Football players across the nation inked their future on Wednesday as they sent in their letters of intent. 

WSU added 23 new players to its roster for the 2014 season. That class consists of 13 defensive players and 10 offensive players. Six of the players are already enrolled for the spring semester at WSU. 

“I thought we did a good job getting a combination of size and speed so we got big and fast,” Head Coach Mike Leach said. “I would say it’s a more polished group than we’ve had the last two years.”

Leach said this year’s staff was the best recruiting staff he has ever had, and the players who signed with the team had scholarship offers from a variety of places. 

“We were inclined to keep the scholarship rather than settle on a guy, and we didn’t settle on anybody, especially when you consider that these players had a lot of traffic on them,” Leach said. 

One quarterback, Peyton Bender of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., signed with the Cougars, but with redshirt junior Connor Halliday, redshirt freshman Austin Apodaca, and freshman Tyler Bruggman all returning for the upcoming season, competition for the position will be stiff. 

Bender is ranked the No. 25 pro-style quarterback in the country and is a three-star recruit, according to ESPN.com, rivals.com, and scout.com. 

To support the quarterback position, no matter who plays it, the Cougars added wide receivers like Calvin Green and Barry Ware. They also picked up tight end Nick Begg from Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. 

Leach said Green, who is 5 foot 10, will likely be a slot receiver who has a quick burst of speed and has a versatile skill set. He is one of the six players who are already here and practicing with the team. 

Ware is a larger target, and standing at 6 foot 3 he is both physical and explosive, Leach said. He is a three-star recruit, according to ESPN.com, rivals.com, and scout.com.

Begg joins Green as a player who is already on campus. Leach said Begg is athletic for a player who is 6 foot 5 and 255 pounds. Begg is a smart football player who can play multiple positions, Leach said. This means he could be used somewhere besides at tight end because Leach did not use a tight end often last season. 

On the defensive side, the Cougars attempted to fill the gap left by the departure of safety Deone Bucannon. Markell Sanders, a 6 foot 1, 175-pound safety, is a two-star recruit out of Sammamish. Leach said he expects Sanders, who is an instinctual safety, to get bigger during his time here, despite being held back by an injury in high school. 

The size the Cougars recruited is also evident on the defensive side. Frankie Luvu of American Samoa is an aggressive linebacker who is 6 foot 2 and 215 pounds and who has passion that will rub off on the rest of the defense, Leach said. 

Leach also said defensive tackle Ngalu Tapa, from Sacramento, Calif., is listed at 6 foot 3 but is much taller than that.

Perhaps the most eye-catching name in this year’s recruiting class is three-star defensive end Hercules Mata’afa, who is from Hawaii. Leach said Mata’afa was a successful wrestler along with his sisters, and wrestling against such athletic family members serves as great training for a defensive end. 

With all the star rankings that fly around during recruiting time, Leach does not pay too much attention to those numbers. In fact, he said he has found highly-touted recruits, in terms of rankings, who he does not think are that good. 

“As you look at film and evaluate, I think it’s very important to think independently and figure out who you feel is a good player,” Leach said. 

However, Leach is confident in this recruiting class and said it is the best one since he has been at Washington State.