Georgia Southern coach Chris Hatcher is still playing catch up.

Last year, the Eagles signed a bunch — 36 players — on National Signing Day. While seven freshmen were named All Southern Conference, three from the ‘08 class were dismissed from the team for off-the-field issues.

Wednesday, the Eagles announced the signing of another large class, as 30 more players will be added to the GSU roster. The main focus of this year’s class was linemen and wide receivers.

The character of the student-athletes remains to be seen.

“You do the best you can in evaluating a person’s character, desires (and) academics,” Hatcher said. “Recruiting is a gamble, and you only have so many opportunities to meet these young men and to be around them due to NCAA regulations. You work extremely hard so that you hopefully get the odds stacked in your favor.

“You never really know until they get here on campus exactly what you’ve got. All of these young men come highly recommended and we try to do our due diligence — our homework — on each and every recruit. … We really feel good about these guys and we feel like they’re Georgia Southern-quality players”

The coaching staff used many angles while pitching the program to potential recruits. The youth of the team leaves a lot of openings for early playing time, the pass-happy offensive attack provides a lot opportunities for receivers and the history, lore and campus at Georgia Southern speak for themselves.

“We really feel that if we’re able to get anyone on campus, it sells itself,” Hatcher said. “That was very indicative throughout the entire recruiting process.”

When all was said and done, Hatcher and his staff were pleased with the 30 recruits that inked with the Eagles.

Wide receivers

Seven new wide receivers officially joined the Georgia Southern Eagles Wednesday, including several highly-touted recruits.

Patrick Barker, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound receiver from Nease High School in Ponte Vedra, Fla., is considered one of the state’s top receivers and, according to Scout.com, was shown interest from Arizona, Texas Tech and a number of other FBS programs.

Hatcher credits the receiver’s interest in GSU with the prior relationship he and his staff had with Nease while at Valdosta State coupled with the fact that defensive coordinator Ashley Anders got after Barker early.

Plus, there were a few other things.

“He’s a good Catholic boy like myself,” Hatcher laughed. “You know the big thing is with us throwing the football. Of course that Furman game brought a lot of attention to the direction that we’re heading. Hopefully we don’t throw the ball 57 times every game — that was maybe one or two more times than I’d like to throw.”

In the Furman game — the last contest of the 2008 season — the Eagles completed passes to 10 different receivers, showing recruits how important the position will be under Hatcher’s system. That helps attract players of Barker’s level.

“We feel like we got a really jim-dandy steal,” Hatcher said of Barker.

Joining Barker is Jamere Valentine, a 6-foot, 205-pound receiver from Myrtle Beach, S.C. He caught 98 passes for 1,515 yards and 19 touchdowns his senior year, scoring another 13 times on the ground.

Other standouts include Cole Gordon, a 6-foot-7 receiver who Hatcher feels will fit in at the tight end and slot receiver positions, Brandon Nolley, a junior college transfer from Georgia Military College and Drexel Copeland, who grabbed 53 catches for 1,031 yards and 13 touchdowns as a senior at Mt. Zion.

In the trenches

The Eagles signed four defensive and seven offensive linemen to help out positions that lost a number of key players to graduation after the 2008 season.

Taylor Johnstone, a 6-foot-4, 315-pound offensive lineman from Chapel Hill High School in Douglasville also lettered in track and basketball as a senior.

The Eagles signed three linemen who tip the scales at over 300 pounds, and Hatcher was happy with the seven who signed.

“We really felt really good about this year’s offensive linemen,” said the GSU coach. “Some years you don’t have as many, so we were not about to pass on any good linemen this particular year.”

Statesboro defensive end Willie Burden joined Blue Devils kicker Graden Bozeman signing on with the Eagles, who signed a total of four on the d-line. Georgia Southern will look to plug them into a three-man front that will be without Dakota Walker, Larry Beard and Casey Wingard.

“If all of them are ready to play, we have some packages that can use that four-man front,” Hatcher said. “But if you look towards the end of last year, that three-man front was pretty good to us and we’re going to continue to build and grow off that package.”

Looking ahead

Georgia Southern also signed four defensive backs and two linebackers who will join an experienced defensive backfield. Although it lost All-American DB Chris Covington, the backfield returns a solid group from the 2008 squad.

The Eagles also picked up one quarterback — Brent Osborn from Valley High School in Alabama. The 6-foot-4 quarterback joins an already deep lineup of Antonio Henton and Lee Chapple — both starters throughout 2008 — Kyle Collins and the hopeful return of Billy Lowe who is recovering from a back injury.

“(Osborn is) a guy that’s going to have the opportunity — which I think is a bonus — to come in and learn and watch for one or two years,” said Hatcher. “Then hopefully he’ll be able to step in and be the next quarterback, … and take over the reigns when Chapple and Henton are gone.”

Osborn led his team to a 26-9 record during his three years as a starter at Valley.

Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9404