Chad Morris and staff signed their third recruiting class at SMU Wednesday morning. The class consists of 18 total players – 16 high school signees and two junior college transfers. Of the 18, eight play offense and 10 play defense.

Class quick facts:

• SMU’s class by position: Quarterback (2), running back (1), wide receiver (1), offensive line (3), defensive line (5), linebacker (2), defensive back (3), athlete (1).

• SMU’s signees by ranking, according to the 247Sports Composite: 10 three-star, eight two-star

• SMU’s class ranks 81st nationally and seventh in the AAC.

• Each of the 16 high school players SMU signed is from the state of Texas. Five are from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, eight are from the greater Houston area, two are from East Texas and one is from San Antonio.

• In SMU’s three recruiting classes since Chad Morris arrived, it has signed 63 high school players. Each one is from Texas and SMU is the only FBS team in Texas to sign only in-state high school recruits in the last three recruiting cycles. All 63, by region: Dallas-Fort Worth (27), Houston (22), Central Texas (6), East Texas (5), San Antonio (2), West Texas (1).

• The number of SMU signees from the Dallas-Fort Worth area has decreased each year since 2015.

• Eight of the 18 held at least one offer from a Power Five program. Of those eight, they held 28 total reported Power Five offers. SMU was the only school to offer two of the 18. Three signees held at least one Ivy League offer.

• Seven players decommitted from SMU during the 2017 recruiting cycle. Six of them signed with Power Five programs.

• SMU also added a graduate transfer who is eligible next season: Former Arizona State tight end Raymond Epps. Epps is an Indiana native and started his college career at Arizona Western College.

• “He fills a need at the tight end position for us,” Morris said of Epps Wednesday. “He’s a very physical, big guy and an experienced guy.”

• Additionally, two SEC transfers who sat out last season will be eligible for SMU in the fall: wide receiver Trey Quinn (LSU) and quarterback Rafe Peavey (Arkansas).

Signee quick facts:

D.J. Gillins: Quarterback, Pearl River C.C. (Miss.)

• 247Composite rating: 3-star (Junior college). As a high school player in Jacksonville, he was a former four-star recruit and played his first two years of college football at Wisconsin. Gillins is already on campus and enrolled in classes.

• FBS Offers: Georgia Southern, New Mexico, Ole Miss, Southern Miss, Troy.

• Chad Morris on Gillins: “If the film doesn’t make you say wow, I don’t know what film will. He’s a guy that’s just electric.”

Austin Upshaw: Quarterback, La Porte (Texas)

• 247Composite rating: 3-star.

• FBS offers: Army, Memphis (formerly committed there). He’s also a one-time Nebraska baseball commit.

• Chad Morris on Upshaw: “This guy grew up playing big-time baseball, traveling all over the country. Some really good quarterbacks have came out and been some big-time baseball players.”

Kayce Medlock: Running back, Arp (Texas)

• 247Composite rating: 3-star.

• FBS Offers: Army, Colorado, Houston, Louisiana-Lafayette, Navy, UTSA, Tulane.

• Chad Morris on Medlock: “His ability to run through people, run through tackles is really good. He’s got great hands too and can catch the ball out of the backfield.”

Tyler Page: Athlete, Friendswood (Texas)

• 247Composite rating: 3-star.

• FBS offers: Army, Air Force, BYU, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas State, Tulane, Virginia.

• Chad Morris on Page: “You’ll say wow two or three times here…He very well might be one of the best high school football players not only in Texas, but in the country. We were Johnny Manziel’s first offer, at Tulsa. You watch (Page), and his on-the-field play reminds you so much of Johnny Manziel. He has phenomenal character as well.”

Judah Bell: Wide receiver, Tyler (Texas) Bishop TK Gorman

• 247Composite rating: 3-star.

• FBS offers: Navy, Bowling Green, Houston, Kansas, Louisiana-Monroe, Memphis, UTSA, Wyoming.

• Chad Morris on Bell: “He came up on an official visit last weekend and spent most of his weekend with Courtland Sutton. Courtland’s exact words to me before he left that day were, ‘coach, if there’s ever a fit here at SMU, this is the guy.’”

Matthew Huhn: Offensive tackle, San Antonio (Texas) Jon Jay

• 247Composite rating: 3-star.

• FBS offers: Baylor, California, Colorado, Houston, Illinois, Iowa State, Louisiana-Monroe, Michigan, North Texas, Oklahoma State, Rice, UTSA, UCF, and others.

• Chad Morris on Huhn: “He was committed to another school in our state (Houston) for a very long time. We were just consistent. That’s all it was. Coach (Dustin) Fry was sending him the same message each week: Good luck this week, we’re thinking of you, if things change we’re here for you.”

Alan Ali: Offensive tackle, Fort Worth (Texas) Timber Creek

• 247Composite rating: 3-star.

