Southeast Missouri State football signee: Rudie Frye

Rudie Frye

The Basics

Name: ZoRon "Rudie" Frye

High School: White Station High School (Memphis, Tenn.)

Position: Cornerback

Measurables: 6-foot-1, 170 pounds

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Profile

The University of Cincinnati got to Rudie Frye first, giving the cornerback from White Station High School in Memphis his first offer.

He also was highly recruited by defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Jacksonville State and Eastern Illinois, which had won the two prior OVC titles.

But instead of choosing any of those he picked the rebuilding Redhawks and signed with Southeast Missouri State on Wednesday.

"He felt he had a very good relationship with the coaches, and then when he went and saw them this summer he loved them," White Station football coach Joe Rocconi said. "He went to a game this past season and came back and was kind of raving on it. And all those schools were still in the mix, even Cincinnati, and at the time he was really leaning towards SEMO. Towards the end Cincinnati kind of came off of him as far as recruiting him. They kind of filled up early. I think Rudie probably could've committed early on, but he decided to see what was the best out there. But like I said, SEMO was probably No. 1 on his list as soon as he went to campus there. I think he just fell in love with the coaches, fell in love with the campus."

Long before he'd made it to the Cape Girardeau campus, the 6-foot-1, 170-pound Frye connected with coach Tom Matukewicz and his staff.

"I commend the SEMO coaches. They've done a fantastic job of recruiting the Memphis area," Rocconi said. "There was always coaches here, and I like how they did it. They sent different coaches so the recruit gets to meet more than one. To me, that's an important thing because the recruiting process -- I've been doing this awhile -- and most of the time a recruit just deals with one coach until he goes on their visit there and then he meets them all and of course everybody's cool in one weekend. But you get an opportunity like SEMO did to develop relationships with several coaches. They did a fantastic job and just recruited him the whole way through."

Frye received honorable mention all-region accolades as a senior, and according to Rocconi it was because he'd improved his strength and confidence over the past two years.

"Not that he wasn't a confident corner as a junior, but he just got more physical, he became more aggressive," Rocconi said. "He just took more chances, I thought, which we encourage, to be aggressive and go for the ball, be aggressive and go for the hit, and don't worry about making the mistake."

"He's a physical defensive back with great coverage skills and a really high IQ as far as the game of football," Rocconi added. "And he loves the game, so I think his passion shows through his play. It's easy to see it, I guess, when he's practicing and playing that he loves a football. And on top of that he's a great team guy, too, so they're getting a good one."