Missouri Western football gets 19 future Griffons on National Signing Day

Feb. 1—The first National Signing Day of the Tyler Fenwick era got underway Wednesday as multiple future Griffon football student-athletes signed their names to play in black and gold.

With only two months since being hired — and a full staff for less than a month — Fenwick was able to secure 19 total signings, with the potential for more to come.

"I think I couldn't have put together a better staff that was able to hit the ground running and, you know, get on kids that we'd already gotten, you know, that they've already been recruiting," Fenwick said. "Just be able to build those relationships at a different school almost in a sense."

Of those 19 future griffons, six future Griffons come from Texas, the state with the most signees in this class.

Missouri saw five signees while Kansas and Iowa had two. California, Florida Arkansas and Tennessee each had one.

Missouri Western offensive coordinator Todd Throckmorton and defensive coordinator Erik Johnson have ties to Texas, and with Fenwick and his some of his staff reigning from the GAC Conference, there's no surprise they have these pipelines.

"Those guys were able to kind of pick up, you know, guys that they had been recruiting at other places," Fenwick said. "We're getting, you know, more of the GAC and the Lone Stars and all that, and then they look at everything we have and that kind of reels them in a little bit."

The offense will have 10 new additions, with the most signees happening at the offensive line position, which is very young coming into the 2023 season. On the defensive side, nine new Griffons will make themselves at home, with linebacker being the most signed position.

"I felt like linebacker was the place where we needed to get some younger depth. I think at the end of it we'll have four or five that'll be in this class. We're young on the O-line currently, so we'll probably do a little bit more transfer stuff," Fenwick said. Receiver was a place where we felt like we needed to bring in some speed and some depth, and then I think every year you're looking to bring in a quarterback or two."

Western was able to sign a quarterback from Camarillo, California. Two wide receivers were signed, both from Texas. Four linebackers and three offensive lineman signed as well.

Other positions such as safety, cornerback, running back and tight end had two signees each, defensive line had one.

"I think it's a well-rounded class. For us not knowing what our roster looks like currently and not going through spring practice, this was more about trying to get the best quality kids that we could and then and then kind of build from there," Fenwick said.

Calvin Silvers can be reached at calvin.silvers@newspressnow.com.