HONOLULU, Hawaii – A 2 a.m. wake-up call in Hawaii was well worth it for the Louisiana Tech Football program on Wednesday as the Bulldog coaching staff inked a total of 11 signees to National Letters of Intent on National Signing Day.
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The LA Tech staff gathered in a meeting room in the team's hotel in Honolulu beginning at 2 a.m. HT to welcome in 11 fresh faces for Bulldog fans to acquaint themselves with for the 2019 season. By the time the sun was rising in Hawaii, Tech's early signing class was nearly complete.
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The 2019 signing class features 11 new faces as head coach
Skip Holtz and his staff brought in a balanced class with five players on the offensive side of the ball and five on defense. The lone specialist in the class was Jacob Barnes, who is the younger brother of LA Tech kicking legend
Jonathan Barnes.
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Louisiana Tech added 10 players out of high school and one from the junior college ranks, while four of the players who signed on Wednesday hail from Louisiana, four from Texas and one each from Florida, Georgia and Mississippi.
"We are incredibly excited to add these 11 players to the 2019 roster," Holtz said of the signees on Wednesday. "We added a good mix of skill, size and speed and there are some explosive players in the group. I am really excited about the talent we are adding, but I am more pleased about the quality of people we added with this class. We are losing a good group of upperclassmen this year, but I am really excited about the group of men we are bringing in with this class and I think these players will have the opportunity to make an impact on this football program."
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The first National Letter of Intent rolled in at 6:35 a.m. CT on Wednesday morning when linebacker Allen Walker (Milton HS/Alpharetta, Ga.) signed on the dotted line to officially become a Bulldog. From there, the names quickly began to roll in with five NLI's arriving between 7-8 a.m. CT from OL Antawn Lewis (Coahoma CC/West Palm Beach, Fla.), LB Maki Carabin (Alamo Heights HS/San Antonio, Texas), CB Christian Archangel (Comeaux HS/Lafayette, La.), OL Jonah Brewster (Prestonwood Christian Academy/Frisco, Texas) and specialist Jacob Barnes (Woodlawn HS/Baton Rouge, La.).
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Between 8-8:30 a.m. CT, the Bulldogs add three additional signees beginning with the final offensive lineman of the day in Stevie Ballard (Central Hinds Academy/Terry, Miss.). Ballard was followed by defensive end Mykol Clark (Crowley HS/Fort Worth, Texas) and a three-star rated quarterback in Jakson Thomson (Lake Highlands HS/Dallas, Texas).
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On Wednesday afternoon, Louisiana Tech wrapped up the day with its two final signees in safety Khiry Morrison (West Feliciana HS/St. Francisville, La.) and WR Kyle Maxwell (Amite HS/Amite City, La.).
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The Bulldogs continue to prep for the 2018 SoFi Hawai'i Bowl, which is set for Saturday, Dec. 22 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. The game is set for a 9:30 p.m. CT kickoff and will be broadcast live on ESPN.
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For complete coverage of Bulldog Football, please follow Louisiana Tech on social media at @LATechFB (Twitter), /LATechFootball (Facebook) and @LATechFB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Louisiana Tech Athletics at LATechSports.com.
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