The world of recruiting in college football is ever-changing. From the importance of football infrastructure being built to the growing presence of athletes on social media, the skill of securing the commitment of a recruit is not what it was in years past.

Perhaps the biggest change, however, is the arrival and growing use of the transfer portal, and there is no better example of that than this year's recruiting class for the South Florida Bulls as over half of the 24 athletes who officially put pen to paper Wednesday are categorized as transfers.

‘It’s a changing time, but I’m really excited about it,” coach Jeff Scott said in USF’s Signing Day Show on Wednesday. “I think where we are with our overall roster and [with] some depth concerns that we have from this past season, being able to go through the transfer portal is going to allow us to answer those needs a little bit quicker than the traditional way [of getting every recruit from high school].”

Of the 24 players who signed their letters of intent, 13 are transfers and 11 are coming from Division I football programs. Those players include defensive linemen James Ash from Wake Forest, Nick Bags from Temple and Clyde Pinder Jr. from UNC, as well as wide receivers Ajou Ajou from Clemson and Khafre Brown from UNC.

Others include offensive linemen Mike Lofton from UCF and Derrell Bailey from Virginia Tech, defensive backs Aamaris Brown from Kansas State and Ray Thorton III from Clemson, linebacker DJ Gordon IV from Minnesota and running back Michel Dukes from Clemson.

The two athletes coming in from junior college are tight end Jayson Littlejohn from the College of the Sequoias and linebacker Jhalyn Shuler from Coffeyville.

“I think [the junior college pool is one that] some schools might have gone to a little bit more in the past, [but] because of the transfer portal, maybe some of those guys are [now] getting overlooked,” Scott said. “For us, we’re looking anywhere and everywhere. At the end of the day we want to find the best players.

“Once we know that they have the athletic ability to help us, then we’re looking at academics and character and all those things. We don't care if it's high school, if it's a college transfer or a young man [from junior college]. In [Shuler’s] situation, he actually qualified coming out of high school, but he didn't have the offers that he really wanted, so he went to junior college to get some tape and now it's really paid off.”

Shuler appeared in 13 games in his two seasons with the Red Ravens, finishing with 88 total tackles, 11 for loss and two interceptions.

It wasn’t all transfers for USF, though, as the Bulls landed the commitments of 11 players from high school headlined by acquisitions up front on defense with defensive linemen Eddie Kelly, Jacquez Williams and Jhalin Hobbs, with the latter two finally getting to the program after committing in 2020.

Quarterbacks Byrum Brown and Gunnar Smith, wide receivers Javohn Thomas and Cade Roberts, running back Jason Albritton, linebacker Deaunte Hunter, cornerback Tavin Ward and tight end Jackson Long also made it official.

Long, along with Ajou and Hunter, were some of the bigger surprises for USF fans, as nearly the rest of the class had their commitments already announced prior to Wednesday.

“We’re really excited about Jackson Long, this relationship goes back a long time … My dad recruited his dad to Florida State many, many years ago,” Scott said. “His dad played offensive line at Florida State, went on to play for the Titans.

“[He] is a really long, athletic tight end. Jackson’s every bit of 6’5”, he's about 225 pounds right now, he runs extremely well and he’s really what you’re looking for in the modern day of football. Whether it's college or NFL, you're looking for these big guys that can really be a threat in the passing game, along with being a really good run blocker out there on the perimeter or in the box.”

Long turned down offers from Tulane, Appalachian State, Army and Akron before signing with the Bulls.

Other interesting tidbits from Wednesday include quarterback Gavin Gosnell from Hendersonville High School in North Carolina who signed as a preferred walk-on, and the noticeable absence of defensive back Tony Newsome from West Orange High School on USF’s recruitment board who had previously committed to the Bulls on Oct. 31.

Newsome did make posts to his Instagram story Wednesday which appear to show him signing something in a USF sweatshirt, and the official USF football Twitter account tweeted a video teasing that they are not done signing recruits yet, so Newsome’s letter, along with agreements from other athletes, could still be in the works.