Four recruits commit to IU on National Signing Day

Wednesday morning, IU inked its highest-ranked recruiting class in school history, signing 18 of the school’s early commitments, including four four-star prospects.

However, there were multiple National Signing Day surprises, as four additional recruits chose IU Wednesday morning, and one former Hoosier commit changed schools mid-day.

Though cornerback Nigel Tribune switched his commitment and signed with Iowa State, defensive tackles Christopher Cormier and Maurice Swain and running backs Laray Smith and Daryl Chestnut decided to attend IU. The Hoosiers’ class of 22 players is currently ranked No. 42 in the nation and sixth in the Big Ten, according to Rivals.com.

At 9:05 a.m., IU announced that Cormier, a 6-foot-2 inch, 315-pound defensive tackle at Arizona Western College, had signed a National Letter of Intent with the Hoosiers. Originally from New Iberia, La., Cormier had scholarship offers from Missouri and Mississippi State while he was in high school.

Only 35 minutes later, Swain, also a defensive tackle, tweeted a photo announcing his commitment to IU. The LaGrange, Ga., native chose the Hoosiers over other scholarship offers from San Diego State, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Cincinnati. The Hoosiers cleared his NLI at 10:33 a.m., officially approving his intent to attend IU this fall.

Before that point, however, at 9:55 a.m., the Iowa State football Twitter account released a tweet indicating that Tribune had signed with the Cyclones. The two-star recruit had decommitted from IU, and the Hoosiers never received a letter of intent from the Florida athlete.

Soon after, news broke that Brooklyn, N.Y., running back Laray Smith had committed to IU. The high school senior visited Bloomington one weekend ago and picked the Hoosiers over Connecticut and Syracuse. He also has the opportunity to run track at IU, and currently owns the fastest indoor 300-meter run time in the nation.

The final signing on the day Wednesday occurred at 11:01 a.m., almost four hours after IU received its first NLI, from Ben Davis safety Antonio Allen. Columbus (Miami, Fla.) High School running back Daryl Chestnut switched his commitment from Western Michigan to the Hoosiers, and signed his NLI soon after.

Despite his prior commitment to the Broncos, Chestnut had other scholarship offers from schools including Florida State, West Virginia, Kansas State and Kentucky.

IU Coach Kevin Wilson plans to discuss the 2013 signing class at 2 p.m. Wednesday during a press conference.