 It's national signing day across the country and as they say at Bemidji State it's just like Christmas morning. 35 student athletes put pen to paper for the Beavers today who look to build on the team's recent success. There was no position the Beavers received more commitments from than in the secondary and with the talented senior class graduating and the changes in modern defenses it's a group they felt they had to hit hard. A lot of times we have you know five DB's on the field it'd be nice to even put six DB's on the field at times so I think coach Bish when he got over here I think we all looked at in Coach Honor too it's just like we need to get more of those athletes and maybe change the way that we recruit a little bit. One defensive back coming in is Colton Herman the Alaska Gatorade player of the year who was joined with his teammate at East Anchorage defensive end Julian Baker. The coaches up there identified to and had a lot of good things to say so Coach Honor got on him after camp season and and lo and behold they came down and ended up in in the green and white. Offensively a big focus was in the trenches with five offensive linemen signing today with multiple players set to graduate in the coming years the Beavers feel that they have reloaded well. I mean we're gonna have four or five all conference kids leaving the next year or two. If you get two or three a year at the online group and then hopefully get some you know walk on guys that can fill in and go but ever since Coach Olson's been here I think we put more resources number one we've probably offered more alignment put money into it and then we've also probably just looked at getting getting more depth. Bemidji State brings in six receivers including Jared Kreen and Ray Heilman both who the team expects to contribute quickly the two highlight a group that should excel in the slot. I wouldn't say that we were looking to take three slots or those type of guys but they're just the best available at that time so you know we have some taller receivers last year's group was probably a little bit bigger you know six two six three six four receivers it seemed like so it bounced out this year. The Beavers always emphasize hitting their own backyard and with 16 coming in from Minnesota and 11 from Wisconsin the Beavers certainly accomplished their goal. It might be the the most talented Wisconsin group that we've had and last year I thought our Minnesota kids were just phenomenal so and the best part of last year's recruiting classes are here the kids are working and the and that group is going to show up on the field a lot and just like I would assume this 2019 group will do as well. Here's a look at the 18 names that the Beavers signed from Minnesota and if you're looking at this list and saying hey I know a few of these names well you're probably right. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.