Football team welcomes 20 high school athletes

Peter Holland, Jr. // Staff Writer

Head Coach Butch Davis has brought in 20 signees in his first recruiting class of 2017 on National Signing Day and is looking forward to working with them in his first season at FIU.

“Without a doubt, National Signing Day is the lifeblood of your program,” said Davis. “Our assistant coaches did a fabulous job. They got out in a six-week period of time and basically built relationships that takes a year or more than a year to build with the student athletes, the parents, high school coaches and guidance counselors. So I think our assistant coaches did a fabulous job.”

Davis not only focused on the in-state players, but he also wanted to make sure that his team has depth for next season and believes that each player would have the opportunity to contribute right away when they step foot on campus.

On offense, Davis signed three offensive linemen, two running backs, three wide receivers and a quarterback. On defense he signed four defensive linemen, two linebackers and three defensive backs, along with two players who are listed as athletes, where they could play multiple positions.

“The thing I like about this class is that every single position on the football team we touched,” said Davis. “Whenour staff came together in December, we looked at the teams we inherited, we said ‘OK, what is the best way to maybe have players that make an immediate impact?’ But sometimes as you manage the roster of your team, you’ve got to look at who you got that will graduate next year and who will graduate in two years because you have guys in the pipeline.”

Coach Davis also mentioned what stood out to him in his recruiting class is the size and speed of the players that made the former Miami Hurricanes head coach excited to work with. Half of his signees are at least 6’3 and weighs over 200 lbs. Davis made it clear he wants to elevate the football program into new heights so the team can compete at a high level.

“We got bigger and we got faster,” said Davis. “One of the things we talked about during our recruiting meeting with our assistant coaches is that we truly needed to upgrade the speed of the football team and the size of the football team.”

With the 20 commits who signed to play for FIU, the Panthers are ranked No. 3 in recruiting in Conference USA and No. 78 in the country, according to 247sports.com.

Davis and his staff took advantage in bringing in local talents, despite Florida being a competitive market for all schools recruiting within the state.

Among the athletes recruited, 15 of them are from Miami-Dade County, Broward County and Palm Beach County. Two have already enrolled on campus this semester and are participating in team activities.

The Panthers finished their 2016 season 4-8 (4-3 in C-USA), prior to Davis’ hiring. They will be back on the field on Mar. 7 for the start of spring practice.

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