Lamb, Mercer staff looking to land pivotal class

With such a large and impactful senior class moving on, Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb and his coaching staff are tasked with landing a pivotal key recruiting class in February.

National Signing Day is Feb. 1, and Lamb expects the Bears to sign up to 20 players.

“That is a big class for FCS,” Lamb said. “If you break the numbers down with 63 scholarships, the average class is 15 or 16, so this is a really big class, and we have to replace a lot of good players. We certainly have to replace a lot of depth, as well, more than anything, so it’s a huge month for us coming up.”

Lamb said the Bears’ class will focus largely on three positions: running back, offensive line and secondary.

Running backs Tee Mitchell and Jimmie Robinson were suspended during the summer and missed the 2016 season, forcing linebacker Kyle Trammell to move to that spot during the season. Lamb has said this offseason that Trammell will move back to linebacker. Payton Usher and former Rutland star C.J. Kleckley were seniors, while Alex Lakes will be a senior next season.

On the offensive line, the Bears lose six seniors, including center Kirby Southard, who started every game of his career, and tackle Bret Niederreither. And the linebacker group loses five seniors: Tosin Aguebor, Tyler Ward, Tripp Patterson, Corey Lockett and Devin Davidson.

Still, after four seniors of play, Lamb’s program doesn’t have to sell itself as much as before. In the first few recruiting cycles, Lamb said he made sure his coaches’ gear had “Mercer football” included on it, which isn’t necessary anymore.

The Bears are 27-19 in their four seasons, and they are 7-15 in three seasons in Southern Conference play, including a 4-4 record in 2016.

“Actually, now we have some gear without ‘Mercer football’ on there that our coaches wear because everybody knows and everybody identifies with our block M,” Lamb said. “People know what that means now, and that starts in the state of Georgia, but we also are getting out in the Southeast with Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee, our neighboring states, as well.”

This story was originally published December 31, 2016 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Lamb, Mercer staff looking to land pivotal class."