Written by Zach Decker
Harding University’s athletic department is well into its recruiting stage for the 2011-2012 school year.National Signing Day marks the first day of the signing season for football, soccer, cross-country and track and field. This period began Feb. 2 and ends April 1. During this time, recruited freshmen will sign a national letter of intent, agreeing to play sports for Harding.These one-year renewable contracts are for students who will receive scholarships from Harding University forthe 2011-2012 school year. So far,head coach Ronnie Huckeba has signed 25 freshmen for the football team, with an additional nine transferstudents. Dr. Greg Harris has recruited one freshman for the women’s soccer team, three for the men’s soccer team and one for the women’s track and field team.Huckeba said he is excited about the new recruits and what they will bring to the table for next football season.”This is a great class, and we are extremely pleased,” Huckeba said. “Primarily because we met our needs. We wouldn’t have signed them if we weren’t confident in their abilities.”The Harding Athletic Department receives hundreds, if not thousands, of leads every year. Sports Information Director Scott Goode said there is a great deal of time and research that goes into selecting the right players for Harding.Goode also said the football program at Harding is given the equivalent of 36 scholarships to use for its entire team, leaving them able to recruit roughly a class average of 25-30 new freshmen with partial scholarships.”We try to help as many [students] as we can who prove that they can play at this level,” Huckeba said.This year, Harding is recruiting a large number of defensive players for its football team. Huckeba identifiedthe team’s needs for defensive line and the secondary, a term for defensive players who cover receivers going out on pass patterns, mainly as a result of several of the team’s defensive players graduating in May.”We lost a bunch of really good players from that side of the ball, and offensively we lost a couple receivers and a quarterback,” Huckeba said. “So we’ve got a bunch of guys coming back on offense, very few on defense, so that was our focus.”Huckeba said Harding holds high standards for its athletic department and searches for players based on their character, talents and the benefits they bring, not just their high school stats.
