Arkansas State's signing class unveiled Wednesday included the names of 27 players, but a good chunk of them were already familiar to the public and the team's fans.
Of those 27 names, 11 are of players already on campus, 5 were part of the team last season and 2 played in games for the Red Wolves.
The most "unique" recruiting class Coach Blake Anderson said he ever put together came to shape over about 10 months, and is a collection of transfers from four-year schools, junior-college transfers and high school players who address immediate needs at receiver, offensive line and in the defensive backfield.
It's well regarded by the recruiting services -- its ranked No. 1 in the Sun Belt by Rivals.com -- but Anderson said that's still not an accurate reflection of what the class is considering that a few who are already on campus aren't counted in those rankings.
"This is really kind of a unique deal," Anderson said. "This is about as strange of a class as we've had, but it works well for us. It allowed us to stretch the class this year, to make it a little bit bigger. We needed numbers badly."
The continued concentration on transfer players was in a continued effort to replenish depth, Anderson said, after the roster had become thin in some areas after four years of coaching changes. ASU went junior-college heavy last season, signing seven in December 2014, and two of those players contributed in a 9-4 Sun Belt Conference championship season.
But this class was even more varied. Athlete Cameron Echols-Luper arrived at ASU from TCU last fall, as did receiver Kendall Sanders, who came from Texas. Defensive lineman Dee Liner, who started career at Alabama, practiced with ASU all last season. All three sat out the season in accordance with NCAA rules, which is required of all players who transfer from one FBS school to another.
Also included in this season's class is defensive back Jai Knight, receiver Christian Booker and defensive back Chauncey Mason. Booker and Mason contributed for ASU last season, but are known as "blueshirts," which means they signed a grant-in-aid last August, but not a National Letter of Intent until Wednesday, making them members of this year's class.
It's a different path than when Anderson arrived and he first planned to take all high school players.
"What I found out was that if we were going to do that, then we were not going to be competitive -- not immediately," Anderson said. "If we wanted to win this year, we had to take a different approach. It's not the same as free agency, but it's a very similar thought process."
It helped ASU land what Anderson thinks is a receiving corps capable of making up for the losses of J.D. McKissic and Tres Houston.
Echols-Luper was an all-big 12 kick returner for TCU and is also on the ASU track and field team. Sanders played two seasons at Texas but was dismissed from the team after a sexual assault charge of which he was later found not guilty. Other receivers are Booker and Justin McInnis, both from Dodge City (Kan.) Community College.
"There are dynamic guys in that room," Anderson said. "We're going to be extremely fast outside."
ASU bolstered its depth at quarterback, too, signing Logan Bonner from Rowlett, Texas, and Justice Hansen, who started his career at Oklahoma before playing last season at Butler County (Kan.) Community College. Anderson said it's likely that James Tabary, who started four games for ASU last season while Fredi Knighten was hurt, will enter spring as the front-runner, but Hansen's presence creates competition.
"We felt like the competition in the spring would make us better," Anderson said.
ASU's two latest additions were defensive end Dajon Emory, from Lackawanna (Pa.) College and running back Armond Weh-Weh, who started his career at Texas Tech, but played last season at Scottsdale (Ariz.) Community College. Weh-Weh, Anderson said, could join Warren Wand and Johnston White in a three-man rotation at the position that lost all-Sun Belt player Michael Gordon.
Anderson expressed some regret that ASU was only able to sign one in-state player in Sheridan offensive lineman Jacob Atnip. But, considering ASU's recruiting strategy, there weren't a lot of spots available for high school players.
"We had to pass on some guys that did not fit our needs," Anderson said. "And we made some runs on some guys that we got beat out by Power Five schools. We didn't lose any head-to-head battles on kids that went to places like us. It's not what we want, we'd like to have more."
Sports on 02/04/2016