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In the midst of the pandemic, PSU is continuing to try and host important events through different venues to adjust to safety regulations. One such event was PSU’s Football Signing Day.
On Feb. 3 Football Head Coach Brian Wright and his staff hosted a virtual Signing Day announcement for the Gorilla’s incoming Class of 2021. The recruiting class was unveiled during a live stream on pittstate.tv where the Pitt State coaches highlighted the 38 high school seniors’ signees position by position while showing game video clips of the players along with an in-depth analysis. In addition, two transfers entered the Pitt State Football Program at the beginning of the Spring 2021 semester.
“Overall our staff did a great job of recruiting through the pandemic and put a tremendous class together this year,” Wright said. “We had to build depth across the board at every position, we wanted to get bigger, stronger and faster and we feel like we did that.”
According to Wright, Matt Buhler the recruiting coordinator for Wright’s staff who along with the Pittsburg State admissions director Scott Donaldson did an exceptional job with the recruits during their campus visits and many other tasks involved in the recruiting process.
“Scott spent countless hours with our recruits showing them and their families the Pitt State campus,” Wright said. “He did a fabulous job of selling PSU.”
One of the star signees is the running back Cleo Chandler, a two-time Texas Class 5A Division II All-District Team standout at Cleburne High School. Chandler ran the ball 128 times for 1,178 yards and 16 touchdowns for the Jackets in 2020 finishing the season with 54 catches for 705 yards and nine points. Career stats combined for 1,883 yards and 25 touchdowns, average 10.3 yards per contact.
Corner back Jaylen Fuksa is another prospect for the team. A distinguished prep athlete at Reedy High School with a two-year start for the Lions. He has compiled 32 tackles with two interceptions and 21 passes break-ups during his senior season. While also playing as a wide receiver, he had 40 catches for 832 yards.
The All-Area Offensive Player of the Year as a senior at McAlester High School, Gavin Johnson averaged 22 yards per catch while helping the Buffaloes record 12-3 and will be joining the Gorillas as a wide receiver.
Noah McDill was a first-team Texas Class 4A All-District team performer at Sunnyvale High School. McDill was a three-year starter who compiled 2,340 yards and 28 touchdowns in his early wide receiver career.
First-team Colorado Class 4A All-State performer as a senior at Palmer Ridge High School, Marcellus Reed had 38 tackles with seven interceptions as a junior in 2019 and 642 receiving yards with nine touchdowns as a senior in 2020.
Jaden Wallace was a two-time Texas Class 5A All-District High School performer. Wallace earned first-team All-District honors as a senior ending the season with 55 tackles with 16.0 tackle-for-loss and 5.0 quarterback sacks for the Knights.
Wright is looking forward to begin working with the new Gorillas.
“I’m excited for them to get here in July and start working with them and see their true potential in a couple years when these guys develop,” Wright said.
The Class of 2021 is the second signing class for Wright and his staff after he was hired as a Head Coach for the Gorillas on Dec. 7, 2019.
