GBK Signing Day Spotlight: Evan Finnane, DT

As Army's 2012 recruiting class unfolds, GoBlackKnights.com will spotlight the commits who will soon be wearing the Black & Gold. With the uniqueness of Black Knights recruiting, this feature continues all the way past National Signing Day.

The spotlight now shifts to hard hitting defensive tackle, Evan Finnane.

High School: Eligin (Ill.) St. Edward High School

Recruitment: Army started recruiting Finnane at the beginning of his junior year, while Air Force who had also been actively on top of the 6-foot-2, 255 pound interior defender, offered him sometime in July.

Finnane also received strong interest from the Badgers of Wisconsin early during the recruiting process. You can also add South Dakota State to the list of schools that showed interest.

Click Here to view this Link.Scouting report: Finnane is a very quick and agile big man, which going to bode well for him playing D-line at the next level. On top of that, his work ethic is really second to none. He and his brother lived in the weight room during their playing days together in high school. Both of them sat all of the strength records we had at St. Edwards, where Evan was doing reps of 315 pounds on the bench ... 5-6 reps and 405 with full deep squats.

Named to the All Conference and Academic All-State teams, Finnane finished the 2011 season with 56 tackles, 4 sacks and 3 forced fumbles.

Coach's comments: "Three year varsity starter for us. Great kid and I had the pleasure of coaching in youth football before I took over as head coach here for the varsity program. His brother (Shane) came through the program a couple a years before him. We've seen him catch running backs from behind. His speed and quickness are obviously his attributes."

"He's also a Black Belt in Taekwondo. The teams and coaches would see him stretching before the game, basically just doing the spilt, it makes you double take to see that being done by a 260 pounder is impressive.." St. Edward High School - Head Coach Mike Rolando

Position need at Army: Army has been minus a legitimate defensive tackle/nose guard since the 2011 graduation of Mike Gann from the 2010 Army Forces Bowl Championship squad. Speaking of Gann, Finnane brings some of those attributes to the campus of West Point as did his aforementioned predecessor. At St. Edward, Finnane's role resembled that of Gann, where the future Black Knight role in high school was to take on double teams, make whatever tackle he could, hold the line, push them back and get penetration.

"I'm hearing nose guard and defensive tackle," says Finnane on where the staff appears to be projecting him to start off his Army football career.

Finnane's comment: "I'm very excited about my commitment to Army."

"I'm very excited about being a Black Knight. The fact that my brother is there influenced me a little bit. He didn't try to influence me, I made the decision all on my own, but also have a friend and player there at the prep school ... Dan Muenzer."