National Signing Day

4:00 pm: It looks like the Deacs are done for signing day. The one the Deacs were hoping for, Ed Imeokparia, decided to go another direction (FSU) and the class sits at sixteen, plus previous commits Steven Chase and Chris Givens who I expect to greyshirt and enroll a year from now.

Not a bad class, but for all the promising things heard coming down the stretch it ended in a slightly disappointing way. A half hour from now Grobe wil be having a press conference and I'll try to keep everyone updated on what's he saying. Come back in a half hour for that.

1:10 pm: It looks like most of what's coming is in now. There's been a good number of LOIs since I last posted, so here are the most recent ones:

• Garrick Williams OL 6'4" 314 Columbia, MO
• J.T. Dixon TE 6'4" 230 Chandler, AZ
• Chance Raines OL 6'2" 270 Jacksonville, FL
• Joe Looney OL 6'3" 315 Lake Worth, FL
• Kenny Okoro CB 6'0" 185 Greensboro, NC
  

Williams, Dixon, Raines, and Looney are actually already enrolled, as greyshirts from last year. Good to have them officially on board.

These five guys bring the total to 16 commits, which is almost all we can expect, although I anticipate there may be one more. We'll have to wait and see. Based on the fact that the official site says Kevin Smith will be the only commit from Texas, it does not look like Christopher Givens will be signing today. I doubt this means we lost him, probably just that he'll be coming a year for now. Since I don't think Grobe can talk about someone who doesn't sign a LOI, we probably won't have the official word on him today.

11:15 am: We can add Lovell Jackson, a 5'7" 170lb running back from Tampa, FL to the list. Nice to see them keep rolling in!

10:45 am Update: Wake's commits have been working hard already this morning, as there are already 10 letters of intent confirmed by the school:

• Andrew Parker TE 6'5" 225 Jacksonville, FL
• Terence Davis WR 6'1" 180 Lilburn, GA
• Gabe Irby OL 6'3" 315 Mt. Airy, GA
• Ted Stachitas QB 6'3" 185 Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
• Derricus Ellis DE 6'2" 225 Rome, GA
• Joey Ehrmann LB 6'4" 210 Baltimore, MD
• Ramon Booi DL 6'6" 330 Jacksonville, FL
• Scott Betros LB 6'1" 220 Jacksonville, FL
• Riley Haynes LB 6'1" 225 Jacksonville, FL
• Kevin Smith DE 6'4" 210 Plano, TX
  

This is definitely a great start to the day, and it was nice to see all the Jacksonville/Nease HS names come in as expected. I think the most exciting guys right now are the guys on the defensive side of the ball, particularly Booi, and Betros. Also, filling a hole at Tight End is great with Parker. He's going to be very solid.

The Wake website is saying Kevin Smith is the only member of the class from Texas, which surprises me because I was expecting to be getting a LOI from Christopher Givens today as well. This may mean he won't be coming until a year from now (Spring 2009), but I'm not exactly sure what to make of this right now.

For a little biographical information on all of these guys, the Official Wake Forest Website is doing a great job keeping this updated and providing information. Definitely worth checking out.

The day has finally arrived, and the signatures of promising young athletes will be pouring in. The beauty of football signing day.

I'm not going to lie; I don't have the access to recruiting info the guys at Scout do, but I'll do my best to keep you all updated with who the official signees are along with my thoughts on how they may fit in here at Wake.

I'll also have a full recap of Grobe's 4:30 press conference as soon as I possibly can afterwards, and I may even try to "live blog" it if possible. I'll see what I can do.

Check back throughout the day to find out what's been happening with recruits, and then come back at 7 pm for coverage of Wake vs. Georgia Tech in the Joel. It's a great day for Wake athletics!