Don’t rebuild, reload.

That’s what the Washington State football team is hoping to do, as today is the first day class of 2016 recruits can sign their National Letters of Intent, known colloquially as Signing Day.

The Cougars are projected to have a pretty middle-of-the-road class heading into Head Coach Mike Leach’s fifth season at the helm, ranked No. 49 by CougFan.com. Leach’s best class was last year’s, which the site ranked No. 38 in the country, and his worst was the year before that, which ranked No. 58, according to CF.C.

Here’s a look at some of the areas of focus for WSU’s recruiting campaign.

Offensive line

With two of its pillars graduating, the Cougar offensive line is undoubtedly what needs the most work in coming years. Leaving the team for the 2016 season are left guard Gunnar Eklund and left tackle Joe Dahl. Dahl only played nine games in 2015 but was voted to the USA Today All-America second team and recently played in the Senior Bowl.

From a purely football perspective, the Cougars may have found the guy to fill one of those positions in former Michigan Wolverine and graduate transfer Logan Tuley-Tillman, if he chooses to officially commit to WSU, though his circumstances of leaving Ann Arbor were far from ideal.

Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh dismissed Tuley-Tillman from his program after he was charged with three felonies in September, the most significant of which was filming sex with a woman without her consent. Tuley-Tillman is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Monday, the Detroit Free Press reported.

If Tuley-Tillman chooses to come to WSU, he’s apparently been visiting a few other schools, and he is legally cleared to play, his graduate status would allow him to compete immediately, and he still technically has two years of NCAA eligibility left.

Including Tuley-Tillman, the Cougars have five offensive line commits, one flipped from WSU to San Jose State Tuesday morning, for the 2016 class, and they are in the running with Oregon State to nab offensive guard Frederick Mauigoa.

Linebacker and safety

Linebackers Jeremiah Allison, second on the team in 2015 with 97 tackles; Ivan McLennan, third on the team with six sacks; Kache Palacio, fourth in sacks with five, fifth in TFLs with 10; and safety Taylor Taliulu, tied for team lead with six pass breakups. All have finished their WSU careers, presenting defensive coordinator Alex Grinch with perhaps his biggest puzzle as a Cougar yet.

Grinch needs players who can step in right away and compete for starting positions, and linebacker Chima Onyeukwu and safety Robert Taylor would do just that. Both players are junior college transfers, and both have the raw speed that makes them capable of making the switch to the D-I level.

Most LB and DB commits this year fit this mold, which appears to play well in Grinch’s ball-hawking style of defense. However, the high school recruits will likely take some time to develop into true, Pac-12-caliber contributors.

Wide receiver

Not surprisingly, six wide receivers are expected to sign with WSU, hoping to get into the passing exhibition that is Leach’s Air Raid offense.

Though the team’s receiving corps isn’t losing much in 2016, with Dom Williams as the only notable departure, centerpieces like River Cracraft and Gabe Marks are entering their final seasons at WSU and it’s time for the Cougs to look toward the future.

Renard Bell, a three-star recruit out of Cathedral High School in Los Angeles, is the type of explosive player who could make an immediate impact, maybe in special teams à la Tavares Martin Jr., as he can apparently run the 100 meter in under 10.9 seconds.

Potential gaps

While the Cougars racked up 27 commits this season – the highest number among non-service schools, according to CF.C – the Cougars have not been able to get a single defensive tackle or true quarterback from this upcoming class to commit.

Defensive tackle Destiny Vaeao rounds out the list of huge losses on the defensive side of the ball, as he had 12 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks last year. There are candidates to take his spot as the Cougars’ stopgap in the middle of the trenches on the roster already, but the position gets thin with Vaeao’s departure.

Meanwhile, the Cougs are not in dire straits with the quarterback position. Ideally WSU will have Luke Falk for another couple of years and the highly-touted Tyler Hilinski yet to use a year of eligibility, but in the Air Raid you can never have too many QBs.

Bellevue High School’s Justus Rogers is listed as an athlete/quarterback, but reports indicate he will likely play defense if he signs with WSU. Bethel High School (Spanaway, Washington) product Bryce Missey will likely walk on to the team as the only QB in the 2016 class.

Coverage of Signing Day

You have to be proactive to get the full Signing Day experience, but to at least see all the big name signees, ESPNU and ESPN2 announced they will collaborate to make up 11 hours of coverage starting at 5 a.m. PST. Players are expected to start signing NLI’s at 4 a.m., and the festivities should wrap up around 8:30 p.m.

Reporting by Dustin Brennan