When Kevin Fouquier gave a verbal commitment back in August of 2011 to sign with the Ragin’ Cajuns football team, the then-Comeaux High senior — truth be told — wasn’t sure where we he wanted to go to college.

He thought it was UL, but he wasn’t certain.

So he essentially gave what is known in the business as a "soft verbal," not a so-called "hard verbal."

Other schools, meanwhile, continued to come after him.

Texas Tech was one.

New Mexico — where his father, ex-Cajuns defensive coordinator Kevin Fouquier, was offered an assistant coaching job that he ultimately turned down — was another.

In the end, though, Fouquier stuck with UL — and he actually is enrolled there already, joining the Cajuns as what is known as a "mid-year signing" after having graduated early from Comeaux.

"When I first chose UL, the coaching staff did a great job of recruiting me," Fouquier said. "They were one of the best, sending letters pretty much every day — and they were the first school that offered me (a scholarship), so that went a long way with me. I respected that, and I knew they really wanted me.

"So I committed to them even before my (final high school) season started, as a security thing. It wasn’t a hard commit," the outside linebacker added. "But with the way the (UL) season went "» it got better and better, and I decided to stay."

Cajun coaches exhaled.

Today, the first day recruits still in high school or junior college can sign an NCAA National Letter of Intent, those same coaches are holding their breath again.

They are known to have 23 verbal commitments to go with six mid-year signings already in place.

That includes 22 recruits who played high school football last season — among them five locals (Fouquier, Breaux Bridge’s Tyren Alexander, New Iberia’s LaMarcus Allen, Teurlings Catholic’s D’Shaie Landor and Carencro’s Jalen Nixon), another 10 from elsewhere in Louisiana, three from South Florida, one from Mississippi, one from Alabama, one from Texas and one from Minnesota (Karmichael Dunbar) with family ties to Louisiana.

It also includes five who played last season at a junior college, and two — wide receiver T.J. Worthy and safety Darius "Tig" Barksdale — who are transfers from four-year programs.

Worthy is a between-semesters transfer from Ole Miss, and Barksdale — who practiced with the Cajuns last semester — played at Jacksonville (Ala.) State after transferring there from Ole Miss.

The latest juco player known to have made a commitment is previously unreported Delvin Jones, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound linebacker/defensive end from Miami Palmetto High in Florida who played as a freshman for Ole Miss in 2010 before transferring to Coffeyville Community College in Kansas.

Nothing about the 23 verbals, however, is set in stone quite yet.

"We’re excited about (today)," UL recruiting coordinator Reed Stringer said. "But we still have a couple fights on our hands to solidify all this.

"At the level we’re recruiting," Stringer added, "it goes down until the second they sign that piece of paper."

Stringer is banned by NCAA rule from discussing individual recruits.

But the identities of a few of the anticipated signees the Cajuns are worrying about most have become known.

Among them: Jalen Fields, a defensive lineman Georgia Military College; Johnell Celistan, a wide receiver from Hahnville High in Boutte who changed his commitment from Tulsa to UL just last Sunday; and Remaine Douglas, a defensive lineman from Douglas High in Parkland, Fla.

Fields may be the most-concerning, as other schools — including Marshall, South Florida and Kansas — have been working hard to land him ever since the highly regarded recruit found out in December that for academic reasons he would be unable to re-sign with Georgia.

The fingers of Cajun coaches remain crossed that that there will be no surprise hitches.

"Our goal every year is to sign a better class than the year before," Stringer said.

"Last year we signed some outstanding players," he added, "and if everything falls into place like we expect (today) this be a better year than last year — with some impact players that will make us a better team."

If the Cajuns do get all of their expected 23 signees today, they’ll wind up — after combining that number with their six mid-year signees — announcing a class of 29.

One of the six mid-years will count toward last season’s total, so that will still leave them three over the NCAA limit of 25 scholarship players for the academic year.

Stringer isn’t worried about being over-signed, though. "There’s always some academic issues with kids that we have to take into consideration," he said. "But we’re comfortable with how many we signed and who were signing," the recruiting coordinator added, "and in the end the numbers will work out perfectly."

Perhaps much like things worked out so well for UL this past season.

After finishing 9-4 and beating San Diego State in the New Orleans Bowl — their first postseason appearance in 41 years — the Cajuns got a bit of a recruiting boost.

Stringer suggested that history shows the biggest bump in that regard won’t come until later, when the Cajuns will have a full year to brag about being a bowl winner while recruiting.

"Past experience," he said, "tells you that you always reap the benefit the next year after a bowl game."

But there is no denying UL’s success in 2011 had a positive impact on some of their latest recruits.

"It (the season) played a big part," Fouquier said, "because nothing is final until you put that name on the paper and it becomes official."