MOBILE, Ala. – Six junior-college transfers — all but one on the defensive side of the ball — signed National Letters-of-Intent with the University of South Alabama football program on Wednesday and will enroll in school in January.

The group features defensive linemen Zach Befort and Romello Riley, linebacker Darrell Songy, and defensive backs Neiko Robinson and Diantae Thomas as well as Andrew Reinkemeyer, a tight end.  Also included in the Jaguar recruiting class for the 2016 campaign was Konnor Houston, who signed scholarship papers and will have four years of eligibility remaining.

"After being with these guys on their visits and seeing them on their campuses, the thing that I was most impressed with is that they are good football players and even better people," said Jag head coach Joey Jones.  "They are going to represent South Alabama in a great way, and we're excited that we're bringing some leadership as well with this group; that was important in our evaluations.  We felt like we needed some depth on defense, we were looking for a linebacker or two, a defensive lineman and two safeties and we hit out numbers just right."

Befort, a 6-foot-2, 260-pound native of Wichita, Kan., sat out as a redshirt at Kansas State in 2013 before playing at Butler (Kan.) C.C. the last two seasons.  He was selected second-team all-Jayhawk Conference as a sophomore after posting 50 total tackles — including 8½ behind the line of scrimmage — and was credited with three sacks as well as a forced fumble, fumble recovery, pass break up and blocked kick after recording 49 stops with 11½ behind the line the previous fall.  Befort collected a career-high 12 stops, with three for a loss of 14 yards and a pair of sacks, in a shutout of Air Force Prep during the 2014 campaign, with a season-high eight tackles — three of those were behind the line — against Dodge City (Kan.) C.C. this year.

Reinkemeyer was a teammate of Befort's the last two years, although the Overland Park, Kan., resident was injured in BCC's season-opening win at Independence (Kan.) C.C. and missed the rest of the fall.  He recorded 15 receptions for 173 yards and three touchdowns in 2014, including a career-high four catches with a score in wins over Air Force Prep and Garden City (Kan.) C.C.; he finished with a career-best 91 yards in the AFP victory.  Reinkemeyer — who is 6-foot-4, 265 pounds — also caught two balls in defeats of Fort Scott (Kan.) C.C. and Highland (Kan.) C.C.

The two helped the Grizzlies finish fifth in the final National Junior College Athletic Association poll this year after going 9-2, while BCC ended up No. 15 in the final 2014 rankings with an 8-3 record.

While expected to be a safety for the Jaguars, Thomas has played primarily on offense since graduating from Dothan (Ala.) High.  Last season at Butler C.C., he caught 23 passes — which ranked fourth on the team — for 240 yards and two scores, also rushing for 115 yards and a touchdown on just 11 carries and completing his only pass attempt; that included a career-high seven receptions for 36 yards in the season finale at Ellsworth (Iowa) C.C. as well as a season-best 57 yards on five catches in a 70-20 victory at Fort Scott C.C.  Thomas, who is 5-foot-10 and 215 pounds, did not play in 2014 but recorded 579 yards of total offense and accounted for six touchdowns while splitting time at quarterback and wide receiver at Hinds (Miss.) C.C. the year prior.

Riley and Robinson were also junior-college teammates after playing together the last two seasons at Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C., where they helped the Bulldogs finish in the top-10 of the final NJCAA poll each year while winning eight contests.

Riley collected 30 total tackles — five of those were behind the line of scrimmage with three sacks — in nine games his sophomore season, and 16 stops with a pair for loss and a forced fumble in 2014.  The 6-foot-3, 245-pounder who hails from Ocean Springs, Miss., posted a career-best six stops in a victory over Northwest Mississippi C.C. as a freshman, matching that figure this fall in a season-opening win over Northeast Mississippi C.C.  He was also credited with five tackles — with two for loss to go along with a pass broken up — in the regular-season finale, a win over Itawamba (Miss.) C.C.

As a sophomore, Robinson posted a total of 44 tackles and broke up six passes, with the latter figure the second-best on the team, while recording 42 stops and five passes defended his first year with the program.  In 2014 he was credited with a career-best eight stops in a Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges semifinal contest against No. 2 East Mississippi C.C., with a season-high seven tackles in the Bulldogs' win at Southwest Mississippi C.C.  Robinson — who is 6-foot, 175 pounds and hails from Century, Fla. — was a first-team all-state selection each of his final two seasons at the high school level.

Like Befort, Songy began his collegiate career at an NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision member, having spent two years at Oregon State before transferring to Garden City C.C. last fall.  A 6-foot-1, 220-pound native of New Orleans, La., he ranked fourth on the squad with 68 total stops and was fifth with 11½ for loss, posting double-figure tackle totals in three straight contests including a career-best 12 — with 2½ behind the line — at Independence C.C.  While at OSU, Songy was one of three true freshmen to play during the 2013 campaign, appearing in all 12 contests and recording a total of nine stops, and he was chosen the Beavers' scout team defense MVP while sitting out as a redshirt the following season.

Houston, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound linebacker, played in three games this fall at Army Prep, but prior to that helped Buford (Ga.) High to three straight state titles, posting 171 tackles and 15 quarterback hurries in his career; that total included nine stops behind the line of scrimmage and seven sacks.  As a senior, he was credited with 72 stops — including five sacks and three tackles for loss — as the Wolves went 15-0 on the way to winning the state AAAA championship.

The Jaguars finished 5-7 last season while facing a schedule that included seven opponents that would go on to earn an invitation to a postseason bowl, including a 34-27 overtime victory at eventual Mountain West Conference champion San Diego State.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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