North Texas Daily

North Texas signed 14 high school recruits and added five junior college transfers as final pieces of the 2018 signing class Wednesday morning.

Twelve of the recruits help head coach Seth Littrell’s depth on defense while the other seven will join what is already a high-powered offense. It’s a class Littrell is pleased with as spring football is around the corner.

“It’s a really solid class,” Littrell said. “There’s a lot of talent in this area and I think we did a great job of going out, getting the right guys. It’s been a lot of planning, a lot of hard work, but I definitely think this class met a lot of needs at a lot of different positions. This class can come in and help us compete for championships.”

Only two of the 14 high school players are not from Texas while four of the five junior college transfers are from other states.

Of the five junior college players, three are rated two-star prospects and two are rated three-star by 247Sports. As demonstrated by players like E.J. Ejiya, Kemon Hall and Jalen Guyton, these players can make an impact quickly.

“Anytime you get a junior college player, you’re hoping to get a guy that’s more mature and possibly more ready to play and compete at certain positions,” Littrell said. “Those positions were [places] we were losing some productivity and we needed guys to step in and compete.”

Three of the junior college additions are linebackers or defensive lineman while the other two are a running back and an offensive lineman.

Six of the 19 recruits played the safety position in high school and with the loss of Kishawn McClain in the 3-3-5 defensive scheme, the need for athletic defensive backs is there.

“That’s been a position that we’re down on numbers,” Littrell said. “Just getting long guys that can run, hit and cover. Just trying to find the best players for our system that give us a chance to be athletic and physical and I’m really excited about that group.”

Former North Texas football player and current New Orleans Saints linebacker Craig Robertson was also in attendance and fielded some questions for the Mean Green.

“We need to re-sign Seth to a long-term deal, I’ll just throw that out there,” Robertson said with a laugh. “[Seth] promotes that family atmosphere. That’s what you need from a guy who’s the leader of your football team. I’m glad he’s here and he’s our head coach.”

With Littrell now getting more of his recruits in, the depth and bulk of the roster continue to approach the level the program is aiming for. The hope is to keep filling positional needs as the team continues to succeed.

“It’s still not ideal,” Littrell said. “We’re still down on some numbers at every position except for offensive line. Next year’s class should be around 22 or 23. Overall, we got what we thought we would and should in this class. It was best case scenario for this season.”

February Signees 

Tim Faison, Linebacker, Independence Community College (Kansas)

Alex Morris, Safety, Atascocita High School

Thomas Preston III, Offensive Line, Scottsdale Community College (Arizona)

Derrick Shaw, Defensive Tackle, Broken Arrow High School (Oklahoma)

Jyaire Shorter, Wide Receiver, Killeen Ellison High School

December Signees 

Jason Bean, Quarterback, Mansfield Lake Ridge High School

Cole Brown, Offensive Line, Conroe High School

Keelan Crosby, Safety, Anna High School

Kevyon “KD” Davis, Linebacker, Ennis High School

Jaxon Gibbs, Safety, The Colony High School

Jordan Hunt, Linebacker, Wylie High School

Dayton LeBlanc, Frederick Douglass High School (Kentucky)

Kason Martin, Quarterback, Manvel High School

Darrian McMillan, Defensive Line, Butler Community College (Alabama)

Larry Nixon III, Linebacker, Richland High School

Austin Ogunmakin, Wide Receiver, Alief Hastings High School

Tuulau Saafi, Linebacker, Mt. San Antonio College

DeAndre Torrey, Running Back, Gulf Coast Junior College

Reggie Williams, Safety, Grand Prairie High School

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