By Jacob Spiwak/Staff Writer

Wednesday, February 4th was one of the biggest days of the year for college football programs around the country. That’s because it was National Signing Day, the day where high school student athletes choose which college they’ll be playing for and sign their letters of intent.

Starting Wednesday morning, players started signing their letters and officially joining the universities they plan to call home. FIU solidified their 2015 recruiting class, and many consider this offseason a great success for the Panthers.

The first player to sign with FIU today was Collin Olsen, a four year letterman RB from Spruce Creek High School. A few hours and 17 commits later, First-Team All-Dade County CB Olin Cushion III from Miami Central High school was FIU’s last signee.

Head Coach Ron Turner was very excited about this signing class, and he thinks the group of guys they brought in can be key in helping the Panthers for years to come.

“We put together a very good recruiting class,” Turner said. “We addressed our roster’s depth, and helped get players that we think will have an immediate impact.”

When asked which players may see significant playing time early on in their careers, Turner said that the players at skill positions will have a great chance to contribute early on. He specifically mentioned early enrollee WR Anthony Jones from Miami Central High School.

“The first one that comes to mind is Anthony Jones,” Turner said. “He’s a tremendous player. You watch the film, and you see him making play after play after play. Very talented guy, and he’s here in the spring so that’ll help him a lot as well.”

Another player who enrolled early is QB Christian Alexander from Lakeland Christian High School. Turner spoke very highly of both him and the other QB commit from the 2015 class, Maurice Alexander from Booker T. Washington High School, and hinted at a possible QB competition during the offseason.

“I’m really excited about the two quarterbacks, Christian Alexander and Maurice Alexander”, Turner said. “I think they are both very good quarterbacks, and they’re going to come in and compete right away. That’s something that Alex [McGough] knows, as he came in last year and competed for the starting job. I think both Alexanders have something special, ability-wise, leadership-wise, and character-wise, they have what you’re looking for from a QB.”

While Signing Day was definitely a positive for FIU after locking up so much talent, they did lose out on players as well. The most notable flop came when S Ocie Rose, one of FIU’s highest rated defensive commits, decided to sign with Conference USA foe Florida Atlantic University. This comes less than two weeks after former FIU OL commit Richard Williams flipped his commitment over to the Owls.

Turner discussed the importance of having players sign who really want to be part of the university, stating that “[we] want guys who want to be here and believe in what we’re doing.”

At the end of the day, including the three early enrollees and previously gray shirted CB Tyree Johnson and preferred walk-on K/P Stone Wilson, the Panthers 2015 class sits at 23 players. Turner placed emphasis on recruiting in-state talent, and they accomplished just that. 21 of the 22 players they signed are from Florida, 9 of which came out of Miami-Dade County.

Breaking down the class by position, there are 2 Quarterbacks, 2 Running Backs, 4 Wide Receivers, 1 Tight End, 3 Offensive Linemen, 4 Defensive Linemen, 1 Linebacker, 5 Defensive Backs.