Nov 3, 2018; Waco, TX, USA; The Baylor Bears take the field to face the Oklahoma State Cowboys at McLane Stadium.

For the second year in a row, the vast majority of Baylor's current football commitments signed in the early signing period. 19 Bears and counting have signed, including 5 that gave their verbal pledge today. It is a testament to the coaching staff and their recruiting abilities that they could hold this class together and add some marquee names to the class.

The "kept recruits" might be the biggest story line. Two players had taken visits to the University of Tennessee and were considering flipping to the SEC school. Gabriel Hall visited two weekends ago, while Jaylen Ellis visited last weekend. Hall has had a quiet recruitment and had been committed to the Bears since early August. A surprise visit to Tennessee put the Bears on notice after he had glowing remarks for the visit.

Ellis would visit Knoxville the next weekend, part of his long tour as a "committed" Baylor Bear. The plan for the 4-star wide receiver had been to sign in the late period and announce his final college choice at the Army All American game on January 5th. Tuesday evening, those plans changed as Ellis made it clear he would sign early and finalize his recruitment.

Both players signed with Baylor, keeping their verbal pledge and making Shawn Bell one very happy recruiter.

With the rest of the class solid and in tow, the Bears went on the war-path of adding to a Top-40 recruiting class. First it was Florida tight end Sam Snyder, an ultra athletic skill position player still early on in his development at tight end. Second was 4-star athlete Peyton Powell from West Texas who will begin his college career in the quarterback room but has more than enough athleticism to switch to multiple positions on offense or defense.

After those two, it was time to get some players on the offensive line, where Baylor had just one commitment. Former Temple commit Davis DiVall chose to sign with the Bears rather than wait to the late period and take visits to recent offers from Maryland and Oregon. A 6-foot-5, 285 guard, DiVall is a late riser and will be on campus this January. Shortly after DiVall committed, the Bears got a big boost for their 2019 offensive line with the signature of Snow College tackle Blake Bedier.

Another mid-term graduate and enrollee, Bedier is likely to be an instant rotation player along the offensive line. at 6-foot-6, 285 pounds, Bedier has tremendous size for the tackle position. He is one of the top junior college tackles in the nation, and was recently named second team all-american for the junior college ranks.

Those four new additions pushed the Bears class up the 35th in the nation, with more room to improve. While the Bears did miss out on Brant Banks to Nebraska, Dru Mathis to Oregon, and Langston Anderson to Oklahoma State, the day was a very good one overall. They didn't lose a single commit and gained a four-star player along with three other top targets.

Baylor still has commitments from Yusuf Terry, Cecil Powell, and Elijah Ellis that have yet to be converted into signatures, with Terry and Powell confirmed for the February signing period. The Bears also have targets such as Trevius Hodges, Josh Cooper, Paul Matavao-Poialii, Jaden Gragg, and Isaiah Howard out there as well. Also, expect the Bears to look at new names for the linebacker position and maybe wide receiver as well.