WINSTON-SALEM—Wake Forest head football coach Jim Grobe on Wednesday announced the addition of 25 newcomers to the Demon Deacon football squad.  Grobe announced the signing of 22 prospective student-athletes to National Letters of Intent and also released the names of three newcomers who enrolled at Wake Forest in January.

The signing class consists of players from 12 states including five from Florida and four each from Georgia, North Carolina and Texas.  In addition, the Deacons received commitments from players in Alabama, California, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The class is evenly distributed on both sides of the ball.  Wake Forest is adding 14 defensive players, 10 on offense, and one kicker.

The 25 signees mark the most since Grobe became head coach prior to the 2001 season.  The previous largest class was 23 in 2003.

The Deacons will welcome four new offensive linemen including:

• Center Cory Helms from Milton High School near Atlanta
• Josh Harris from Milton High School near Atlanta
• Cameron Gardner from Bailey, NC
• Taylor Chambers from Columbia, SC

Three receivers will join Wake Forest:

• Wideout Tyree Harris of Marietta, GA
• tight end Cam Serigne of Ashburn, VA
• Brendan O’Neil of Burlington, MA

Wake Forest added a quarterback in 6-3, 195-pound Michael Radford of Charlotte, NC.

Two running backs also inked with the Deacons.

• Dez Wortham of Frisco, TX
• John Armstrong of Orlando, FL

On defense:

• Julian Thomas-Jackson of Dothan, AL
• Wendell Dunn of Miami, FL
• Lance Virgile of Fort Lauderdale, FL
• Ali Lamot of Mebane, NC
• Duke Ejiofor of Houston, TX

The Deacons will add five newcomers in the secondary including cornerbacks Deonte Davis of Snellville, GA ; Josh Okonye of Sugar Land, TX, Brad Watson of Round Rock, TX and Jalen Latter of Charlotte, NC as well as safety Michael Stevenson of Clearwater, FL.

Along the defensive front, Wake Forest signed Andrew Hauser of Covina, CA.  The Deacons have James Looney of Lake Worth, FL on campus as an early enrollee.  Looney, a projected nose guard, is the younger brother of former Wake Forest All-ACC guard Joe Looney, now with the San Francisco 49ers.

Wake Forest also added a kicker/punter in Mike Weaver of Pine City, NY.  Weaver has been out of high school for two years while pursuing college football opportunities after a stellar amateur soccer career.