MOBILE, Ala. – With four mid-year transfers currently in school and three individuals signing National Letters-of-Intent on Wednesday, the University of South Alabama football program's 2021 recruiting class now features 14 members in the group.

Jake Bentley (Lexington, S.C.), Travis Drosos (Gilbert, Ariz.), Antawn Lewis (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Chris Rias (Carrollton, Miss.) came to South in January, with Lamondre Brooks (Birmingham, Ala.), Reid Gavin (Ellisville, Miss.) and Adrein Strickland (Panama City, Fla.) set to join the Jaguars after graduating from high school in the spring.

Cole Daniels (Sumrall, Miss.), Dalton Hughes (Tupelo, Miss.), Trey Kiser (Sulphur, Okla.), Lincoln Sefcik (Enid, Okla.), Edward Smith IV (Tuscaloosa, Ala.) and Jay'juan Townsend (Eufaula, Ala.) signed with the program in December and are currently enrolled in school, while Jason Brooks (Mobile, Ala.) will join the team in the fall.

Click here for bios on South Alabama's 2021 recruiting class

"We're bringing in guys who are versatile, who meet the needs of what we are looking for, and — just as important — fit the culture we are trying to create," first-year head coach Kane Wommack said.  "We are always looking for guys who bring high production and are low maintenance, and to this point I feel like those are the people who we are bringing in."

Bentley began his collegiate career at South Carolina, where he threw for 7,527 yards and 55 touchdowns while completing 62.5 percent of his attempts in three years before transferring to Utah.  He started four games for the Utes in the fall, recording a 62.1 percent completion rate, 882 yards and six touchdown passes including a 20-of-32 performance for 240 yards and two scores in a win at 21st-ranked Colorado.  Lewis started five games on the offensive line in 2020 at Louisiana Tech as the Bulldogs earned an invitation to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, while he appeared in 13 contests the previous season while helping the school finish 10-3 after defeating Miami (Fla.) in the Walk-On's Independence Bowl.  He was a second-team all-Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) North Division selection at Coahoma (Miss.) C.C. in 2018 as well.

Rias was named first-team all-MACCC South Division last fall after posting 14 stops in three games at Copiah-Lincoln (Miss.) C.C. after recording 21 tackles and a fumble recovery for the Wolves as a freshman.  He is considered a three-star recruit — and the fifth-best outside linebacker nationally — by 247Sports.com.  Drosos served as the long snapper on both punts and field-goal/extra-point attempts in three contests at Colorado during the 2020 campaign.  He focused on the position beginning his junior year at Perry High after playing both safety and linebacker for the Pumas, earning 4½ stars from Kohl's Football Kicking and Punting Camps.

Brooks earned three stars from both 247Sports.com and Rivals.com after nine of his 16 tackles in the fall were made behind the line of scrimmage.  After returning from injury, the linebacker from Huffman High posted a pair of stops and a quarterback hurry to help lead Alabama to a 19-7 win in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game.  Gavin played for Mississippi in that all-star contest after earning first-team all-state honors from the Mississippi Association of Coaches following his senior season at South Jones High.  An offensive lineman, he is considered a three-star prospect by 247Sports.com with the organization including him among the top 40 prospects in the state.  Also an offensive lineman, Strickland received three stars from both 247Sports.com and Rivals.com after helping Mosley High to a berth in the state 6A playoffs in the fall.  Originally committed to Florida, he also had scholarship offers from Iowa State, Maryland, UCF, Florida Atlantic and Southern Mississippi.

"Offensive line is an area we need to look at from a developmental standpoint, we're bringing in two guys who we are really looking forward to developing.  They both have big bodies, long frames and have shown good footwork, we believe they can play the tackle and guard positions; their versatility is always something we are looking for," said Wommack.  "Lamondre is coming in with a great skillset, he's somebody we feel can produce as a pass rusher for us.  We believe with his frame and weight it will allow us to do some things both at our outside linebacker and defensive end positions to find creative ways to get him matched up.  Those two positions are areas we need to address and were priorities for us, we always want to find difference makers at the pass rusher position as well as offensive linemen who can play tackle with the ability to move inside to guard."

The Jaguars will open the 2021 season — their first under Wommack — against Southern Mississippi at Hancock Whitney Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 4.

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

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics.  Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

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