It’s that time of the year when high school seniors put pen to paper and decide where they will be playing their future college football games.

There is a new face manning the sidelines for the Missouri Southern Lions as Daryl Daye became the program’s new head coach early last month.

Even though Daye and his staff had only a few weeks’ time to devote to recruiting, they were able to land 17 signees as of Wednesday.

The group of individuals includes players from the states of Mo., Okla., Texas, La., Fla., Ark. and Ga.

This recruiting class is made up of 15 high school players and two junior college transfers.

“I’m extremely excited at whom we’ve brought in today.

“I give credit to my very hard-working assistant coaches, who pulled out an incredible feat in assembling a premier recruiting class in a little less than two weeks,” Daye said.

The Lions had three players achieve All-American honors last season in defensive linemen Brandon Williams and Kenny Smith, as well as wideout Landon Zerkel, on a team that had multiple high motor players.

Daye and his staff hope that their new recruits will provide a spark to the team, and give his team the ability to win games on any given week.

A recruit that may have been overlooked by other well known colleges was Marcus Hall, a 5’9”, 180 pound running back/kick returner from St. Charles High School in La.

Hall was a two-time All-State, All-Metro and All-New Orleans selection. He gained 2,600 all-purpose yards in his career as a three-time All-River Parish and All-District selection.

To go along with this he was also named as one of the top 100 players by LA Magazine.

“When my staff approached me with the possibility of signing this guy, I was thinking no way, but we brought him down for a visit and he loved it. The rest is history,” Daye said .

Marcus Hall is just one of five players from La. who have signed with the Lions.

Along with these five players, Daye hopes the talent from states where football is a religion just adds on to the explosive football team here at Southern.

“At this point there is no one that has a starting spot on the team, every player will have to earn their place on this team, that even includes Brandon Williams,” Daye said