By Jim Johnson
SouthernPigskin.com

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The Chattanooga Mocs topped our Southern Pigskin SoCon Recruiting rankings, largely on the legs of a major haul along the defensive front.

The Chattanooga Mocs topped our Southern Pigskin SoCon Recruiting rankings, released last night, largely on the legs of a major haul along the defensive front. Coach Huesman and company have obviously been putting in major work in a concerted effort to improve arguably their thinnest position group from 2015.

I got an opportunity to quickly chat with Coach Huesman yesterday and he was raving, xe2x80x9cItxe2x80x99s an excellent class. We got a lot of defensive players, including two huge d-line transfers. We were very thin there.xe2x80x9d

He went on, xe2x80x9cWe werenxe2x80x99t real deep this past year, but we addressed these issues.xe2x80x9d

They certainly did. One major highlight of the defensive class is Tennessee Mr. Football Class 3A Lineman Jonathan Decker, a strong-side end out of Alcoa, TN. Hexe2x80x99s a prototypical DE, 6xe2x80x994xe2x80x9d, 260 lbs., with multiple FBS offers from various MAC and Sun Belt Schools.

Joining Decker in the trenches are two JUCO transfers, a couple of mountainous run stoppers, Jalen Harvey and Derek Mahaffy, tipping the scales at 315 and 305 lbs., respectively, on their 6xe2x80x992xe2x80x9d frames. Both have three years of eligibility left and are expected to have an immediate impact.

Coach Huesman was also excited about one of his local kids, DB Rashun Freeman. He may or may not have an immediate impact on defense but Huesman said, xe2x80x9cHexe2x80x99ll be able to come in and return punts or kicks for us.xe2x80x9d At 5xe2x80x9911, 190 lbs., Freeman and his 4.4 speed will be able to help the Mocs, in some form or fashion, from Jump Street.

Those are just some of the defensive highlight signings, lest we forget that we have yet to even mention the most highly touted new Moc, three-star wideout Joseph Richard. Richard, a physical specimen, at 6xe2x80x993, 200 lbs., came as a package deal with his quarterback from CPA in Nashville, Zach Weatherly.

xe2x80x9cWe got a couple of special players out CPA,xe2x80x9d Huesman boasted, xe2x80x9cthey had multiple offers, but, thankfully, wanted to stay close to home.xe2x80x9d

When it was all said and done, Chattanooga had signed 15 new athletes, not a staggering number, but of high quality. More importantly, Huesman and his staff did a near-perfect job of addressing their needs.

xe2x80x9cWe landed some guys that had a lot of things going,xe2x80x9d Huesman stated, as we wrapped up our conversation, xe2x80x9dYou canxe2x80x99t always guage it by that, but if that many people like these guys, theyxe2x80x99re probably pretty good.xe2x80x9d