2019 Signing Day Focus: St. Cloud State

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be running a series of stories highlighting the recruiting classes of some of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference with a focus on the overall approach to recruiting this season and overall. The first program we highlight – the St. Cloud State Huskies. The Huskies finished off their 2018 season with a 7-4 record in the NSIC. Going into recruiting season, head coach Scott Underwood and his staff knew they needed to bring in athletes across a wide variety of positions. "It was a year where we felt we needed to recruit all positions," Underwood said. "The one spot we felt we had an abundance coming back was the O-line. We took a couple o-linemen, but overall it was a year we focused on skill positions and the defensive line." Like most programs, the Huskies look for more in their athletes than athletic ability. "One of the key things is a solid academic background. Obviously, they are going to meet the eligibility requirements, but we are also looking for guys that are good students. We want kids who are passionate about getting a degree. Having kids who are goal orientated and focused on getting a degree is critical and why we sell them on the university first." Work on this class started months ago, and Underwood and his staff are already focused on the next class. "We have already started to identify who we are going to target for the 2020 class. We are already making invites for junior days," Underwood told northstarfootballnews.com. "It is a long process. We are going to look at a lot of different names in our recruiting areas. We start with a big list, and by the time we work our way through the summer we know who the Division I and IAA kids are going to be – to a degree." Underwood is excited about the group they are bringing on campus this fall. "They are a talented group. We were able to find guys that fit what we are looking for and what they were looking for academically, with school size, location, and all those factors." They brought in nine Minnesota kids with this class and tried to get the in-state and out of state kids on campus as much as they could. "We try to keep exposing the kids to the school and the program enough times to see if there is a spark with the university, the coaching staff and the football program." After they get on campus, the recruits get a taste of the school and what the coaching staff expects. "First and foremost, you are going to get a great education. One of the questions we ask all the kids we are recruiting is how passionate are they are about football? Everyone likes Friday nights, but all the work that surrounds getting to be a better player both on and off the field is one of the critical things we look at when trying to determine their growth potential as a student-athlete and find out if football truly is a passion." The early signing period has not been around long, but Underwood feels it helps schools at the Division II level. "We enjoy the two different signing days. It clears up a lot of different things. You know pretty much right away who is going Division I or Division IAA. When you are talking the IAA schools – schools we might be competing with for players – they might have one or two guys they are going to sign on the second signing day. Kids start to figure out where they are at." The Huskies' plan is to redshirt as many in this class as they can. "We try to redshirt all our freshmen," Underwood – who brought in 27 freshmen with this class - said. "Sometimes – like this year – one or two play and help us right away. One of the things I say to seniors, ‘you are a much better player now then you were a freshman. That is the same thing that is going to happen at the college level. We don't want 18- or 19-year old's competing against 22- or 23-year old's if we don't have to." Regardless of the number of players get on the field in year one, Underwood is excited about the class coming into the program. He knows the jury will be out on this and every class for at least three years. "I think we have a very talented class," Underwood concluded. "We won't know until we hit the four or five-year mark. If you bring in twenty kids and four years later, you have fifteen guys still on the team and contributing that is a successful recruiting class. We are excited about this group, and we will know a lot more after they are in our program for a few years."