:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/34338505/20140101_kkt_aa1_782.0.jpg)
Just days after picking up their first commit to the 2015 class from DT Jack Kramer, the Bowling Green Falcons added a commitment from another big defensive tackle with lots of interest.
Mentor High School product Nico Lautanen announced his commitment to Bowling Green Friday afternoon on Twitter.
Proud to announce that I will be furthering my football career and education at Bowling Green State University! #Fly pic.twitter.com/8c5gZWeZw8
— Nico Lautanen (@nico_laut54) June 13, 2014
The 6-foot-4, 275 pound 3-technique chose the Falcons over offers from Akron, Ohio, Toledo and UTEP, and was receiving interest from programs such as Georgia, Illinois and West Virginia.
Nico Lautanen
Mentor, Ohio
Status: Verbally committed to Bowling Green
Commitment Date: 6/13/2014
Height: 6'4''
Weight: 275lbs
Position(s): DT
High School: Mentor
"I just absolutely love it there. "It's a football town. It's where I could see myself going even if I wasn't playing football," Lautanen told Cleveland.com.
Hailing from a powerhouse program like Mentor, this Northeast, Ohio native has a solid football pedigree to build off of. Though he could stand to bulk up a bit more before the fall of 2015, the fact that his recruiting process had really started to heat up shows he wasn't going to be available for long. He has the frame to be a real threat in the Falcons' front seven.
In fact, Bowling Green is recruiting Lautanen with the intentions of him seeing the field as a true freshman, according to Lautanen in that same Cleveland.com article.
"... I want to play early, I don't want to wait around," Lautanen said.
In 2013, as a junior, Lautanen racked up 72 tackles and 11 sacks while playing in the loaded Northeast Ohio region. He earned First-Team All-District and honorable mention All-Ohio honors this past season, which instantly heated up his recruiting process. It also shows that the prospects of him contributing as a freshman are far from outlandish.
Although it's still early in the process, new head coach Dino Baber's efforts to go after defensive players who fit the previous regime's defensive-minded focus should at least give fans reason to believe that though Babers is known for his offense, he's not going to risk losing the defensive reputation BG has built..
Check out Lautanen's junior highlights courtesy of Hudl: