Signing Day: Eventful for OSU

It rolls around once every February, and people share the love.

No, not Valentine's Day. It's National Signing Day!

As we head in to OStateIllustrated.com's 16th year covering Oklahoma State's signing class, it could shape up to be a bit more dramatic than the last several years. The last few classes haven't seen many NSD surprises.

That trend could continue, make no mistake. The Cowboys commitment list sits at 18 as fax machines are warming up this morning. Six of those either signed as mid-term junior college transfers or enrolled early (QB John Kolar) and are locked into OSU. The number 18 is pretty close to the maximum expected signees for the Cowboys, as outlined in Recruiting Analyst Jay Fielder's notebook from Tuesday.

However, there are several areas that could provide some signing day sizzle for OSU fans.

The Cowboys are clearly looking to add another high school offensive lineman in the class, to replace [db]Joshua Jones(/db], who flipped to Houston on Monday. Additionally, shoring up running back depth has been a major goal for the class. The Cowboys scored on a potential 2015 starter in JUCO running back Chris Carson on Monday afternoon, when Carson decided to change his commitment from Georgia to OSU.

Two top Texas high school running backs who OSU has heavily pursued are announcing their college choices at ceremonies beginning at 9 a.m. Jordan Stevenson has been committed to Wisconsin for months, so if he announces any other school besides the Badgers, it will be something of a surprise. Rockwall's Chris Warren has a final quartet of OSU, Texas, Texas Tech and Washington. He hasn't given many hints as to where he might be leaning, so OSU fans will be keenly waiting for his announcement.

Objectively, the additions of Carson and Temple, Texas running back Jeff Carr in the last few days would point to OSU having no room for another RB. Still, OSU fans will have some degree of interest.

What of Mike Gundy's extraordinarily early press conference at 9:30 a.m.? It says that Gundy is pretty confident that the prospects on the current commitment list will be received well before that time. Others still could be added to the class around that time, or even after.

And in the case of the remaining offensive line spot, that looks likely to happen.

OSU sent out several new OL offers on Monday after Jones' switch. Port Allen, LA's Marcus Keyes was set to sign today with Louisiana-Lafayette, but has decided to put that off until he's been able to visit OSU officially. Assuming Keyes eventually decides to switch, that would wrap up the Cowboy class well after signing day.

On Monday, OSU also issued an offer to Carson's Butler Community College teammate, CB Antwan Hadley and stand a good chance of making it a Butler trio (OL Matt Kellerman was a mid-term JUCO signee).

The excitement kicked up early for OSU fans last Friday night when defensive tackle Darrion Daniels chose the Pokes live on CBS Sports. Daniels currently OSU's highest-rated commitment on Rivals.

Unlike recent signing days, where the only chance of a surprise or two would be a negative for OSU (losing someone to a last minute switch), today at least as some interesting story lines to follow. Keep an eye on our front page and in The Corral for all of the OSU-related news as it unfolds.