Acosta, Underwood and Hudson-Rasmussen Sign National Letters of Intent Wednesday

RIVERSIDE -- Five members of the 2016 Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers football team have signed National Letters of Intent (NLI) at the mid-year. These young men will continue their athletic and academic careers with four-year universities. The signings took place Wednesday, Dec. 14, at the Ralph H. Bradshaw Center on the RCC campus.

The five sophomores are offensive lineman (center) Sid Acosta (Corona / Centennial HS '15), wide receiver Dominique Maiden (Temecula, Temecula Valley HS '15), linebacker Nick Underwood (Lake Oswego, OR / Lake Oswego [OR] HS '14) and defensive backs Manulani Hudson-Rasmussen (Tigard, OR / Tigard [OR] HS '14) Kahani Smith (Los Angeles / Lakewood HS '15)  Acosta will sign with UNLV. LB, Nick Underwood, will sign with University of Maryland. Rasmussen will sign with University of Hawaii and Kahani Smith will sign with Utep

RCC director of athletics Jim Wooldridge spoke briefly before handing things over to, seven-year RCC head football coach, Tom Craft. Coach Craft spoke about these young men and their experience at RCC.

"My philosophy has always been recruiting, retention and transfer," said Craft. "We have 17 players expected to sign between now and February 1 (2017) and 13 more through the end of the spring to get us close to 30 again.

"I'm proud of these guys. They've done a terrific job. They want to win, but they also want to transfer."

In addition to the five Tigers who signed as mid-year transfers, another 12 will be traditional signees (in February). The latest list of RCC's mid-year transfers appears below.

Riverside was 10-2 overall with the season-ending 45-29 loss coming against the Fullerton College Hornets in a California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Southern California regional final (Nov. 29). RCC was National Central League co-Champion (5-1).

Current RCC National Letter of Intent (Mid-year Transfers) Next Collegiate Institution

Sid Acosta, OL                                   UNLV

Dominique Maiden, WR                     U. West Virgina

Nick Underwood, LB                          U. Maryland

Manulani Hudson-Rasmussen, DB     U. Hawai'i

Kahani Smith, DB                                                UTEP