RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky's 2018 football recruiting class is ranked 11th in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) according to rankings by 247Sports released on Feb. 23.
 
The Eastern Kentucky class is rated higher than such programs as Jacksonville State, James Madison, Montana, North Dakota, Southern Illinois, Furman, Illinois State and Sam Houston State.
 
Mark Elder has engineered three straight top-25 rated recruiting classes.  Despite having less than two months to put together his first class, Eastern's 2016 class was ranked as the 23rd best in the nation by HERO Sports.  Elder's second recruiting class was rated as the 14th best.
 
Eastern's class includes 18 high school seniors, two junior college transfers and four Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) transfers.  FBS transfers do not factor into the 247Sports rankings.
 
The group of future Colonels includes six defensive backs, five offensive lineman, three quarterbacks, two tight ends, two wide receivers, two defensive linemen, two linebackers, one running back and one punter.
 
The top ranked FCS recruiting classes belong to Princeton and Yale.  Others in the top-10 include North Dakota State (5th), Harvard (7th), Mercer (8th) and Eastern Washington (10th).


Eastern Kentucky has won two national championships, 21 conference titles and has made 21 playoff appearances.  No other FCS team has won at least two FCS national titles and 20 or more conference championships.  EKU has had 66 All-America selections and 33 NFL draft picks.
 
The 2018 season begins for the Colonels on August 30 when Morehead State visits Roy Kidd Stadium.