BOONEVILLE, Miss. –   Coming off one of its most successful seasons in school history, Northeast Mississippi Community College head football coach Ricky Smither used his 2012 signing class to fill needs in the defending North Division runner-ups.

Smither inked 19 athletes during a National Signing Day meeting on Wednesday, February 1 inside the Magnolia Room at the Haney Union on the Northeast Booneville campus.

"We are very proud and excited about the way it went," Smither said. "We (the Northeast coaching staff) felt like we got some players that will help us and keep usmoving in the right direction."

With the entire state of Mississippi being open to recruiting for the first time in his tenure, Smither was able to sign a majority of the local players available.

"(Recruiting) was a little bit longer," Smither said. "With the protected list being gone, we were on the road about two-and-a-half months longer than usual but no difference in our geographical area."

Smither picked up Baldwyn's Parrish Huddleston, a 6-1, 255-pound defensive lineman; Deione Weeks, a 6-3, 200-pound wide receiver from Corinth; Rezzean 'Ray' Prather, a 6-2, 230-pound defensive lineman from Ripley and a pair of athletes from the Division 1-3A champions Kossuth.

TylerPittman, a 5-10, 190-pound linebacker/running back and Logan Hall, a 6-1, 280-pound offensive lineman agreed to change their maroon and white for theTiger black and gold.

"We lost some really good players and knew those holes would be hard to fill," Smither said. "We feel really good about our in-state guys. This is probably the most talent that we have ever put together under one room."

In addition to the local talent, Smither was also to persuade three players from Lake Cormorant and South Panola each to join the Tigers.

Lake Cormorant's Martice Buckley, a 5-9, 175-pound wide receiver; Antrez Anderson, a 5-10, 170-pound cornerback and J'Mon Scott, a 5-9, 180-pound athlete all agreed to join Northeast.

SouthPanola's Nick Johnson, a 6-2, 235-pound defensive end, Rondarius Taylor, a 6-3, 185-pound wide receiver and Sean Rogers, a 6-1, 255-pound offensive lineman all inked to make the move to Booneville.

"We are very excited," Smither said. "The coaches have done a tremendous job on the road recruiting and looking forward to the upcoming year."

Smither and company continued to work DeSoto County with a pair of signings from Southaven as Shuntez Smith, a 5-9, 170-pound fullback and Jaylon Wallace, a 6-0, 230-pound linebacker will don the black and gold next year along with another Nick Johnson, a 6-0, 190-pound linebacker out of Olive Branch High School.

During its 2012 national signing class, Northeast also added Raymond Gee, a 6-4, 180-pound wide receiver from Cleveland; Tim Hudgins, a 6-1, 220-pound linebacker fromColumbus and Olajuwon Tanner, a 6-0, 220-pound fullback from Hernando.

Smither also picked up a major boost to the Tiger special teams when Madison Central kicker Chris Cooper, 5-9, 184 pounds, agreed to join the Tigers.

Northeast's defense also received a lift when West Point's Quinten Spraggins, 6-1, 170 pounds, put his name on the line for the Tigers early in the day.

"Every one of these guys are playmakers," Smither said. "It's always fun to have a group of guys that can make things happen. They are some great football players and some very high character guys."

2012 Northeast Mississippi Community College
Football Signing Class