HAMILTON -- The debut National Signing Day for new Colgate head football coach Dan Hunt is the books.

Wednesday marked Hunt's first turn at the helm of the Raiders recruiting machine, as well as Colgate's second signing day experience that included the offer of scholarships. And the Raiders were able to ink 20 student-athletes from 11 different states.

"As you look at this class, it's very spread out geographically -- and we made that a goal going into recruiting," Hunt said. "Last year's class was a lot of Florida, a lot of New Jersey -- which is great. But we wanted to make sure that we represent the whole country."

Four incoming members of the Class of '18 call Pennsylvania home, with four more from Illinois. Other states represented are California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, along with New York.

"Pennsylvania has always been good to us," Hunt said. "We're really not all that far from there and it's an area we recruit pretty heavily. We're always going to get quality kids from that state.

"As as for Illinois, Coach (Steve) Casula had some ties out there, he had been out there and he knew the area, so we sent him out there this year. And that was an area we wanted to improve on. Those areas became a push for us, and when you look at the map of how this class is spread out geographically, we achieved that goal."

Hunt said his role in this recruiting campaign was different than his work with previous classes as the associate head coach and offensive coordinator.

"As an assistant, I really concentrated on one area of the country; I recruited the state of Florida," he said. "Once I became the head coach, I was able to go out with the assistants and see the top kids in different areas of the country. I was in Chicago, I was in Pennsylvania, I was in New Jersey -- I got to meet a whole new set of high school coaches and see a different part of the country.

"That really was a little bit different role of closer, even though I think of our team as the closer. It was a nice change."

The Raiders were challenged by injuries throughout the 2013 season, and Hunt said that set the tone for this year's recruiting blueprint.

"We really made sure that we addressed the whole-team needs this year to make that we have enough depth going forward," Hunt said. "With the number of scholarships we had and the number of slots we had, we really had to make sure we were disciplined in addressing specific needs.

Colgate begins spring practice March 25, and the 2014 season opens Aug. 30.

Click the links below for brief biographical sketches and video highlights on all 20 Colgate signees:

Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown/High School
Pat Afriyie	LB	6-2	227	Sandy Hook, Conn./Loomis Chaffee HS
Jose Alvarado	FB/TE	6-2	220	Miami, Fla./Christopher Columbus HS
Connor Buck	DL	6-3	250	New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan HS
Peter Crossett	LB	5-11	220	Fayetteville, N.Y./Jamesville DeWitt HS
Patrick Crowe	FB/TE	6-1	190	Bethesda, Md./Georgetown Prep HS
Alex Greenawalt	WR	6-3	200	Eric, Pa./Cathedral Prep HS
Max Hartzman	OL	6-3	275	Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central HS
Scott Hirshman	OL/DL	6-3	260	Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga HS
James Holland	RB	5-9	195	Royal Palm Beach, Fla./The Kings Academy
Anthony Khalife	OL	6-4	240	Wilkes-Barre, Pa./James M. Coughlin HS
Erik Kushner	LB	6-2	205	Sharon, Mass./Sharon HS
Char Merine	DB	5-11	174	Valdosta, Ga./Valwood School
Curt Mitchell	DE	6-4	235	Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South HS
Bret Mooney	QB	6-4	210	West Dundee, Ill./Jacobs HS
Ryan Paulish	OL	6-3	290	Old Forge, Pa./Old Forge HS
Andy Simms	OL	6-3	271	Olentangy, Ohio/Olentangy HS
Keyon Washington	RB	5-7	170	Englewood, N.J./Paramus Catholic HS
Trent Williams	OLB	6-1	220	Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest HS
Connor Wingenroth	ATH	5-11	190	Valencia, Calif./Hart HS
Alec Wisniewski	DB	6-2	180	Newark Valley, N.Y./Maine Endwell HS