Signing Day: Farley finds balance in UNI's 2016 class

CEDAR FALLS — Like every other college football coach in the country on National Signing Day, Northern Iowa Coach Mark Farley 'couldn't be more pleased' with the Panthers' 2016 recruiting class.

But that's not just because of who UNI landed.

Farley's satisfaction with the 29 recruits who signed on Wednesday morning came in how balanced the class was and what that means for the long-term future of his program. There will be some lumps to take with youth in the short term, but the transition was a necessary one, Farley said.

'It's a large class, probably the largest class we've taken over the years and it turned out to be a very balanced class, and a very talented one,' Farley said. 'We wanted to bring balance to this class because it's such a large class. Now, as we go through the years to come, with the balance of this class, now we can become more balanced in every class. There will be a growing pain to this, but the upside of this is there's a huge advantage to this two, three, four years from now.'

The 2016 class featured 13 players who were primarily offensive players, 13 defensive players, two athletes and a special-teams player. Headed into 2016, UNI was short in the defensive backfield, at wide receiver and linebacker specifically after losing so many to graduation and having a lean receiving corps all of last season to begin with.

Farley and his staff sought out that combination of size and speed he's looked for traditionally, and felt he hit a 'home run' with a few.

Cedar Rapids Prairie's Jalen Rima — grandson of UNI play-by-play voice Gary Rima — Shawnee, Kan., (Mill Valley HS) grad and 2015 Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year Christian Jegen and Albertville, Minn. (St. Michael-Albertville HS) grad Isaiah Weston were receivers who Farley pointed to as both prize recruits and possibly guys who will contribute right away.

On the flip side of the ball, Cedar Rapids Washington's Isaiah Nimmers and Nikholi Jaghai of Miami Gardens, Fla. (Flanagan HS) were defensive backs Farley pointed out, along with St. Louis linebacker Markail Williams (Pattonville HS) as guys who could see the field quickly and make a big impact.

In a perfect world, Farley said he would 'red-shirt all of them,' but short term needs outweigh that ideal scenario.

'I hope we don't have to play that many, but I'd say five to seven (seeing the field in 2016) is a realistic possibility,' Farley said. 'It'll depend on — I know they're physically big enough, some of them, and I wish we could red-shirt all of them because of what they could be five years from now. But I don't think we'll have that luxury. Those days are gone because of the way football is right now. You have to start playing younger players. We just have to do a better job developing them this summer to get a jump on it.

'It's probably more the position they play and the biggest needs we have on the depth chart. I'd say receiver, linebacker, defensive line and secondary are critical.'

The UNI staff signed just one transfer, tight end Christian Perez, a Harlem, N.Y., native who last played at Monroe College in New York. Perez will fill a hole left by senior Braden Lehman.

His being the lone transfer is rare in that the number was so small, but it also reinforced a point Farley made recently about refocusing on long-term development of players.

'It would've been real easy to go that route and look for transfers and those types of players. It would've been real easy,' Farley said. 'But I just felt the best players on the board were the ones we took — being long term, what's best for the team, what's best for UNI football. There's no question this was the best route I felt to go. We'll be young. We'll have to bear that burden and play to the strength of a young football team in areas next year, but there also will be a day where we'll play to a very experienced football team with a lot of good talent.'

When Farley spoke to The Gazette about this year's class, he did so after a bit of a delay.

He was a bit busy when first reached to talk about the 2016 class — watching film. As thrilled as he was to see his class and his staff's work rewarded, the work wasn't about to stop.

There's no rest for the weary, as they say.

'What's fun about today is to see excitement on your coaches' faces when they see a player sign and the value of work they did for recruiting for a whole year,' Farley said. 'As soon as we were done with that, I came up here and we were sitting in the film room watching film on juniors for next season's class before everyone got out of here. We'll give these guys some time off right now, but it never ends. It's time to get ready for the first game of next season and time to start recruiting 2017.'

OFFENSE

Spencer Brown, TE, 6-8, 235, Lenox, Iowa (Lenox HS)

Nick Ellis, OL, 6-5, 275, Parkersburg, Iowa (Aplington-Parkersburg HS)

Christian Ellsworth, QB, 6-4, 220, St. Libory, Neb. (Grand Island Northwest HS)

Nick Fossey, WR, 6-2, 180, Lakeville, Minn. (Lakeville North HS)

Christian Jegen, WR, 6-1, 195, Shawnee, Kan. (Mill Valley HS)

Jake Kestel, OL, 6-5, 290, Norwalk, Iowa (Norwalk HS)

Briley Moore, TE, 6-4, 200, Blue Springs, Mo. (Blue Springs South HS)

Christian Perez, TE, 6-3, 245, Harlem, N.Y. (Monroe College/John F. Kennedy HS)

Davonius Reed, OL, 6-2, 285, Parkersburg, Iowa (Aplington-Parkersburg HS)

Jalen Rima, WR, 6-2, 180, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Prairie HS)

Korby Sander, DB, 6-1, 205, Belmond, Iowa (Belmond-Klemme HS)

Jamahl Scott, RB, 5-11, 170, St. Louis, Mo. (Kirkwood HS)

Isaiah Weston, WR, 6-4, 195, Albertville, Minn. (St. Michael-Albertville HS)

DEFENSE

Desmond Chapple, DL, 6-5, 235, Edwardsville, Ill. (Edwardsville HS)

Garrett Graf, LB, 6-0, 200, Verona, Wis. (Middleton HS)

Jake Hartford, DB, 6-3, 210, Circle Pines, Minn. (Centennial HS)

Nikholi Jaghai, DB, 5-10, 170, Miami Gardens, Fla. (Flanagan HS)

Alfonzo Lambert, Jr., LB, 6-1, 200, Rockford, Ill. (Auburn HS)

Marcel Minniefield, DL, 6-2, 295, Lee's Summit, Mo. (Lee's Summit West HS)

Isaiah Nimmers, DB, 5-9, 176, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Washington HS)

Sonny Onken, DL, 6-4, 245, Norwalk, Iowa (Norwalk HS)

Trey Recknor, LB, 6-2, 227, Mt. Horeb, Wis. (Mt. Horeb HS)

Elerson Smith, DL, 6-7, 200, Minneapolis, Minn. (Minneapolis South HS)

Brawntae Wells, DL, 6-4, 258, Des Moines, Iowa (Dowling Catholic HS)

Brison White, DB, 5-10, 215, Woodbury, Minn. (East Ridge HS)

Markail Williams, LB, 6-4, 218, St. Louis, Mo. (Pattonville HS)

ATHLETE

Austin Evans, ATH, 6-2, 195, Kansas City, Mo. (Archbishop O'Hara HS)

Xavior Williams, ATH, 6-0, 175, Burlington, Iowa (Notre Dame HS)

SPECIAL TEAMS

Chris Dobernecker, LS, 6-2, 215, Nevada, Iowa (Nevada HS)

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com