Baylor Signing Class Includes Top Receiving Group

Big 12 champion Baylor's 2014 signing class was in place for so long that the Bears didn't even host any campus visits on the final weekend of recruiting.

Coach Art Briles' team added 23 players Wednesday, seven who are taking classes in Waco. Briles said the group mostly committed last summer after the 2012 season and a Holiday Bowl victory, and that their decisions were reinforced by the Bears' first Big 12 title in the fall.

"They have stayed strongly committed to us with many suitors. They had a chance to date other people, and they didn't do it," Briles said. "That really says a lot about them, and I think a lot about the direction of our football program."

Briles admitted that it "felt so weird" not hosting any recruits or parents last weekend, a first for the coach. But he and the Bears were feeling good when signing day was done.

The class is headlined by four receivers, all from Texas -- KD Cannon from Mount Pleasant, Davion Hall from Texarkana, Chris Platt from Willis and Ishmael Zamora from Houston. Hall will be going through spring drills after graduating high school early and enrolling at Baylor.

"If there is a better receiver class in America, then somebody's speaking with fork and tongue, because there's not," Briles said. "There's not four receivers better than who we signed. They're just not out there. ... These guys are phenomenal players that are very, very skilled. And that's a great thing about where we're at as a program right now. We have proof to these student-athletes that this can happen, and will happen."

Baylor's 2014 football signing class

   Blake Blackmar, ol, 6-5, 325, Clear Lake HS, Houston
   Jourdan Blake, db, 5-11, 180, Princeton (Texas) HS
   Jarell Broxton, ol, 6-5, 325, Lackawanna College (Pa.)
   Grant Campbell, lb, 6-0, 230, Bakersfield College (Calif.)
   KD Cannon, wr, 5-11, 160, Mount Pleasant (Texas) HS
   Jordan Feuerbacher, te, 6-3, 250, Kingwood Park HS, Humble, Texas
   Davion Hall, wr, 6-2, 190, Liberty-Eylau HS, Texarkana, Texas
   Jamie Jacobs, de, 6-3, 225, Midway HS, Waco, Texas
   Devonte Jones, ol, 6-2, 305, Bellaire HS, Houston
   Xavier Jones, de, 6-3, 235, West HS, Magnolia, Texas
   Patrick Lawrence, ol, 6-5, 275, Waxahachie (Texas) HS
   Ira Lewis, dl, 6-3, 280, Lamar HS, Houston
   Blake Mahon, te, 6-5, 245, Coppell (Texas) HS
   Josh Malin, de, 6-5, 265, Steele HS, Cibolo, Texas
   Andrew Morris, dt, 6-1, 290, Horn HS, Mesquite, Texas
   Josh Pelzel, ol, 6-6, 335, Rockdale (Texas) HS
   Chris Platt, wr, 5-9, 160, Willis (Texas) HS
   Chris Sanders, db, 5-11, 180, Eastern Arizona College
   Verkedric Vaughns, db, 5-9, 170, Poteet HS, Mesquite, Texas
   Chance Waz, db, 5-10, 175, Hendrickson HS, Pflugerville, Texas
   Terence Williams, rb, 6-3, 220, Ennis (Texas) HS
   Tion Wright, cb, 5-8, 170, Moorpark College (Calif.)
   Ishmael Zamora, wr, 6-4, 195, Alief Elsik HS, Houston

BAYLOR
   National rankings (Rivals 34; Scout 23).
   Best in class: KD Cannon, WR, Mount Pleasant, Texas.
   Best of the rest: Davion Hall, WR, Texarkana, Texas; Terence Williams, RB, Ennis, Texas; and two junior college transfers who are already enrolled at Baylor, Jarell Broxton, OG, Gaithersburg, Maryland; and Grant Campbell, LB, Bakersfield, Calif.
   Late addition: None, the Bears got early commitments and they stuck.
   One that got away:  None. Baylor fans watching a webcast that included a shot of the fax machine set next to the Big 12 championship trophy on the Waco campus saw every national letter of intent they expected to see.

NOTE: Briles said the Bears' success on the field is certainly having an impact on recruiting, not to mention the team moves into a new stadium next fall. "The difference now and three years ago? Three years ago, we were selling hope, vision and trying to acquire something," he said. "Now we're selling defending something. Our job is to defend a Big 12 championship."

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