Baseball | November 27

DeKALB, IL – Northern Illinois University head baseball coach Ryan Copeland announced his first recruiting class on Monday. The group of 13 incoming student-athletes for the 2025 season includes six from the state of Illinois, with a heavy emphasis on the Midwest in general.
 
"I am excited to announce the signing of 13 student-athletes who will join our program next fall," said Copeland. "Our staff identified several position players whose abilities fit our offensive philosophy, multiple high school arms that will have the opportunity to compete for innings as freshman, as well as four transfers whose arm talent and athleticism will help us build the type of pitching staff that has success at this level."
 
"Identifying and recruiting talented players is important, but having the resources and information readily available to help those players develop once they get to campus is something we are incredibly intentional about. I believe we will do that as well as any program in college baseball."
 
 Carter Cox
 Hometown – St. Peters, Mo.
 High School – Fort Zumwalt South
 Position – Left-Handed Pitcher
 Travel Team – Adidas Athletics
 Prep Baseball Report Ranking (MO) – 43rd Overall, 9th Position
 
 Copeland on Cox: "We were able to see Carter pitch early in the summer and there were a few things that stood out to us.  He is an extremely tough, competitive kid with a three-pitch mix.  He sits in the mid to upper 80's already, possesses the ability to pitch inside, and throws two different off-speed pitches for strikes.  He has the ability to miss bats, especially due to the fact that he can manipulate the shape of his breaking ball.  I'm very excited for Carter to arrive on campus next fall."
 



 Alex Graber
 Hometown – Fort Wayne, IN
 High School – Homestead
 Position – Right-Handed Pitcher
 Travel Team – Elite Baseball Training
 Prep Baseball Report Ranking (IN) – 42nd Overall, 22nd Position
 
 Copeland on Graber: "Alex established himself as one of our favorite arms early in the summer. He already has the type of stuff that can get outs at this level, but we are very excited about what he will look like in a couple of years with further development.  He already sits in the upper 80's and will touch some 90's here and there, but what makes him special is the slider.  It is high spin with late break, and he can throw it in the zone whenever he wants.  Every time we watched Alex pitch, it was more apparent we needed to find a way to bring him to DeKalb. His competitiveness was on a different level, and we need to continue to build a pitching staff comprised of guys who love to compete."
 


 Jalen House
 Hometown – Downers Grove, IL
 High School – Downers Grove South
 Position - Outfield
 Travel Team: Top Tier Americans
 Prep Baseball Report Ranking (IL) – 55th Overall, 8^th Position
 
 Copeland on House: "Jalen possesses all the tools to become a high-level outfielder for us. He is one of the fastest kids in the entire class, throws well, and has present bat speed.  He is an outstanding defensive outfielder.  He is a great kid, with a tireless work ethic and comes from one of the most prestigious travel organizations in the country in Top Tier.  While the bat still needs time to develop, I am very confident that Jalen will become a top of the order type player during his career in DeKalb."
 



 Connor Mendell
 Hometown – St. Peters, Mo.
 High School – Fort Zumwalt South
 Position - Catcher
 Travel Team: Adidas Athletics
 Prep Baseball Report Ranking (MO) – 58^th Overall, 7^th Position
 
 Copeland on Mendell: "Connor is a very athletic kid, especially at the catcher position.  He throws well, handles velocity, and has shown the ability to lead a pitching staff. The offensive portion of his game really took off in the past year or so and I think Connor has the chance to be a fixture for us behind the plate, especially if he continues to hit. While our emphasis in recruiting is to dominate the Chicago area, our staff has a lot of ties to the St. Louis area, and we are ecstatic he decided to come up to DeKalb."
 



 Jack Olson
 Hometown – Antioch, Ill.
 High School – Antioch
 Position - RHP
 Travel Team – Puma Baseball Academy
 Prep Baseball Report Ranking (IL) – 60^th Overall, 19^th Position
 
 Copeland on Olson: "Jack is a strong, physical kid with a ton of arm talent.  We have seen him up to 92 mph before, but he typically pitches in the upper 80's.  He throws a lot of strikes and performed very well this past summer.  While the off-speed stuff needs further development, I think Jack can arrive on campus ready to throw valuable innings for us as a freshman."
 



 Luca Royer
 Hometown – Lake Bluff, Ill.
 High School – Lake Forest
 Position - OF
 Travel Team – Hitters Baseball
 Prep Baseball Report Ranking (IL) – 63rd Overall, 11th Position
 
 Copeland on Royer: "Luca comes to us from one of the most prestigious travel organizations in the country in Hitters Baseball. He is very physical and has bat speed. Luca will have the opportunity to develop into a middle of the order bat for us, especially since he has already shown the ability to drive the ball to his pull side. It's critical to bring in players that come from winning programs and Luca checks that box."
 



