CMU football to announce 2013 recruiting class today

The Central Michigan football team will soon know who the newest members will be.

The team will announce its 2013 recruiting class this afternoon at a news conference held in McGuirk Arena for National Signing Day.

As of now, 20 prospects have verbally committed to play football in Mount Pleasant next season. Of the 20, six are ranked as three-star recruits and six are ranked as two-star recruits by ESPN.com.

The strength of CMU’s class still remains to be seen, but several prominent recruiting websites’ opinions of the class seem to vary.

Rivals.com ranks CMU as having the third best class in the Mid-American Conference, behind just Bowling Green and Toledo.

ESPN.com ranks the Chippewas current class of recruits as the fifth best in the conference, behind Bowling Green, Miami (Ohio), Toledo and Ball State.

247sports.com ranks CMU’s class as seventh best with Western Michigan and Massachusetts also ranked higher in addition to the four mentioned above.

The top prospect, according to ESPN.com, is wide receiver Wesley Thomas. The 6-foot, 190 pound native of South Bend, Ind., is ranked as the 87^th overall receiver by the website. In 2011 he caught 57 passes for 965 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Corey Willis, a 5-foot-10, 170-pound native of Holland is rated as the 175^th athlete in this year’s class.

The four remaining three-star recruits are all lineman. They include Northville guard Derek Edwards (6-foot-5, 270), Naperville, Ill.  offensive tackle J.P. Quinn (6-foot-4, 265), Romeo guard Austin Doan (6-foot-4,265) and Chelsea defensive tackle Michael Steinhauer (6-foot-2, 260).

The Chippewas have one four-star recruit, Cadillac offensive tackle Riley Norman (6-foot-6, 320), who is considering CMU. He is ranked as the 15^th best offensive tackle in the country and also has offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Penn State.

Beverly Hills, Mich. defensive tackle Poet Thomas, a three-star recruit, is also considering attending CMU.

Head coach Dan Enos will announce the official list of signings today at 3 p.m.

Enos will be at O’Kelly’s at 6 p.m. Wednesday night to narrate videos of the incoming Chippewas.