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Parkersburg’s Foster looks ahead to fit with Akron

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. — The official recruiting process has finally come to an end for Parkersburg first-team all-state punter Kyle Foster who has signed to play for Akron.

Foster originally committed to the Zips back in February, but kept his options open until the end of last month.

“It’s been fun – you get to go through a lot of different schools and get to talk to a lot of different coaches,” Foster said. “Starting high school football three or four years ago, I never really thought this would be in my future – but at this point right now, I’m really glad that it is. I had a lot of different options at the end of the day, but I just felt like Akron was the best fit for me.

“I had talked a lot to Arizona State and really got on to them when coach (Keith) Patterson from WVU went out there and was able to get a lot of connections out there,” he continued. “Kansas State was one of my top choices for a long time – they eventually wanted me to just be a walk-on. I would like to be a little closer to home, if I could, which is another reason why I went with Akron.”

Foster will be joining an Akron program that is in the midst of a rebuilding process under head coach Terry Bowden who led the Zips to a 5-7 season in 2013. Foster, who averaged 43 yards in net punting last year for Parkersburg, will begin his tenure with the Zips behind junior punter Zach Paul who earned all-conference honors a season ago out of the MAC.

“Right now, they want to use me as a holder in my first year and probably serve as a backup punter,” Foster said. “They’re really looking for a guy who can come in and compete.”

Foster will arrive on campus at Akron on July 28th with fall camp starting on August 3rd.

Parkersburg punter Kyle Foster will officially play football at the next level for Akron.

“Right now I’ll have a chance to earn a scholarship – and from what I’ve been told, they strongly believe I’ll be on a scholarship soon,” he said. “But I just have to go over there and work my way into one.”

There are already several West Virginia connections to Akron’s football program besides coach Bowden. Former Mountaineer Ryan Nehlen joined Bowden’s staff this offseason as a graduate assistant and a couple of former Morgantown High standouts, Jeff Allen and Christian Allen, are on the roster as well.

“There are a lot of West Virginia connections and I love that,” Foster said. “It was a long process, I enjoyed every minute of it, but it’s kind of nice to sit back now and focus on school and finishing baseball before I head to Akron in the fall.”

It’s a fitting ending to what was an overall lengthy recruiting process for Foster.

“Coach (Don) Reeves sat me down the summer before my sophomore year and told me he strongly believed I could do a lot of things with it if I made punting a priority – that’s what I did,” he said. “I wouldn’t have wanted to play for anyone else, he’s a great guy and has done more than I would have imagined to help me through the recruiting process.

“Coach (Paul) Sparks is our special teams coach here and went on several visits with me and has done a lot for me as well,” he continued. “Coach (Dustin) Ludolph also went on some visits with me – he’s one of our defensive coordinators here. There were even some other coaches from other sports who I also went to for some recruiting advice in the process.”

The complete interview with Foster is posted above.





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