While many people were preoccupied watching the president’s State of the Union address, a group of about 30 Hornet faithful attended the signing party for Sacramento State football last Wednesday night.

Last Wednesday was the first day that schools could formally announce they had signed student-athletes to National Letters of Intent.

The new recruiting class consists of 15 newcomers including head coach Steve Mooshagian’s son, Bobby Mooshagian, a wide receiver out of San Joaquin Memorial High in Fresno.

Mooshagian alluded to the fact that it was difficult convincing his own son to come to Sacramento play for his dad rather than take a scholarship offer at the University of Akron in Ohio.

“It was a tough recruiting job getting Bobby to come here,” Mooshagian said. “I had to sleep with the kid’s mom to get him to commit here.”

Bobby Mooshagian caught 27 passes for 423 yards despite missing four games because of mono as a senior. San Joaquin Memorial also won a Central Section Div. IV title in his junior year with the school. “I don’t like to talk about my own son too much,” said Steve Mooshagian, a former wide receiver for the USFL’s Los Angeles Express, “but he has some of the best hands I’ve ever seen.”

Mooshagian said it would have been easy for Bobby to choose Akron since he played his first two years of high school ball in Ohio while his father was an assistant with the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Hornets also had some recruits not named Mooshagian. Eight of the fifteen recruits are transfers and many of the fifteen were also recruited by Division I-A schools.

“We went head to head legitimately against some Division I-A schools,” Mooshagain said. “We’re beating Mountain West and WAC schools on recruiting which is very encouraging to the status of the program.”

In this class, Mooshagian might have found his replacement for graduating senior quarterback Ryan Leadingham in transfer play caller Tim Bessalo and freshman Brett McClennan.

Bessalo comes to Sacramento with three years left of eligibility after playing one season at Long Beach City JC. Bessalo did attend Fresno State in 2002 and Marshall University in 2003 but did not play as he red shirted at both schools.

McClennan comes from Eugene, Ore., where he led the state in touchdown passes as a senior with 34. He was coached in Eugene by former NFL quarterback Chris Miller.

“I really like the balance of the entire class,” Mooshagian said. “We improved depth on both our lines and added a quality group of tight ends.”