Wallace Community College Selma welcomed in brand new recruiting classes for men’s basketball, women’s basketball and women’s volleyball Tuesday, bringing in a total of 20 new athletes.

The new signees included two basketball players from Dallas County — Anfernee Simmons from Keith High School and Ki’Onna Likely from Southside High School.

Foster Davis, WCCS men’s basketball coach, said he hopes Simmons and the rest of his recruiting class can help build on a roster that returns several key post players.

“I think I’ve got some boys, especially at the guard position, that are going to be mentally tough,” Davis said. “I tried to bring in some tougher boys that are not afraid to play ball. I think I also brought in some more scorers.”

Along with Simmons, the class included Jailon Foster from Holt High School, Demarcus Hutchinson from Wetumpka High School, Jesse Goldsby and Bakari Jackson from R. C. Hatch High School, Terraris Safford from Central Hayneville High School, Monquavis Frazier from Anniston High School and Montego Hoskins and Kameron Hornbuckle from Centerpoint High School.

“It feels good to get the process over with,” Davis said. “It’s a long process because you don’t know if they are going to show up or not.”

Luckily for Davis, all of the players he expected to sign did show up. One of those players, Simmons, couldn’t wait to get on the court for the Patriots.

“It’s just a dream come true,” Simmons said. “I’m signing today. I just never thought it would happen.”

The Patriots women’s basketball and volleyball teams also brought in several new athletes. April Harper, head coach of both teams, had two very different tasks in front of her when she recruited for each team.

The women’s basketball team graduated several sophomores and had a lot of holes to fill.

“We should have some strong post play,” Harper said of her new recruiting class.

“We have some girls that led their schools to championships during the tournament for high school, great shooting guards and one or two excellent point guards.”

Along with Likely, the women’s basketball team also added two other local athletes in Wilcox Central’s Kai’Lisa Mendenhall and Chelsea Williams from Francis Marion.

The Lady Patriots also added Allison Borden from Centerpoint High School, Shakia Brantley from Luverne High School, Alexis Lewis from Sunshine High School, Kendreuna McPherson from Central Hayneville and Amber Ward from Dougherty High School in Georgia.

Meanwhile, Harper’s volleyball team was a completely different story.

While the basketball team had holes to fill with so many sophomores graduating, the volleyball team lacked for scholarships and has a lot of experiencing returning after featuring mostly freshman this season.

“We have 95 percent of our volleyball players returning so we don’t have a lot of scholarships available, but we have three strong young ladies signing today,” Harper said.  “We got a defensive specialist, an outside hitter and we got a middle/outside hitter.”

The three volleyball players signed were Alandra Griffith and Keely Powell from Isabella High School and DeAndrea Minard from Jefferson Christian Academy.

“We are looking for impact players,” Harper said. “We were 18-8 with an all freshman squad and we are looking for these girls to build on what we are already doing.”