Early signing day is in the books for Memphis, and so far coach Ryan Silverfield’s first full recruiting class is shaping up well.

The Tigers officially added 15 signees on Wednesday, with more expected on the traditional signing day, which will be Feb. 3.

Football early signing day running blog: Memphis adds 15 in early signing period

“We were able to sign a handful of guys. We’re very excited about the future student-athletes here at Memphis,” he said.

Silverfield added that the Tigers actually signed more than 15, but some wanted to wait until February. That will allow them to sign with some of their high school teammates and have a larger ceremony at their respective high schools.

So while Memphis fans will have to wait a few months for a few signees, in the meantime they should be more than ecstatic about the signees already in the fold.

The biggest news came when Byhalia offensive lineman Makylan Pounders flipped to the Tigers. The 6-foot-6, 295-pound tackle decommitted from Ole Miss on Tuesday night and joined the Tigers’ class.

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“It speaks to where we are on a national level,” Silverfield said. “It’s nice to get some of these guys that are highly sought-after recruits and you get to compete. Pounders is a young man that came to visit us before the pandemic hit and we were able to spend some time with him. We kept that relationship going even while he was committed to other schools.”

Pounders also was committed to Mississippi State for a time, but his relationship with Silverfield and the staff ended up being a huge factor.

“He’s a massive human that can do so much. To be able to get some movement in the run game, we need big-bodied guys that have some nastiness to them the way he plays,” Silverfield said. “We feel like the sky’s the limit for both those tackles (Royce White).”

Here are more takeaways from early signing day.

Memphis’ top commits all sign

Four of the Tigers’ highest-ranked commitments made it official on Wednesday, led by Louisiana linebacker Andrew Jones. Georgia tackle Royce White, Texas running back JP Martin and Louisiana cornerback Tyrell Raby followed suit.

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The four were heavily recruited by Power Five programs but ended up sticking with the Tigers. Silverfield didn’t want to delve too much into stars and rankings, but he knows how important it is to bring prospects with their type of talent.

“They’re dynamic players,” he said. “Regardless of stars or rankings, we got the right players for us. It’s huge for us to get those type of guys that in the past, 10 years ago, Memphis would struggle to get those types of young men.”

The Tigers had to fend off multiple suitors for White, in particular, until the very end. “Royce doesn’t get mentioned enough. He was one of our very first committed players who actually got major, major Power Five offers the last three weeks. He turned them all down to stay with us.”

Tigers land some of Tennessee’s best

Memphis made sure to secure some of the best prospects the state had to offer, starting locally with White Station’s Gregory Rubin and Ridgeway’s Brandon Warner. Both project to be safeties when they arrive on campus. 

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The Tigers went up to Nashville and pulled in signees James Stewart and Bryce Edmondson on the defensive side of the ball. There was also Henry County defensive back Jawon Odoms, whom Silverfield is particularly excited about.

“You always want to be able to find in-state talent,” he said. “We always want to make the state a priority and obviously the city. There’s so many talented young men here in this area, this region.” 

Memphis expects large group of early enrollees 

One of the quickest ways for freshmen to see the field is to enroll early in January, so they quickly will be able to get into a college weight program and start learning the playbook. Silverfield says the Tigers are expecting seven or eight players to enroll early, which should add intrigue to spring practice.

Tigers land dynamic recruits from Texas

The Lone Star State always has plenty of talented playmakers, especially on offense. Silverfield wanted to make sure the Tigers were a factor in there and succeeded. Quarterback Seth Henigan from Denton and Martin out of Houston both signed.

Henigan is one who will enroll early and comes from a football background. “He’s a quarterback that’s won a lot of football games and played at a really high level. If you watch his film from this year, you’ve seen him improve every single game. He’s a football junkie,” Silverfield said.

Henigan is in the process of trying to lead Ryan to a state championship and will enroll at Memphis just a week or so after that. The Tigers introduced Martin on Twitter by saying “Welcome to Weapon U,” which should say it all about how explosive the running back was in high school.

Commits to watch leading up to February

Memphis did have one decommitment, with junior college defensive end Myron Green reopening his recruitment on Wednesday. Experts believe he will land at TCU or Ole Miss. That move was not a surprise.

Other commits to watch the next month are Murfreesboro defensive end Javon Nelson and Louisiana linebacker Kolbe Fields. They’re both high-impact players who have opted to wait to sign. There’s no doubt Power Five programs will be trying to flip them, but Silverfield and company are ready for the challenge.