Pete Lembo said the Class of 2011 will be unlike any other he has as the coach of the Ball State football team.
Cramming a year worth of recruiting into just more than a month, Ball State introduced 19 new players to its football program. The players made their commitments to the university official by signing their letters of intent Wednesday.
"This past month, I anticipate, will be somewhat different than what the next several years will be like," Lembo said. "We were doing a year's worth of work in 30 days."
Despite the mad scramble for recruits and coaches to get to know one another, Lembo is happy with the quality of players coming to Ball State.
New Cardinals that Lembo identified as impact players for 2011 included fullback Keenan Noel and wide receivers Trey Gardner and Jacolby Owens, who are 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-3, respectively.
"When you look at the wide receivers that we have in the program right now, we don't [have] anybody who's that big, boundary-type receivers," Lembo said. "It will be interesting to see what those guys bring to the table."
Lembo has previously said that he likes to incorporate the fullback into his offensive system, and Noel could be called on to fill that spot next season.
Needs on the offensive and defensive line were filled. Ball State brought in four defensive linemen and three offensive linemen.
"I think we're well on our way to solidifying those areas and improving our depth in those areas," Lembo said.
Even with the passing of National Signing Day, the new coach said Ball State is "on our way" with the recruiting process for this year. The Cardinals still have a few more scholarships to use and those players will be found during the Spring Semester.
"We certainly could have signed more guys than we did [Wednesday]," Lembo said, "but we wanted to be very selective and we wanted to take guys that were going to help the program."
The fit of the players to Ball State is important, Lembo said.
"You'd like to bring in guys who feel good about their fit at your institution, feel good about they way they are going to be part of the system, feel good about the relationships they start to build with the coaches and players that are already in the program," he said.
Wednesday's originally scheduled ceremony to introduce the new recruits was postponed due to the weather. It will now be held Feb. 10 at 5 p.m. in the Alumni Center.
While National Signing Day is the known benchmark for evaluating a recruiting class, Lembo said the true evaluation is long down the road.
"One thing I've always believed is you really find out what a class is all about four years later," he said. "Time will tell just how well these guys do."
Nineteen recruits signed their letters of intent Wednesday:
Ian Anderson, 6-foot-3, 277 pounds, DL, Greensboro, N.C./Reagan
Avery Bailey, 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, DB/LB, Cleveland/St. Edward
Horatio Banks, 5-foot-10, 185 pounds, RB, Chicago/Simeon
Julian Boyd, 6-foot-2, 194 pounds, DL, Roswell, Ga./Roswell
Christopher Calloway, 5-foot-11, 187 pounds, DB, Bradenton, Fla./Palmetto
Jahwan Edwards, 5-foot-10, 232 pounds, RB, Matthews, N.C./Butler
Bryan Ford, 6-foot-3, 273 pounds, OT, Southfield, Mich./Southfield Christian
Matt Fox, 6-foot-4, 230 pounds, DE, West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West
Trey Gardner, 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, WR, Petersburg, Va./Dinwiddie
Ben Ingle, 6-foot-1, 214 pounds, OLB/SS, West Harrison, Ind./LaSalle
Anthony Kukwa, 6-foot-3, 217 pounds, TE/DE, Perry, Ohio/Perry
Nick Miles, 6-foot-2, 255 pounds, DE, Burlington, N.C./Eastern Alamance
Keenan Noel, 6-foot-1, 255 pounds, FB, Columbus, Ind./North
Jacolby Owens, 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, WR, South Holland, Ill./Thornridge
Tyler Rayburn, 6-foot-3, 274 pounds, OL, Columbus, Ind./East
Jalen Schlachter, 6-foot-5, 301 pounds, OL, Corunna, Mich./Corunna
Chris Shillings, 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, WR, Columbus, Ind./North
Willie Snead, 5-foot-11, 182 pounds, WR, Norton Shores, Mich./Muskegon
Trent Toothman, 6-foot, 235 pounds, QB/LB, Salem, Ohio/Salem
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