Hilltoppers Wrap Up Historic Recruiting Class on Wednesday

Signing Day Central
Head Coach Mike Sanford | Offensive Line Coach TJ Woods

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — With 13 signees already inked from December's first-ever Early Signing Period, WKU Football added to its already record-setting class as 10 future Hilltoppers signed their national letters of intent on Wednesday.

"It was a great day today," Sanford said. "The ink's drying on what I believe to be a historic signing class and a historic day for Western Kentucky Football. I think the star ratings are what they are and certain people put a lot of emphasis, a lot of value on that. I don't know I put much emphasis on that whatsoever, but I do know we signed a historic class for this university."

Representing nine states in all, from Texas to Florida, head coach Mike Sanford's second signing class on The Hill is, by all measurements of the national recruiting services, the best collection of talent in program history. The 23 future Hilltoppers included a newly-minted four-star recruit in quarterback Kevaris Thomas, the first-ever four-star prospect to sign to WKU out of high school, and 17 three-star rated players by 247Sports.com.

WKU signed eight three-star prospects in the class of 2017, Sanford's first on The Hill with just two months to recruit for a total of 26 three-star or better signees in two classes. In the previous five classes combined since 2012, the Hilltoppers signed a total of 25 three-stars from the high school ranks.

The 2018 signing class is also the highest ranked signing class in program history according the 247Sports' national team rankings.

On Wednesday, receiver Kawan Williams (Savannah, Ga.) was the first NLI in the building, followed by linebacker Tre Leslie (Tucker, Ga.), defensive lineman Deporess Schletty (Alpharetta, Ga.), running back Garland LaFrance (New Orleans, La.), receiver Anthony Spurlock (New Orleans, La.), offensive lineman Mason Brooks (Cedar Park, Texas), defensive back B.J. Crim (Ocala, Fla.), and finally tight end Jay Gibson (Chattanooga, Tenn.).

Louisville, Ky., native Shannon Bishop's signature with the Hilltoppers as well as defensive lineman Nazir Sy (Norcross, Ga.) became public after the pair originally signed in December.

"Make no mistake about it, the success this program has experienced and the spoils we've been able to enjoy are a result of that [recruiting] success," Sanford said, speaking of his first tour of duty with the Hilltoppers in 2010. "It was built through the very hard work, the labor, the elbow grease that was put in through recruiting and the building of the roster. That to me is where we were at this past season. We had to get back to the drawing board in terms of just continuing to enhance this roster and make this roster better and better every single year. I think that we were able to achieve that without question today and with the December 20 signing period."

By position, the Hilltoppers secured the signatures of four wide receivers, two running backs, one tight end, one quarterback, and two offensive lineman on offense. Defensively, WKU added four defensive linemen, three linebackers, and six defensive backs.

Players Mentioned

Shannon Bishop

Mason Brooks

B.J. Crim

Jay Gibson

Garland LaFrance

Tre Leslie

Deporess Schletty

Anthony Spurlock

Nazir Sy

Kevaris Thomas

Kawan Williams

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