By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

Zach Binder, who has been part of rebuilding one program, is ready to help do it again.

Binder, a senior on last fall's Hays High School football team, has signed a letter of intent to play for Fort Hays State University. Binder held a signing ceremony Friday morning at the Hays High cafeteria.

In three years under coach Ryan Cornelsen, Binder helped HHS go 22-6, and make the playoffs last fall for the first time since 1995.

At Fort Hays, Binder is joining a program which went 4-7 last fall under first-year coach Chris Brown. Before Brown's arrival, FHSU went 18-47 overall and 9-36 in the MIAA and had one winning season in six years under coach Kevin Verdugo.

Turning things around at Fort Hays -- like he helped do at HHS -- is a challenge Binder relishes.

"I think that's what's appealing about Fort Hays to me, because they are on the way up, too," Binder said. "I definitely would like to be part of that."

Binder, who narrowed his choices to Fort Hays and Emporia State University, became a Tiger in the end because of what FHSU offered both on and off the field.

"Coach Brown is a really good guy, I'm excited about being on the way up," Binder said. "Also, Fort Hays is a very good business school, which is what I'd like to go to school for."

Binder, a 6-foot-2, 242-pounder, moved from middle linebacker to defensive end his senior year to shore up a need for the defense. But it's at linebacker where FHSU will look at Binder initially, although Brown envisions his recruit to be a linebacker who can switch to defensive end depending on the play call.

"We'll probably start him out at linebacker, but I can also see him playing defensive end for us," Brown said. "A lot of different things we can do with him, because of his versatility."

Binder, who has earned an invitation to this summer's Shrine Bowl, was a three-time all-WAC selection for HHS. He had 159 career tackles, and also was a starter on the offensive line.

"On the field, he's extremely disciplined in his assignment," Cornelsen said. "He knows what his role is and what his coaches have asked him to do.

"He played several different positions for us defensively," Cornelsen added. "He's a very explosive player I know Fort Hays has got to be excited to have."

Binder is the type of player Brown is seeking as he tries to bring a winner to Fort Hays.

"I think Zach is gong to be a great addition for us," Brown said. "He's a kid who's going to make our program better."

It just might be 2013 before Tiger fans see Binder take the field. Brown said unless a player sees a lot of snaps as a true freshman, it's better to redshirt that first year.

"For him not to redshirt, he's going to have to see a significant amount of time on the football field," Brown said. "I'm not going to waste a kid with 10-12 plays a game; you got to play at least 30-40 plays a game for us to put him on the field."

Whatever the coaches decide is fine with Binder.

"I'm just going to work as hard as I can, do the best I can," Binder said.

That's exactly the type of player Brown covets on the recruiting trail.

"He's a perfect model of what we want here," Brown said. "Very strong, very athletic, very smart in the classroom as well.

"Perfect model for a kid we want in this program."