OGDEN -- College coaches say recruiting is a year-round process.
John L. Smith had two months.
Smith, hired in December to replace retired Weber State football coach Ron McBride, announced his first recruiting class Wednesday on national signing day.
Fifteen players inked national letters of intent to follow up on their verbal commitment to Weber State, joining one JC transfer and two returned missionaries from the 2009 class who are already in school for a total of 18.
"I thought it was a good year," Smith said. "I'm usually not over the top on recruiting classes -- I've never known a coach that would say he had a bad recruiting class on signing day -- (it was) better than I expected. For the amount of time that we had, getting everybody on board ... and then adding new (recruiting) areas, new coaches (on the staff), I was pleased."
"I thought our guys battled their tails off out there and worked real hard at it," he said.
"It was a little less of a disadvantage than I expected it to be. I think we got on board fairly quick and got going."
Smith has high hopes for his first recruiting class.
Or tall hopes.
"I'm a big believer in length," he said. "Trying to recruit as tall, lanky kids as we can find out there. I'm much more of a believer in a 6-foot corner than a 5-9."
All but two were over 6 feet tall, with 6-foot-6, 285 pound offensive lineman Duncan Farnsworth (Lilburn, Ga.) at the head of the class. Two more O-linemen, Maxwell Curtis (Meridian, Idaho) and Yuvraaj Madra (Mather, Calif.) and Syracuse High product AJ Wilcox, a defensive end from Clearfield, check in at 6-5.
Nine of the 18 recruits listed Wednesday stand 6-foot-3 or taller.
Farnsworth and St. George lineman Austin Mikkelson, will serve missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before suiting up for the Wildcats.
Smith said Weber State is not be done with its recruiting class yet.
"There might be a few more coming on board right away," he said.
"We'd still like to find a couple of defensive kids. We'll continue to look and see what else is available and recruit year-round."
By position, WSU's recruiting class of 2012 was dominated by offensive linemen, with six coming on board. Weber State added two players at quarterback, cornerback, safeties and defensive ends, and one each at wide receiver, tight end and defensive line.
Some of the O-linemen could play immediately, Smith said.
"We've got some good O-linemen. Some nice length, nice bodies in that offensive front. Some big strong kids. A couple kids in that class could possibly help us, even the first year out of the box. That's strange for offensive linemen; normally, (they're) getting bigger and stronger and it takes at least a year because it's a technique spot."
Six of Weber State's signees are in-state kids, an area Smith said the Wildcats' staff can improve on with time.
"I feel good about (the in-state recruiting); I'm not ecstatic because I think we have to do a better job next year and I think we will (with) everybody getting on base. What I'm going to do and I always have done is split up the state amongst the staff and give every staff member a part of the state. ... I put Southern Idaho in to that."
Smith's first class is an indication of other geographic areas he will target in recruiting, with three players each from Texas and Florida, states not currently represented on Weber State's roster, and another from Georgia.
He'll look at areas that are cost effective to recruit and can be reached from the Salt Lake airport with a direct flight, a selling point for a player's parents.
As for which players in the current class were his highest priority targets, Smith had a diplomatic answer.
"All of them," he said.
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