A few sports days out of the year give chills to the true sports geeks. The NFL’s and NBA’s draft days qualify as some of those days.

Wednesday, college football’s national signing day, was another.

The UK football team welcomed 27 new members on Wednesday. The 2009 class consists of three Rivals.com four-star commitments, the most since 2006. But that’s not what is getting UK head coach Rich Brooks excited.

“There are probably more stars behind their names than in past classes, but I’ll remind people that (former linebacker Wesley) Woodyard and (current cornerback Trevard) Lindley had two stars or less when they came here,” Brooks said. “There are some guys in this class that give us significant hope, that what has happened the last three years will continue to happen and get better.”

Two of the most highly regarded players in the class are quarterbacks: Ryan Mossakowski and Morgan Newton.

Mossakowski, from Frisco, Texas, was rated by rivals.com as having one of the strongest arms in the country at one point in the season but, after undergoing arm surgery, has seen his ranking drop. Newton comes from Carmel, Ind., where the dual-threat quarterback was named Indiana’s “Mr. Football.”

“Morgan and Ryan are both thinking they’d like to be in that (starting) mix and with what we’ve seen on tape, they could come in and compete,” Brooks said.

Sam Simpson will join the Cats as one of the best centers in the country. A 6-foot-4, 292-pound center from Lexington’s Henry Clay High School, Simpson is ranked as the tenth-best center in the country. Brooks said Simpson is probably the best pure center that UK has signed as long as Brooks has been in Lexington.

Three of the other most highly rated players in the 2009 class come to UK from junior colleges. Mark Crawford, a defensive tackle from Indianapolis, enrolled at UK in January and will have three seasons of eligibility remaining.

The remaining two junior college commitments come from Los Angeles Harbor College in Wilmington, Calif. Chris Matthews, a 6-5 wide receiver, will add experience to a unit that Brooks admitted was very young a year ago. Defensive end DeQuin Evans is making the move from L.A. to Lexington with Matthews. Rivals.com rated both prospects at the four-star level.

With the 2009 class now in place, eyes will now shift from the recruiting trail to the season ahead. The Cats will enter the year with three straight bowl wins, and the new class has bought into the idea of raising the bar once more.

“Winning helps open doors,” Brooks said. “Before we were selling the vision. Now we’re selling the reality of getting better and competing for an SEC championship.”