The St. Thomas football program announced the recruitment of 12 players on Wednesday for National Signing Day, marking the beginning of the 2024 regular signing period for Division I football. The program previously committed 20 players at the start of the early signing period on Dec. 20.

The recruits added Wednesday bring the group to a total of 32 additions to the team; 10 defensive players, 20 offensive players and two special teams players. The recruits were spread more evenly between the two signing periods than last year — the program inked five more players on the February signing date and three less in December than it did in 2023 — which coach Glenn Caruso says was an intentional choice.

“The way that this class came together was pretty awesome when we decided to extend a large portion of our recruiting into the second signing period, and certainly the way that we got off to a start with 20 guys that signed in the early signing period I think allowed us the opportunity to find a higher percentage of the right type of guy for us,” Caruso said.

Caruso also said that the program intends to add more players “as we see necessary” in the coming months. The final date of the regular signing period is April 1.

The group includes athletes from nine different states, including 13 Minnesotans. Of the local recruits, two were ranked in 247Sports’ 2024 ranking of the top football recruits in Minnesota — Ethan Sims, the fourth-ranked offensive lineman at No. 29 and Aiden Horel, the eighth-ranked offensive lineman at No. 44. Both Horel and all-purpose player Quentin Cobb-Butler were named in the 2023 KARE 11-TV Preseason All-Metro Football Team as well.

The team saw several members enter the transfer portal at the end of the 2023 season, including wide receiver Andrew McElroy, who was named as part of the 2023 Stats Perform Football Championship Subdivision Preseason All-America Team and transferred to Northern Illinois University, as well as first-team All-Conference linebacker Jonathan Bunce to South Dakota University, third-team All-Conference running back Shawn Shipman to Western Illinois University, defensive back Yusef Leak to McNeese State and linebacker Seth Bullard to Stephen F. Austin State University, leaving the Tommies’ 2024 offense at a deficit.

At the same time, St. Thomas also gained three transfer players among the group recruited Wednesday — sophomore tight end Cam Miller from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, first-year wide receiver Michael Tweten from Iowa State University and first-year defensive back Lee Hutton IV from the University of Wisconsin.

“Roster management is balancing all of the ways that you both retain and lose a player,” Caruso said. “Certainly graduation is the best of those scenarios because you can plan for that, but what was available for us and what we needed to balance our numbers was a few more offensive players than defensive players this year.”

Caruso said that he appreciates the assistant coaching staff’s work in both seeking out and effectively communicating the university’s identity to potential recruits, both within and without the Midwest.

“Certainly there are more organic connections that we would have to schools that are in the Twin Cities; that’s obvious because we’ve recruited this area for a quarter century, but there are schools and connections that our staff has all throughout in these different satellite areas,” Caruso said. “ … It’s still going to have more numbers, just based on location, from the Midwest, but that’s not going to slow us down from finding the best fit for St. Thomas.”

Caruso said that the university’s increased visibility since making the move to Division I in 2021 has helped increase interest in the program in particular, especially from non-Midwestern candidates.

“I think the larger the brand grows, the more that we see coaches and players’ first contacts being made from them to us as opposed to us to them, and they understand who St. Thomas is; they’re starting to realize the benefits of a school like this that’s made this move and commitment to athletics,” Caruso said. “We don’t get all of them — we lose plenty of them — but the ones that we get seem to provide this university with pretty amazing opportunities.”

St. Thomas football’s 2024 recruiting class thus far (sorted alphabetically):

Offense:

Mariano Birdno, Flagstaff (Ariz.) TE, 6-6, 215 – Regular signing period
Hudson Cleary, Middleton (Wis.) OL, 6-6, 255 – Early signing period
Marc Coy, Marist (Ill.) RB, 6-1, 205 – Early signing period
Kyle Felt, Baraboo (Wis.) OL, 6-4, 260 – Early signing period
William Graunke, Rockford (Minn.) WR, 6-4, 201 – Regular signing period
Ashton Henkel, Byron (Ill.) WR, 6-2, 200 – Regular signing period
Aiden Horel, Prior Lake (Minn.) OL, 6-5, 325 – Early signing period
Derek Hubbard, Derby (Kan.) RB, 5-8, 170 – Regular signing period
Ryan Jackson, Lyons Township (Ill.) QB, 5-10, 175 – Early signing period
Phillip Jones, Mesquite (Ariz.) QB, 6-0, 170 – Early signing period
Joseph Koch, Menomonee Falls (Wis.) RB, 6-0, 185 – Early signing period
Will Leifker, Dowling Catholic (Iowa) TE, 6-3, 210 – Early signing period
Solomon Martin, Providence Academy (Minn.) WR, 6-1, 185 – Regular signing period
Ethan Sims, Eden Prairie (Minn.) OL, 6-6, 285 – Early signing period
Ethan Watts, Gulliver Prep (Flor.) OL, 6-7, 285 – Regular signing period

Defense:

Evan Baalbaky, The Meadows School (Nev.) DB, 6-2, 205 – Regular signing period
Charles Bern, East Ridge HS (Minn.) LB, 6-4, 220 – Early signing period
Taran Blasy, Park of Cottage Grove (Minn.) LB, 6-1, 220 – Early signing period
Cade Caruso, St. Thomas Academy (Minn.) LB, 5-7, 188 – Regular signing period
Rocco Dileonardi, Geneva Community (Ill.) DL, 6-2, 220 – Early signing period
Roman Johnson, Minnetonka (Minn.) LB, 6-0, 200 – Early signing period
Teddy Knapp, St. Thomas Academy (Minn.) DL, 6-4, 225 – Early signing period
Anthony Lonergan, Blue Valley (Kan.) DB, 6-1, 185 – Early signing period
Ty Nielsen, Elkhorn South (Neb.) DB, 6-0, 190 – Early signing period
Walker Owens, Wheaton North (Ill.) LB, 6-2, 220 – Early signing period
Aiden Tepper-Engh, Hudson (Wis.) DL, 6-3, 245 – Early signing period
Calvin White, Kennedy (Iowa) LB, 6-0, 215 – Regular signing period

Special Teams:

Quentin Cobb-Butler, Woodbury (Minn.) ATH, 5-9, 160 – Early signing period
Ben Hoiland, Mounds View (Minn.) K/P, 5-11, 165 – Early signing period

Transfer players:

Cam Miller, sophomore transfer from University of Minnesota-Duluth (Minn.) TE, 6-1, 245 – Regular signing period
Michael Tweten, first-year transfer from Iowa State University (Minn.) WR, 5-11, 185 – Regular signing period
Lee Hutton IV, first-year transfer from University of Wisconsin (Minn.) DB, 5-10, 175 – Regular signing period

Kevin Lynch can be reached at lync1832@stthomas.edu.