Among the thousands of new students attending NIU next year, there will be at least 22 who will stand out, in more ways than one.

They will stand out physically (the average weight of this group is 207 pounds) and NIU football coach Charlie Sadler hopes that they’ll stand out on the football field as well.

National letter of intent day, the first day that high school seniors can sign on at the college that they will be attending, saw the Huskies land 22 recruits.

The future Huskies include 11 from Illinois, 10 from the rest of the U.S., including a junior college recruit, and one from Canada.

“It can turn out to be an excellent class,” Sadler said. “In general, our staff and Northern Illinois University received a positive reception all through recruiting.

“We went through our needs at 12 possible positions,” Sadler said. “We went in and ranked our prospects at all 12. In 10 of 12 spots, we signed our No. 1 choice.”

The Huskies lost over 20 players from last season’s 6-5 squad, and the task of replacing them was made more difficult because of the head coaching change in December.

But despite the late start Sadler and his staff had, the former Oklahoma defensive coordinator is generally pleased with his first recruiting class as a collegiate head coach.

“We signed a few skill positions. They could help us in the immediate future. I don’t want to use freshmen, but some could help us next year,” Sadler said. “We might have some people who can contribute now and can develop.”