The next 30 hours or so will be the most stressful yet for the new University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football staff.
National signing day - the second and final one for the 2019 class of prep seniors - is Wednesday, and while most of the heavy lifting has long been finished for NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision programs, a great majority of Football Championship Subdivision schools will make or break their recruiting classes this week.
For UTC, it's even more critical since new head coach Rusty Wright and his assistants have been at it for less than two months. As of Monday night, 14 recruits have given the Mocs their commitments to go with three early-period signees: running back Ailym Ford, athlete Avery Williams and transfer quarterback Drayton Arnold.
"A group that's only been on the road for basically 15 days has done a great job," Wright said Saturday before hosting three recruits. "Thankfully we had built up some relationships that have helped. We've done a much better job in the last week and a half of closing, and we have three or four more, hopefully, that will come aboard.
"We feel good about the guys we have, and if we can make it to Wednesday with them, it will be a pretty good class."
The headliner of the Mocs' class is three-star quarterback Gio Richardson of Palm Beach, Florida, a dual threat whom the Mocs were able to flip from a yearlong commitment to FBS member Florida Atlantic. Among the other offensive commitments are three imposing linemen in Clay-Chalkville's (Alabama) Brock Bethea (6-foot-5, 310), Sam Hall (6-6, 240) from Logan, Ohio, and the latest pledge, Cam Perry (6-5, 250) from Georgia Class AAA power Peach County.
Perry helped lead Peach to the state title game. Peach's offense averaged 37 points per game and produced nearly 4,800 yards.
UTC defensive commitments include linemen Marlon Taylor (6-2, 260) from Georgia's Glynn Academy and Evan Brown (6-4, 200) from Edgewood, Ohio, and an influx of secondary talent in a pair of Alabama residents, Kam Brown and Jelen Lee, and two other Georgians, Justin Sanders and recent commitment Tre'Von Stanford.
"We think we have addressed our needs as best we can, but you always want to add more," Wright said. "We will probably also add a few juco kids when it's said and done."
Wright will discuss his first recruiting class Wednesday at 6 at the Stadium Club at Finley Stadium. The event, which includes a happy hour at 5, is free and open to the public.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.