ACU head football coach Keith Patterson welcomed the largest recruiting class in the program’s Div. I era this offseason, signing 40 players, including 17 transfers and 23 high school prospects, as the Wildcats begin spring practice with a rebuilt roster and renewed championship aspirations.

The jump from last year’s class of 18 is significant, but Patterson said the numbers reflect necessity as much as ambition.

“We have a large senior class, and then guys who exhausted their eligibility, and then I think we lost four more to the transfer portal,” Patterson said. “It was just one of those years where we felt like let’s go big and try to develop some high school prospects.”

The biggest turnover this year is at the quarterback position. All three signal-callers who took snaps last season have exhausted their eligibility, leaving redshirt freshman John David Black as the only returner. Patterson brought in four new quarterbacks this offseason, including Marcos Davila, who carries FBS experience from Nebraska.

“Marcos has a big, strong arm and is very familiar with our system,” Patterson said. “He seems to be very prominent right now, very comfortable in what he’s doing. I think when you can bring that experience here, you can help elevate the others.”

Patterson said that, like last season, the competition is expected to carry through spring and into fall camp. Emmitt Brown, a transfer from Coastal Carolina, is not set to arrive until late May, and Tucker Parks, a transfer from Western Kentucky, brought in through a coaching connection, adds another option to a crowded room.

Patterson also mentioned that the transition from high school to college football makes quarterback development inherently difficult to rush.

“The speed of the defensive sets is just so much quicker than it was in high school,” he said. “It’s a process of being able to read coverages, understand concepts, and go through progressions quickly. For a lot of these guys, that transition is everything.”

Patterson said he also reflected on the evolution of the transfer portal. Last year, he called the recruiting window the most difficult of his career after ACU’s playoff run overlapped with the portal opening. This cycle, he said, the difference came down to preparation and mindset.

“I was more proactive, bringing players in immediately on that Monday after our season ended and talking about their future,” Patterson said. “Two years ago, you walk in thinking you’re going to celebrate the season, and instead you’ve got meetings all day with people discussing their next step. This year, I was better equipped. It’s just a constant evolution.”

ACU has won back-to-back United Athletic Conference championships and reached the second round of the FCS Playoffs each of the past two seasons. When asked how Illinois State’s run to the FCS national championship game serves as inspiration for a program like ACU, Patterson pointed to how close the margins at the top of the sport really are.

“It just shows you that if you get hot and you’re playing well at the right time and you stay healthy, anything can happen,” Patterson said. “We watched them play North Alabama, and that was an extra point from people going home. You’ve got to have some breaks like that, but it’s also encouraging to know that we’re a lot closer than we think. We still have a lot of work to get done.”

Patterson said the standard inside the program remains anchored to three yearly goals regardless of outside expectations: go undefeated at home, win the UAC and compete for a national championship.

“If we raise the floor, that raises the ceiling,” he said.