File PhotoValdosta State head coach Kerwin Bell shouts from the sideline against North Alabama in Florence, Ala., on Oct. 22.

VALDOSTA — “Always Be Closing,” is a well-known phrase in the business world.

The term also applies heavily within the world of recruiting.

Wednesday is the 2017 National Signing Day, the day where high school football players all around the country will sign their respective national letters-of-intent to play college football.

With less than a week to go until thousands of student-athletes make the decision where they want to take the next step in their lives and football careers, there’s still plenty of work to be done by prospective coaches looking to convince recruits their school is best.

Valdosta State Kerwin Bell and his staff are still bringing recruits in to tour the facilities and hitting the road to make visits of their own.

“It’s crazy right now,” Bell said last week. “We just had a big official visit weekend last weekend, brought in a lot about 16 kids. We’ve got two more official visits here leading up to Feb. 1 for our high school recruiting season.

“So it’s hectic right now… A lot of our guys are out on the road, and then on the weekend we host these kids. It’s been good. We had a good first weekend, and hopefully these next two weekends will be just like that.”

The Blazers hosted another official visit this past Saturday where they even treated the recruits to some Gulf South Conference basketball at The Complex as Valdosta State hosted Mississippi College.

Last season, Bell’s first as the head coach of the Blazers, VSU brought in a 43-man signing class with 16 recruits coming out of Florida, where Bell’s name carries some weight as the former head coach at Jacksonville University and a member of the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame.

Still, almost half, 21, to be exact, of Bell’s first signing class came from the fertile state of Georgia. Ten of the Georgia recruits came out of south Georgia, including four players in VSU’s backyard from Lowndes and Valdosta High.

Valdosta State brought in 10 offensive linemen and seven defensive linemen in last year’s class, and bolstering the depth on both sides of the line of scrimmage remains a priority in the 2017 cycle.

“I think just overall, we’re looking to develop more depth all across the board, especially at the line of scrimmage,” Bell said. “You know, bigger-bodied kids, O-line, D-line guys that we feel like we need to start developing in our program.”

Known for the powerful offenses he built over nine years at Jacksonville University, Bell is also looking for a boost on that side of the ball in the 2017 signing class.

The Blazers averaged 34.64 points per game last season, down from the 36.17 points per game the year before, and despite increasing their average yards per game from 422 to 427 in 2016, the average yards per play fell from 5.8 to 5.2.

Valdosta State passed for 3,420 yards a year ago — its fourth-highest total since 2000 — but it only averaged 11.25 yards per catch.

Bell’s hoping to create more big plays in 2017 as he looks to inject an influx of speed on signing day.

“We’re looking at a little more speed on offense,” Bell said. “We felt that was sort of something we needed to address. Just a playmaker, guys who sort of have that extra speed, extra gear that can give us more plays on the offensive side of the ball.

“It’s sort of a deal where you’re just trying to develop more and more depth, trying to get the best players available, and there’s certain needs like the speed and things like that, playmakers on offense, that we need to address.”

Last National Signing Day, Bell praised the work of VSU’s assistant coaches, especially recruiting coordinator Jeremy Darveau, for allowing the Blazers to bring in a full class despite not coming on board until late January.

However, this season Bell has had the opportunity to get everyone on the sane page as far as what to look for in potential recruits and whether or not a Division II school has a chance with a particular player.

As the clock ticks closer and closer to National Signing Day, Bell is feeling good about the future cornerstones of Valdosta State’s football program.

“I thought we’ve done a good job of setting our boards early,” Bell said. “I think on this level, one thing you’ve got to do is make sure you project and make sure you identify the guys that you can truly get. Sometimes you recruit kids you may not have a chance at, or might not fit what you want to do, but we feel like we’ve addressed that.

“We’ve really identified the guys we need to go after. We’re pretty well set right now. We’ve got a good board and hopefully we’ll get a bunch of guys committed.”

Derrick Davis is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.