The morning of National Signing Day proved to be a splendor on Wednesday for the WSU football program.

Head Coach Mike Leach got on the board early, reeling in scout.com’s three-star wide receiver Travell Harris to fill in the Cougars’ hole at the position. With Gabe Marks and River Cracraft graduating, Harris’ arrival from his native Florida gives Leach a potential starter at slot receiver next season.

“I always wanted to get out of state,” Harris said in an interview with Fox Sports. “Like I told my mother, I want to go see something different. I have a great relationship with the coaching staff, coach (Mike) Leach, coach (Derek) Sage, coach (Dave) Nichol. It’s an awesome program, and they’re up and coming.”

From Jesuit High School, Harris is also a threat on special teams, amassing 296 total yards on just seven kickoff returns during his senior season this fall. For a program that has returned just one kickoff for a touchdown in the past 13 seasons, the addition of Harris is welcome news for Special Teams Coach Eric Mele.

As much of an asset as Harris is on special teams, the five-foot-eight-inch speedster is an even greater threat at his natural position of wide receiver, as he accumulated just under 600 receiving yards and nine touchdowns this fall.

Soon after Harris’s announcement, fellow-three star wide receiver Davontavean Martin, formally signed his letter of intent with WSU. Originally from Louisiana, Martin saw a lot of playing time in his final two years of high school ball, racking up about 1,600 receiving yards on 96 receptions. Martin also turned down several offers from colleges in the Southeast to play basketball.

Four-star wide receiver Jamire Calvin also flipped to WSU over Nebraska midway through the day.

Leach turned to the running game with far greater frequency this fall with his collection of experienced running backs, potentially setting a precedent of calling a larger percentage of designed running plays to compliment the air raid going forward.

247sports.com three-star running back Caleb Perry of Seattle’s King High School might make this even more of a reality.

Perry joins a diverse group of running backs and brings a self-reported 4.38-second 40-yard dash time to the table. Blending lateral foot speed with acceleration, Perry is listed as the nation’s No. 18 all-purpose running back, according to espn.com.

“Oddly slippery to tackle,” cougcenter.com staff writer Brian Anderson said of Perry. “[Perry] could be a product of competition. He does not get taken down by arm tackles and quickly regains pace after running through them. Truly deadly return potential with his combination of vision and speed, special teams could be his path to the field with the RB position stacked in front of him,” Anderson said.

Leach also inked four-star quarterback Connor Neville of Wilsonville, Oregon, on Wednesday. Neville chose WSU over Boise State prior to his senior season of high school. The Oregonian put up similar numbers for Neville to those of redshirt senior quarterback Luke Falk in his senior year. Neville has thrown for 34 touchdowns on 10 interceptions while Falk tossed for 35 scores and threw 11 interceptions in high school.

The Cougars also made some key additions on the defensive side on Wednesday, namely adding defensive end Dallas Hobbs after he flipped his commitment from the University of Connecticut. Hobbs is especially athletic for his six-foot-six-inch, 260-pound frame, and is expected to boost WSU’s front side pressure on the quarterback under recently hired defensive line coach Jeff Phelps.

Phelps also added another behemoth of a defensive tackle in six-foot-five-inch, 285-pound Idahoan Alec Kuzmack.

Linebacker’s coach Roy Manning said last season that the Cougars need to improve their ability to defend the pass in the middle of the field, and speedy two-star linebacker Willie Taylor III is expected to contribute in 3-4 defensive schemes. This fall, Georgia native Taylor III registered more than 90 tackles as a senior.

Three-star safety Josh Talbott from Long Beach, California, was one of many defensive backs to join the WSU ranks in the 2017 recruiting class, but by choosing the Cougars over Texas A&M, Florida, UCLA, Oregon, Oklahoma and others, his arrival helps the program continue to build off its recent recruiting success.

With the dust settling, the Cougars appear to have retooled areas where departures are expected and added necessary depth on both sides of the ball at positions the program currently holds strong.