Four of the thirteen football scholarship offers that Warren G. Harding senior Dom Foster had under his belt were courtesy of teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference. At the end, the Orangemen of Syracuse won the recruiting war for his services over the likes of Virginia, Wake Forest, Boston College, Howard, and a plethora of Midwestern Athletic Conference schools. For Foster, it was all about feeling secure.
"The first time I went, I wasn't with my parents," he recalled. "I was with my coaches and I felt right at home."
The football field is definitely a place where Foster also feels right at home. To date, his career statistics include 37 catches for 636 yards (17.2 yards per catch) and 7 touchdowns while also being 1-of-1 for 50 yards and another touchdown. He thrives to compete against the highest level of competition, which is another thing that pushed him toward the Orangemen.
"The ACC is a big time conference," Foster added. "The coaches told me that the best will play, so if you're performing, you'll get a shot."
Foster's versatility will be on full display for Harding this season as he's expected to see time at quarterback, wide receiver, and cornerback. The experience playing all over the field should pay dividends for him when the time comes for him to define his role at the college level.
"They offered me at defensive back, kickoff returner, and punt returner," Foster said. "Syracuse is getting an explosive player that you can put anywhere on the field and get results."
Syracuse is quite familiar with "explosive" athletes that have come out of Harding. 2016 alum Justice Richardson, the 2015 OHSAA Division I women's 100 meter champion, competed for their women's track & field program for four years before graduating in 2020 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Health and Exercise Science with a concentration in Pre-Physical Therapy. She's currently a graduate student at Florida A&M University, where she continues to compete in women's track & field.
You have to go back a bit further to find the last former Raider who played football for the Orangemen in 2010 alum Lewellyn Coker, who played in all 51 games of his career thru the 2013 season.