 Nolan Sandee
 Hometown – Glendale, Wis.
 High School - Nicolet
 Position - Infield
 Travel Team – GRB Stiks
 Prep Baseball Report Ranking (WI) – 33^rd Overall, 9^th Position
 
 Copeland on Sandee: "We followed Nolan around throughout the summer and he just kept hitting. He has impressive barrel awareness, pull side power potential, and always seems to have good at bats. Nolan has positional versatility which should expedite his ability to get into the lineup. As he continues to get stronger, Nolan has a chance to develop into a versatile bat at the top of our lineup."
 



 Jack Swaney
 Hometown – Rochester, Ill.
 High School – Rochester
 Position – Infield
 Travel Team – Chicago Elite
 Prep Baseball Report Ranking (IL) – 83rd Overall, 2^nd Position
 
 Copeland on Swaney: "I have known Jack for quite a while going back to my time in Springfield.  He has a physically imposing frame, quick hands, and should develop into an extremely dangerous bat from the left side.  Jack is a hard-nosed kid, noted by his excellent football career at Rochester. I think he will bring the type of presence in the box that we're looking for up and down our lineup. We want our hitters to be dangerous and Jack has the tools to be that type of guy."
 



 Nick Bassi
 Hometown – Zionsville, Ind.
 High School – Cathedral
 Junior College – St. Charles
 Position – Right-Handed Pitcher
 
 Copeland on Bassi: "Nick is a perfect fit for what we are trying to accomplish with our pitching staff. He is physical, has a quick arm, and can really spin the baseball. We saw Nick throw a few times this fall, and he was the same guy each time out – upper 80's to low 90's with his fastball plus the ability to land his slider for strikes. He will have the opportunity to earn valuable innings for us next year."
 




 Danny Cihocki
 Hometown – Princeton, Ill.
 High School – Princeton
 Junior College – Lakeland
 Position – Right-Handed Pitcher
 
 Copeland on Cihocki: "We are very excited about Danny joining our program, especially because we will have him for three years. He grabbed our attention early in the fall, and he kept getting better each time out.  His fastball sits 89-92 miles per hour right now, but I think there's another velocity jump coming in the next year or so.  He has a quick arm, throws strikes, and can spin the heck out of it. We expect Danny to be a mainstay in our weekend rotation for the next few years."
 




 Will Couchman
 Hometown – Edina, Minn.
 High School – Edina
 Junior College – North Iowa Area
 Position – Infield
 
 Copeland on Couchman: "We needed to land a transfer shortstop, and there's no doubt in my mind that we found our guy.  Will is a strong, left-handed bat that will be able to stay on the left side of the infield once he arrives in DeKalb.  He had a great freshman year at NIACC, and he comes highly recommended to us from head coach Josh Merrill. Programs that win in college baseball are extremely talented up the middle, and we are very excited about the impact he will have on our program."
 




 Sebastian Gutierrez
 Hometown – Westchester, Ill.
 High School – Nazareth Academy
 Junior College – Morton
 Position – Right-Handed Pitcher
 
 Copeland on Gutierrez: "Sebastian has a ton of arm talent. He has been up to 93 miles per hour, and will pitch comfortably in the low 90's.  He can spin the ball as well as anyone, but his best off-speed pitch is his changeup. We are in the process of restructuring our pitching development systems, and we need to be able to support that process by bringing talented arms to DeKalb.  Sebastian checks a lot of boxes for us, and we think he will be a big part of our pitching staff next year."
 
 



 Clayton Taylor
 Hometown – Columbus, Ind.
 High School – Columbus East
 Junior College – Kaskaskia
 Position – Right-Handed Pitcher
 
 Copeland on Taylor: "Clayton has a wiry frame, a quick arm, and will be one of the top pitchers at Kaskaskia this year. We are excited about Clayton, especially because there's still so much upside there.  As he continues to get stronger and the velocity makes a jump, I think he will find a way to become an extremely valuable bullpen arm for us at the very least."  
 





"All of our early signees are from the Midwest, which has proven to be one of the most talented, highly recruited regions in the entire country," Copeland said. "I can't say enough about my assistants, led by our recruiting coordinator, Joe Kelch, as well as Calvin Peacock, and Brandon Bannon. They have worked tirelessly on the recruiting trail, and their ability to develop strong relationships with players during the recruiting process is instrumental to the success of our program."
 
--NIU--