Signing day is over and although the Hogs missed out on a couple of big time recruits, overall this looks to be a solid class.

The Hogs signed 24 players yesterday, two of those are JUCO players who will be expected to be able to come in and play immediately and the rest out of High School.

Of the players signed, 13 of them are defensive players and 10 offense. One is listed as an athlete (he's going to start out playing tight end).

I'm excited about this class. I'm most excited about the defensive players coming in.

The Hogs signed 6 defensive ends.. and these are some big ole boys (and very athletic). The smallest one in the bunch is 6'3 and weighs 238lbs. We saw the lack of depth last year on the d-line when Bequette and Tank went down to injury, so it's good to see Coach Petrino and his staff loading up the d-line. Austin Flynn, a JUCO player, should make an immediate impact on the defensive line. According to Coach Petrino, he's one of the strongest players in the weight room and he's expected to fill Jake Bequette's roll on the d-line opposite Tank this upcoming season.

The Hogs added three linebacker and I expect two of them to see the field this upcoming season. One is  Vince Ascolese from New Jersey.  He looks like he's going to be a good one. The other is Otha Peters out of Louisiana. He's expected to come in and make an immediate impact. The Hogs stole Peters from Tennessee the day before signing day. Both these guys look to be real "head hunters" linebackers who will make a few receivers think twice about coming over the middle.

 

Offensively, Coach Petrino is always going to sign great receivers and this year he has found four of them. Yes, the Hogs missed out on Dorial Green Beckham, but.. according to many, Eric Hawkins out of Longview is every bit as good as DGB. The other JUCO player coming in is wide-out Demetrius Wilson and Coach P is very high on him and expecting him to make an impact immediately.

 

Here's the video of Coach Petrino's press conference from yesterday. (Coach Petrino sits down around 6:00 into the video.)

More From Kicker 102.5