University of Maine football coach Jack Cosgrove said he and his coaching staff hit the recruiting trail with “volume in mind.”

And volume is exactly what they attracted.

Twenty-six players from nine states signed national letters of intent to attend the University of Maine on football scholarships Wednesday and a couple more are expected to sign later this week.

Cosgrove noted it is the largest group he has had on signing day in his 12 years as the head coach.

Cosgrove said the previous high was 23 in 2001 and they added eight more after the signing date for a class of 31.

The Maine coach was “very excited” about the class.

“This has been a little unusual. In the past, some of our more highly-rated guys have gone elsewhere. We always face the challenge of being where we are. But this year it was a little different. We ended up with some real feel-good situations where we beat out the other schools,” said Cosgrove.

Cosgrove said two of the most valuable recruiting tools were the Bears’ 9-7 win over Division 1-A Mississippi State of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) this season and the upcoming game against perennial 1-A power Nebraska on Sept. 3.

They overshadowed Maine’s disappointing 5-6 record this fall, Maine’s first non-winning season in four years.

“The win over Mississippi State was something we didn’t have to bring up. People knew about it and were impressed by it. They wanted to know how we did it,” said Cosgrove.

He called the Nebraska game an “attention-getter.

“They have aspirations to play teams like that,” said Cosgrove whose Bears will play Atlantic Coast Conference team Boston College in 2006.

Cosgrove also acknowledged having the last two NCAA 1-AA national champions come from their Atlantic-10 Conference, Delaware in 2003 and James Madison this past fall, helped their recruiting as did the fact four A-10 teams were in the final eight this past season.

Cosgrove and his staff have brought in 14 defensive players, 11 offensive players and a placekicker/punter.

“We went across the board. We wanted to cover as many positions as we could. We had a large senior class and there will be a number of spots open next season,” said Cosgrove.

He said they all have potential to be important contributors and, for some, that could be as soon as next fall.

“In 2001, when we brought in 31, 19 of them played that first year,” said Cosgrove.

He said how many will play next fall depends on a number of intangibles including their ability to digest the playbook and adapt to a new environment.

“We’ve had a couple guys who didn’t even make it through [training] camp because they got homesick,” said Cosgrove.

Maine appears to need more help on defense and the list includes six defensive linemen, five defensive backs and three linebackers.

The defense allowed a league-worst 403.7 yards per game this past fall along with 29.2 points per game.

One of the defensive linemen is the lone Maine native: 6-foot-3, 215-pound end Jonathan Pirruccello of Leavitt High School in Turner.

“We’re real high on him. He’s an exciting player with a great personality. He’s going to be in pre-med. He’s a very good student,” said Cosgrove. “He has always wanted to play here. He’s got the work ethic. We’ll get him in the weight room and build him up.”

All National Letter of Intent signings are contingent upon admission to the University of Maine and compliance with NCAA rules. That includes registration with the NCAA Clearinghouse.