Signing Day is a big day for many in the United States, but it has become extremely important for the little town of Ashland and it’s football team.

The University has been in the public eye due to a few different reasons. The football team has played well over the  past few years. They were GLIAC Champs in 2015 and in 2016 their record overall was 9-2 and in the GLIAC is was 7-2.

They have signed 38 new Eagles to the 2017 roster already and when it is finally said and done, they should have somewhere around 60 head coach Lee Owens said during the press conference on Wednesday.

The Eagles will be losing some key seniors due to graduation and will not have Adam Shaheen back because he has declared for the NFL draft.

“I think he is the only D-II player that declared early for the draft. Was I disappointed, absolutely. He could come back for another year,” Owens said.

As the conference went on with Coach Owens talking about the team he highlighted a few players that were recruited for the 2017 season. Austin Brenner and Grant Denbow who are both quarterbacks that will be fighting for a spot in the upcoming season and Denbow who is well known and is another Ashland Arrow quarterback.

The few others that were highlighted were Chase Boeckermann, Elijah Burch, Carlos Chavis, Ryan Corkrean, Jason Hale, Austin Jasinski, Colton Paul, Austin Williams and Hunter Williams.

The reason why there is so many recruits, is because the full Ashland Football team has caught the eye of many and is respected all over the country.

There is a great build on the tradition that the coaches mention and bring up their team.

“(The team) is making more sacrifices and working  harder and performing better than ever in the history of our game and that’s both on and off the field,” Owens said. “Another reason I’ve never felt better about the game is we’ve got young coaches that are a part of the game today.”

In the last five years Ashland has a combined record of  44-9 .  

The Eagles have had Three GLIAC championships, two NCAA playoff opportunities and two regular season undefeated teams plus numerous All-Americans.

In the past three years Ashland has been 27-4 and they have not lost a regular season home game. Four of the last five years the Eagles have been nationally ranked and they are the only private school nationally ranked in the top 25. Those are the reasons as to why many around the country find Ashland as an elite division II program.

The Eagles will open their spring football practice on  March 24th at 3:30 pm. The spring workouts will end with the annual Purple and Gold scrimmage at Jack Miller Stadium on April 22nd at 7pm.