Throughout last season, coach Pete Lembo consistently talked about the lack of depth the Ball State football team faced. The school's Signing Day on Wednesday was a step in the right direction on filling the depth chart gaps.
Ball State signed 23 recruits from 10 different states on National Signing Day and two of them enrolled in January. Lembo said this year's recruiting process has a completely different feel than the previous year.
"When it's done the right way, it's a year-long process," Lembo said. "We were very thorough, we were very organized. The decisions we made were very calculated decisions that culminated this morning."
The first verbal commitment came in late March of last year and all the letters of intent had been faxed into Ball State by 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Lembo said by Christmas, the recruiting process was completed and was waiting for signing day.
Ball State needed recruits at the offensive line, safety and receiver positions, which Lembo said he thinks those areas of concern were attacked well. He said he especially likes the new group of receivers that signed.
"While we have some good receivers, most of them are not big guys," Lembo said. "When you look at the receivers we signed in this class, we've got some bigger guys in the group and which is certainly something we're very excited about."
One of the signed receivers was Efe Scott-Emuakpor, from East Lansing, Mich. The 6-foot-3-inch receiver signed in October and because of the depth deficiency at the position, Scott-Emuakpor could see playing time immediately.
With players coming in from states such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin, Ball State was able to get a signee from the local area.
"The thing that stood about him is that he's a tough guy," Lembo said. "He'll go up and battle for the ball. He goes up and gets the ball at its highest point."
Quarterback Ozzie Mann from Delta High School in Hartford City, Ind., was the first commitment to Ball State's 2012 recruiting class, and Lembo said he was impressed from the first video he watched.
"[Mann] did everything on film that you would ask a quarterback to do," he said. "Almost every throw from the field-outs to the slants to the fades."
Lembo said Mann is likely to redshirt his freshman year, which he has a preference of redshirting younger players.
"You always want to play the best people," Lembo said. "You want to give your young guys a chance to compete. But ideally, when you look at that position we have a returning starter who will be a junior and we have a backup that will be a fifth-year senior."
Lembo said he doesn't know how many of the 23 signees will be redshirted, citing he isn't thinking about who will be the stars on the next year's team. Instead, he's focused on getting the right players for Ball State and wants to develop those players for the next three to four years.
But he isn't opposed to allowing younger players playing time and referred to when sophomore running back Jahwan Edwards made an impression on the coaching staff last spring.
He's pleased with how his first full recruiting class resulted, but said there's still work to do.
"We're certainly not out of the woods yet," Lembo said. "There are these gaps that exist and those will manifest themselves over the next few years. It's not a quick fix and I think we all knew that from the minute we got here. We're trying to build something that's going to last."
Ball State 2012 Signees
Steven Bell, 6-foot-4, 278 pounds, OL, Cincinnati/Indian Hill
Sam Brunner, 6-foot-2, 226 pounds, TE, Washington, Mich./Romeo
Darius Conaway, 5-foot-11, 164 pounds, CB, Kennesaw, Ga./North Cobb
Miles Eaton, 6-foot-3, 306 pounds, OL, Vandalia, Ohio/Butler
Martez Hester, 6-foot-2, 174 pounds, S, Kennesaw, Ga./North Cobb
Tyree Holder, 5-foot-11, 157 pounds, CB, Thonotosassa, Fla./Tampa Catholic
Dae'Shaun Hurley, 6-foot, 186 pounds, S, Chicago/Julian
Osazuwamgn Igbinosun, 6-foot-1, 236 pounds, DE, Rahway, N.J./Rahway
Wes Johnson, 6-foot-3, 202 pounds, DE, Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian
KeVonn Mabon, 6-foot-3, 208 pounds, WR, St. Louis/DeSmet Jesuit
Ozzie Mann, 6-foot-1, 221 pounds, QB, Hartford City, Ind./Delta
Drake Miller, 6-foot-4, 272 pounds, OL, Sturgis, Mich./Sturgis
Chris Pauling, 5-foot-9, 179 pounds, S, High Point, N.C./T.W. Andrews
Michael Raby, 6-foot-2, 260 pounds, TE, Sheridan, Ind./North Central
Efeoghene Scott-Emuakpor, 6-foot-3, 182 pounds, WR, East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing
Darnell Smith, 5-foot-11, 263 pounds, DT, Indianapolis/Warren Central
Josh Smith, 6-foot-2, 280 pounds, OL, Planfield, Ind./Avon
Connor Stefanski, 6-foot-4, 280 pounds, OL, Waukesha, Wis./West
Aaron Taylor, 5-foot-11, 182 pounds, S, Lawrenceville, Ga./Central Gwinnett
Stewart Turner, 5-foot-9, 168 pounds, WR/CB, Orrville, Ohio/Orrville
Jordan Williams, 6-foot-2, 219 pounds, WR, Indianapolis/North Central
Aaron Woosley, 6-foot-3, 274 pounds, DT, Baltimore, Ohio/Lancaster
Carlutorbantu Zaramo, 6-foot-3, 296 pounds, DT, Richmond Heights, Ohio/Brush
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