In his 29 years of coaching, Walton High’s Maurice “Mo” Dixon has never seen anything like the recruiting phenomenon that is taking place under his watch.
Walton has four seniors — Karekin Brooks, Joey Goodman, Ryan Roegge and Christian Sullivan — committed to playing at Ivy League schools next year.
“I’ve had some guys go Ivy League,” Dixon said. “But no, I’ve never (seen this).”
Brooks (Pennsylvania), Goodman (Harvard), Roegge (Dartmouth) and Sullivan (Princeton) have earned their way into four of the most selective schools in the nation. In addition, senior offensive lineman Patrick Farley has also received an offer from Columbia.
Dartmouth had the highest overall acceptance rate of the four at 10.3 percent for the class of 2019, according to ivycoach.com statistics. The acceptance rate at Penn was 9.9 percent, Princeton’s was 7 percent and Harvard’s was just 5.3 percent.
“To me, the grades is what opened the door to everything,” Dixon said. “These kids are going to go to college, but football opened the door for them to get to the best colleges.”
Brooks, a 5-foot-9, 185-pound running back, rushed for 1,120 yards and 22 touchdowns on 221 carries for the 9-2 Raiders. Penn wasn’t on his radar until last summer.
“I never really thought I could go to an Ivy League school until last summer when I started talking to Penn,” he said.
A growing relationship with the Penn staff won him over. Brooks was also considering Stanford, Cornell and Lehigh University. He hasn’t decided on a major, but is contemplating a business course of study in case he wants to help expand his grandfather’s restaurant, Kelly’s BBQ.
Goodman, a 6-2, 215-pound linebacker, chose Harvard over offers from Coastal Carolina and Davidson. Goodman, who finished the season with 58 tackles, 12 tackles for loss and 5 1/2 sacks, is excited to be a part of the Harvard football tradition.
“Lately, Harvard has been dominating the Ivy League,” said Goodman, who is considering studying business or law. “We’ve won, I think, the last three out of four Ivy League championships. Just hoping to keep that streak going.”
Roegge, a 6-2, 205-pound safety, also also didn’t anticipate attending an Ivy League school, but is grateful for the opportunity he says football created for him.
“I didn’t realize how much of a difference it makes if you play football to go to an Ivy League school,” said Roegge, who chose Dartmouth over Cornell, Yale and Princeton. “Because we’re all good at football, we’re having a chance to go to some of the best universities in the world.”
Dartmouth, which hadn’t won a league championship since 1996, shared the title this season with Harvard and Penn.
Sullivan, a 6-1, 190-pound defensive back, recorded 53 tackles, seven tackles for loss and two interceptions in his senior season. The third defensive player in this group, he chose Princeton over Davidson, Cornell, Holy Cross, Stetson and Lehigh.
“(Princeton) was definitely my favorite and I can say that I was theirs out of all the schools that I looked at,” he said.
Beyond its academic reputation, Sullivan cited the fact that Princeton’s defense is similar to Walton’s system, making for a better fit.
Dixon praised the quartet for taking care of their academics while still remaining “legit and brutal,” football players.
“These kids have been working towards going to Ivy League schools and football is what got the foot in the door,” Dixon said. “It’s a pretty cool thing.”
