WKU fans and athletic staff came out in celebration Wednesday night at the Topper Club in Smith Stadium for the team’s annual National Signing Day reception.

Earlier in the day WKU officially announced its 2012 recruiting class of 13 players. The reception was an opportunity for the coaches to showcase the new recruits to fans in attendance.

It was the third National Signing Day during Willie Taggart’s tenure as WKU Head Coach.

Former WKU Student-Athletic Trainer Matt Coleman of Franklin, Tenn., said he was excited to see the fans show up and the excitement that surrounded the reception.

“It’s an exciting time of the year based on the success that the team had last year and to see what Willie and the coaching staff have brought in already,” Coleman said. “You can continue to see that build and just the momentum, and the snowball effect just continues. People are excited.”

Taggart began by congratulating his coaching staff on another impressive recruiting class. He said they continue to prove wrong the “experts” who think that WKU can’t compete with the bigger programs.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be able to compete against all those people, but our coaches have built a solid relationship throughout all of our recruiting areas with their persistence and their personal appeal,” Taggart said. “The recent success of our football team has made WKU a more attractive name in all the country.”

Taggart said WKU is just taking that next step to making their vision for the team even clearer.

“Now our objective as a football team is to become a dominant football team in the Sun Belt Conference and create a national identity,” Taggart said.

Taggart continued to stress to the fans that the WKU coaches and staff aren’t satisfied with the success they’ve found so far. He kept emphasizing the fact that they want to create that “national identity.”

His statements were welcomed by those in attendance with applause and approval.

Taggart thanked the fans for coming out and celebrating the “exciting” day at WKU and for showing their enthusiasm for the future of the program.

J Moseley of Franklin, Tenn., is on WKU’s National Alumni Board and said he’s confident that Taggart and the team are on the right track to earning the national recognition Taggart desires.

“I think it’s no question that it is attainable,” Moseley said. “At WKU we have the administration that is willing to put the resources behind it and Coach Taggart will get it done. It’s going to happen.”