If Alcovy football coach Chris Edgar has his way, Friday’s signing day ceremony will soon need a bigger home. 

On Friday, offensive lineman Isaiah Dennard and cornerback Kyrese Knox became the first players of the Edgar football era to sign letters of intent to play college football. 

Dennard pledged his services to Point University, while Knox inked with Dodge City Community College (Kan.). The athletes signed in the school lobby area with their families, a few teammates and friends, which gave Edgar plenty of reasons to smile and dream. 

“I hope we’re gonna have many more years to come with these signing days,” Edgar said. “We may have a few more Signing this spring, but we want this to be a yearly thing where we’re signing six or seven kids each year. Then we’ll have to do it in the auditorium or whatever it takes to hold the big things we want to accomplish.” 

The program has already accomplished a massive turnaround in Edgar’s first year after going 4-6 in the 2016 season. That’s huge, considering Alcovy went just 1-19 in the previous two years — which were the last two seasons of founding coach Kirk Hoffman’s tenure. 

Edgar said he can already see the positive effects of Dennard and Knox’s signings on his underclassmen and other players who will return for the 2017 season. 

“It gives some of the younger guys inspiration,” he said. “It gives them goals. These two guys who signed today are on two totally different ends of the spectrum. Isaiah’s actually came from playing at Eastside as a freshman and started for us for three years. Being a sophomore starting on the offensive line is a tough task, but he really took it serious and, to my knowledge hadn’t missed a game since starting.” 

Edgar called Knox special for his determination to fight through difficulties.

“Kyrese was a two year starter for us,” he said. “He’s a leader, and a lockdown corner for us. He’ll tell you that he is. He was hurt, battled through injury and will now go on to college to play. It’s a two year program at Dodge, so if he does really well, he might end up at a different level.” 

Knox had originally committed to Independence Community College, before backing off of that pledge. the 5-foot-10 corner said it was necessary to ensure that he was making the right decision for his football future. 

“I just felt more at home at Dodge,” Knox said. “Some things came up with Indy where I wasn’t feeling it anymore. So I decided to open up my recruitment and I found a home at Dodge.” 

Knox said the experience helped him understand grow in overall patience. 

“You’ve gotta take your time and wait things like that out,” he said. “You’ve gotta make sure you know everything about the school you’re going to and make sure it’s the best fit for you.” 

Dennard called Point a best-fit because of its close-knit feel. He chose Point over Reinhardt University, Middle Georgia State and Columbus State. 

“Once I stepped foot on campus, I felt like I was at home,” said Dennard, who will major in exercise science while there. “It’s the right environment, a great facility, a great coaching staff. It was everything I wanted.” 

Both players feel optimistic that their signing day success is a sign of a major paradigm shift in Alcovy football.

“Through those first couple of years here, it was very hard with losing records and all,” Dennard said. “But it made me fight even harder to get my name and Alcovy’s name out there. It’s a great example of how hard we can work and how fast we can turn things around. I hope the best for these guys the next couple of years.” 

Said Knox: “It was great that a lot of the younger guys are here and got to watch us sign. Now it’s the new standard at Alcovy. They’ll have to sign just like we did.”