Koen Entringer making the move to Iowa
The highlight reel went viral and Walled Lake Western senior football star Koen Entringer is headed to the Big Ten.
After Entringer’s scintillating mid-season highlight tape hit the internet in October, showing the masses his skills in the secondary, the power conference programs came running.
The 6-foot-2 Entringer, originally committed to Central Michigan as a wide receiver, signed with the University of Iowa this week ending a late-inthe-game recruiting whirlwind that has lasted the better part of the past two months.
Entringer has only been playing football for three years. He began high school at Ann Arbor Huron as a soccer prospect. During his sophomore year, he went out for football and showed a proclivity for catching the ball in traffic and running clean, crisp routes.
When he arrived at Western back in the summer, the coaching staff decided to try him out at a safety spot. The move paid dividends right away. Entringer finished the campaign with 88 tackles (65 solo), two interceptions and close to a half dozen deflections in coverage.
“Koen is just so naturally gifted, he has size, athleticism…..he’s fluid and physical at the same time,” Warriors head coach Kory Cioroch said. “The fact that he only began playing in the secondary in August and by Thanksgiving, he had almost every major school in the Midwest coming after him, shows the value of his versatility.”
On offense, Entringer didn’t disappoint either in 2021. For the season, he made 24 grabs for 450 yards and five touchdowns. He returned to kickoffs for touchdowns in the fall, too.
Iowa was the first Power 5 program to offer Entringer in October. He visited campus earlier this month. Michigan, Notre Dame and Wisconsin offered since the end of the season and were in fast and furious pursuit up until the final hours prior to Wednesday’s National Signing Day festivities.
Western went 7-4 and lost to LVC foe Waterford Mott 3521 in the Division 2 district finals this year. In a similar storyline, Entringer’s battery mate in the Warriors secondary, Aidan Vaughan, de-committed from Air Force following the season and a rush of bigger offers to ink his NLI with Wisconsin.
Unlike Entringer, who just arThere’s
rived in the defensive backfield and is only scratching the surface of his potential at the position, Vaughan will be leaving his strong safety/viper responsibilities behind for a switch to outside linebacker with the
Badgers at the college level. Head-coaching carousel headscratcher
Milford’s Garfrey Smith made a strong argument for Coach of the Year honors out of the LVC this fall, however, in a decision that stunned many across the county’s coaching profession, Smith was not retained after a season where his Mavericks went 7-3 and finished above the .500 mark for the first time in almost a decade. The Mavericks bowed to East Lansing in the district opener in a game they hosted. Smith held the job for four years and appeared to have turned the corner with the program in 2021 with his squad’s pleasantly-surprising tough play and execution.
Tweet of the Week
“I don’t understand this firing at all. It’s an absolute shame Milford doesn’t realize what they are losing in Coach Smith. Zero loyalty in this game. Garf is going to just fine wherever he goes from here. Karma has its own way of making things right in the end. Congrats to Garf on a great run at Milford. Very proud.” — Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes head coach Jeff Glynn commenting on Smith’s employment situation (Smith was Glynn’s defensive coordinator during his reclamation of the Madison Heights Lamphere program).