• FBS offers: Arizona State, California, Colorado, Colorado State, Iowa State, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Texas, Purdue, Tulsa, Virginia.

• Chad Morris on Ali: “Alan is the face of the StangGang17 class. We had to hold off many, many schools on this one. But because of his relationship with our coaching staff, with coach Fry, this guy’s going to come in and you’re going to hear his name this year…When you get a guy that was committed to us for so long and to stay committed through the whole process, its unique.

Hayden Howerton: Offensive tackle, Katy (Texas)

• 247Composite rating: 3-star.

• FSB offers: Baylor, California, Colorado, Colorado State, Hawaii, Houston, Kansas, Memphis, Nebraska, Rice (formerly committed there), UTSA, Tulane, Wake Forest and others.

• Chad Morris on Howerton: “High academic standard guy that was committed to another school in our state for a while. He was hoping that something would happen here (that SMU would have room), and it happened during the season.”

Jordan Gipson: Defensive lineman, Bay City (Texas)

• 247Composite rating: 2-star

• FBS offers: SMU was his only one.

• Chad Morris on Gipson: “He played both defensive end and defensive tackle. Another young man we took the TempoCopter down to see. Good interior pass-rusher.”

Tyeson Neals: Defensive end, Northeast Oklahoma A&M College

• 247Composite rating: 2-star

• FBS offers: SMU was his only one.

• Chad Morris on Neals: “He’s a junior college All-American. We needed another pass-rusher off the edge. This guy came in for a visit last weekend, loved Dallas and wants to be a part of us.”

Harrison Loveless: Defensive lineman, Cypress Ranch (Texas)

• 247Composite rating: 3-star

• FBS offers: Houston, Texas State.

• Chad Morris on Loveless: “He can help us out on the interior, at defensive end or at defensive tackle. Very good high school football player. We’re expecting him to come here and make a big difference.”

Toby Ndukwe: Defensive end, Richmond (Texas) George Ranch

• 247Composite rating: 3-star.

• FBS offers: Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Colorado, Colorado State, Fresno State, Kansas State, Louisiana-Monroe, North Texas, Tulane, Tulsa.

• Chad Morris on Ndukwe: “This guy is very athletic, has great length, and accelerates hard off the edge. He’s a great pass-rusher. We’re excited about him.”

Turner Coxe: Defensive tackle, Highland Park (Texas)

• 247Composite rating: 2-star

• FBS offers: Army, Air Force

• Chad Morris on Coxe: “He uses his hands really well. When you watch him get off blocks, he’s a sideline-to-sideline player. His mom and his grandfather went to school here. Talking to (Highland Park) coach (Randy) Allen, he said he’s coached a lot of great defensive linemen, but (Coxe) might be the best he’s had.

Shaine Hailey: Linebacker, Dallas Bishop Dunne

• 247Composite rating: 2-star.

• FBS offers: Air Force.

• Chad Morris on Hailey: “He’s an athletic linebacker that has the ability to play both inside and outside, which is huge for us. He was team captain his junior and senior year.”

Delano Robinson: Linebacker/safety, Denton (Texas) Ryan

• 247Composite rating: 2-star.

• FBS offers: Air Force, UTSA

• Chad Morris on Robinson: “This guy is athletic enough to where he can move from safety down to linebacker. We’re excited about him.”

Justin Guy-Robinson: Cornerback, Pearland (Texas)

• 247Composite rating: 2-star.

• FBS offers: Army, East Carolina.

• Chad Morris on McQueen: “Explosive athlete. He plays all over the field. If the best player is in the slot, they’ll move him in the slot. He’s an extremely intelligent young man and loves the game of football.”

Ar’mani Johnson: Cornerback, Missouri City (Texas) Ridge Point

• 247Composite rating: 2-star

• FBS offers: Fresno State, UTSA

• Chad Morris on Johnson: “He committed to us for the main reason for our great education we have here. We’re excited about Ar’Mani as a corner.”

Elijah McQueen: Safety, Terrell (Texas)

• 247Composite rating: 2-star.

• FBS offers: Nevada, Tulane, UTSA.

• Chad Morris on McQueen: “He did it all. He played safety, outside linebacker, running back. He’s very physical. He’s graduated early and is on campus right now. And I know he’s catching everyone’s attention.”

Chad Morris press conference quick-hitters:

• On getting Alan Ali committed so early, both as a player and a class leader: “Alan being true to his word, that was huge. He was the first commit. For us to be able to use him as the staple point of the recruiting class was huge for us.”

• On number of redshirt years from this next year: “I think we have the potential to redshirt more out of this class than we have before, because of our depth. I do think there are some guys that will play immediately when they step on campus.”

• On changes made in the recruiting process: “I think a December signing period is coming on us.” Morris says he wants the recruiting process to be “more selective and make kids more committed.”

• Morris said SMU has some spots (four) open to save for taking possible transfers from other schools in the spring or summer.