.  I understand that even without ratings, the staff thinks BG landed a key piece in DeShon.

Maddox Hunstad

The graphic he used to announce his commitment says he is playing a new position at BG..."Beachside TE."  We've had strong side, weak side, offside, fieldside, boundaryside....but this is our first Beachside TE.

OK.  He's from Beachside, FL, which is a little south of Jacksonville and also not especially near the beach.  But Beachadjancent HS doesn't work.

He's 6'5" and 205 pounds and appears to be the TE/WR type.

He had 6 offers, but BG was the only reported D1 offer.  Tall target in the passing game, catching 50 passes for 846 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2024. Also averaged double-figure scoring in consecutive seasons in basketball.

Cedarius Christian

is a CB 6'2" 170lb from Lake Wales, FL, which is in the Lakeland/Winter Haven area and is near Lake Wales.  He is unranked star-wise. He had offers from Duquesne, Marshall, Memphis, South Dakota and UMass.

Isaiah Hayward

is a local, playing WR for Whitmer.   He's 6'1" and 170.  Offers from CMU, KSU, Miami, UT and Wayne State. He was a first-team All-Northern Lakes League Buckeye Division selection. This season Hayward caught 34 passes for 736 yards (21.6 average) and 11 touchdowns.