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College football’s National Signing Day is scheduled for Wednesday February 1st, and (especially at the FBS level) it is a day personified by drama and late-minute switches between rivals.
At the FCS level, things are typically a little calmer. Your Villanova Wildcats hasn’t been immune to bad news, but most years things go off without a hitch and all verbal commitments sign their letters of intent.
Villanova Football looks to have one of the best classes in the FCS - this despite already suffering a decommitment from RB Chris Chukwuneke. The ‘Cats may have actually upgraded the position with the verbal of Damone Drew who had several FBS offers and is the highest rated prospect in the entire class.
Here’s the list of verbal commitments heading into National Signing Day:
Villanova Football 2018 Recruiting Class
| 247 Composite Rating | Position | Name | Height/Weight | Hometown (High School) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 247 Composite Rating | Position | Name | Height/Weight | Hometown (High School) |
| 3-star | DE | Mikey Taylor | 6'3" 235 lbs. | Flushing, N.Y. (Holy Cross) |
| 2-star | TE | Owen Thomas | 6'4" 215 lbs. | Lansdale, Pa. (North Penn) |
| NR | DE | Garrett Zobel | 6'2" 270 lbs. | Glenside, Pa. (La Salle) |
| NR | OL | James Petrovcik | 6'4" 28 lbs. | West Orange, N.J. (Seton Hall Prep) |
| NR | WR | Dev Holmes | 5'10" 160 lbs. | Troy, N.Y. (Troy) |
| NR | RB | Jalen Jackson | 5'10" 215 lbs. | Richmond, Va. (Thomas Jefferson) |
| NR | DB | Christian Benford | 6'0" 180 lbs. | Randallstown, Md. (Randallstown) |
| NR | K/P | Nathan Fondacaro | 5'10" 180 lbs. | Richland, N.J. (St. Augustine Prep) |
| NR | QB | Qadir Ismail | 6'7" 205 lbs. | Baltimore, Md. (John Carroll) |
| NR | DB | Elijah Trent | 6'3" 180 lbs. | Rockville, Md. (Thomas S. Wooten) |
| NR | OL | Matt Mazza | 6'4" 270 lbs. | Englishtown, N.J. (Manalapan) |
| NR | DB | Darius Pickett | 6'0" 195 lbs. | Owings Mills, Md. (McDonogh) |
| NR | LB | Qwahsin Townsel | 6'0" 205 lbs. | Hammonton, N.J. (St. Joseph) |
Most years, Villanova is lucky to bring in a single 3-star prospect with most of their commitments falling in the Not Rated category. Not this year, with Mark Ferrante and his staff bringing in one of the best classes the program has seen despite losing a couple of key coaches in the offseason.
Villanova is right there with National Champion James Madison for the best class in the CAA, and should continue to compete at the top of the conference and the FCS for the next several years.
We’ll confirm and profile the signees as they happen on Wednesday, and do some deeper analysis of the class once all the LOIs have been faxed in.