FAU reels in Holy Spirit’s Ellis

Ray Ellis flew down to Florida with a plan. He intended on committing to FAU (Florida Atlantic University) if he enjoyed his official visit, and that’s what he did.

The 2013 second team Defensive All-State selection by The Star-Ledger had FAU in mind from the start of his recruiting process.

“Well it was a biased decision actually, I’ve always wanted to attend FAU or WVU, or Arizona State, so it was pretty easy,” he said.

Holy Spirit DL Ray Ellis (Photo provided by Ellis, used with permission)

Ellis made sure he felt comfortable with the atmosphere in Florida before committing to FAU.

“I like warm weather and the beach, so that stood out as well as it just being in Florida. I want to major in marketing, and marketing is a huge thing in Florida with all of the attractions.” he said.

Newly aquired special teams and defensive line coach Roc Bellantoni  made the move from Villanova to the Florida in mid December. He offered Ellis on Jan. 19, shortly after making the switch to FAU.

“Well, I just met all of the coaching staff this weekend, except for Coach Roc Bellantoni, he was the DL (defensive line) coach at Villanova so I’ve been in contact with him for nearly a year.” Ellis said. 

The two maintained a good relationship even after Bellantoni made the flip from the CAA (Villanova) to Conference USA (FAU).

“He (Bellantoni) didn’t want to pursue to offer me just yet when he got there because obviously Villanova wanted me, but Villanova ended up filling up at my position & he offered me later on that week I believe.” he said.

Ellis made sure throughout his recruitment to hold off on any decisions and visits until after his senior football season.

“I just told every coach that I would figure everything out after football was done because you only get one senior year. So setting that in place helped extremely, all of the coaches understood that.” he said. 

Ellis said Delaware and Ball State was made a late push for him. He said he would have visited Ball State if the FAU visit didn’t work out the way he planned. Ellis took an official visit to Delaware prior to visiting FAU this past weekend. 

Recruit Impact: Ellis became terror on the defensive line at Holy Spirit. He helped the Spartans to an 11-1 record, which included an appearance in the Non-Public, Group 3 state title game. His film reveals that he is explosive and quick off the ball. Ellis has a good frame at 6’2, 240. FAU has Alabama and Nebraska on its tentative schedule in 2014. The FAU defense gave up more than 20 points per game and finished with a 6-6 record in 2013. There’s no doubt that Ellis could make an impact during his freshman season with the Owls. I guess we will have to wait and see.