Red Wolves sign 14 new players to fortify depth

JONESBORO — The objective was to build depth and reel in talented transfers to help Arkansas State University stabilize the roster.

The Red Wolves announced 14 new signees to their 2019 football recruiting class Wednesday, bringing the class to 20 total players, including six early enrollees who played for ASU in the 2018 season.

The positions of high priority — offensive tackle, wide receiver and defensive line — were addressed. In total, ASU’s 14 additions include seven transfers and seven high school prospects, an even split as the Red Wolves seek to both build their future and win now.

“It’s just a continuing balancing act to try to get our numbers to a point where we can have some depth, maintain some stability and continue to compete for championships,” said ASU Coach Blake Anderson, who previously said his ideal figure for building such stability is a 60-40 split in recruiting between high school prospects and transfers. “That’s why you also see the mixture between high school guys and transfer guys as well. We need some veteran guys to come in and play right now. We need younger guys to come in, develop and fill some holes. We’re going to need to continue to do that for a while.”

On Wednesday, the Red Wolves announced three additional offensive linemen to their class — incoming freshman center Ethan Miner from West Hartford, Conn., and incoming junior transfers Ivory Scott (Pearl River Community College, Miss.) and Ernesto Ramirez (Cerritos College, Calif.) — to aid a young offensive line that featured three first-year starters in 2018.

ASU will lose offensive guard Marvis Brown and left tackle Lanard Bonner after this season. The line also lost starting junior right tackle Nour-Eddine Seidnaly to a severe knee injury in November and guard Dalton Ford to a career-ending back injury before the 2018 season began.

ASU added two wide receivers in 6-5 Eugene Minter from Dodge City Community College in Kansas and Jeff Foreman, a 6-2 incoming freshman from Del City High School in Oklahoma City.

Minter spurned late advances from Kansas and Iowa State to remain firm in his allegiance to Jonesboro, Anderson said.

Vershaud Richardson, a 6-4, 235-pounder from Paris, Texas, was the highest-rated defensive end the Red Wolves sought to lock in during the early signing period. He headlines four additions to ASU’s defensive line, including two transfers (Kailon Davis and Aaron Donkor).

“We wanted to get [Richardson] here bad,” Anderson said. “Kailon Davis, I know

the dude can go. A lot of people don’t know a whole lot about Donkor, but they will real quick when they see him and watch how his motor runs. We’re moving in the right direction. It’s good.”

Of ASU’s 14 new additions, none were from the state of Arkansas.

“We made just as many offers in the state as we have in any other year,” Anderson said. “It just didn’t work out that we had guys fit positions that we needed for high school guys. As you can see, we don’t have a ton of spots for that.”

ASU intends to lock in another offensive tackle, wide receiver, running back and the two best-available players to round out the 2019 class for the next signing period, which begins Feb. 6.

“We’re not done,” Anderson said. “I think this is a great start.”

Anderson