Paul Rhoads was much more thrilled with how National Signing Day ended than with the way it began.

Despite starting his day by retreating home to get his phone after he left it on the bathroom counter, Rhoads and the ISU football team received national letters of intent from 25 players to close out its 2013 class on Wednesday.

The 25 players come from eight different states, and 13 will play on the offensive side of the ball while the other 12 will play on defense. In all, nine players come from the state of Florida and five are natives of Iowa.

“We take great pride in the diversity in this class,” Rhoads said at a news conference announcing the signees.

The class is highlighted by offensive lineman, Jake Campos from West Des Moines Valley, who switched his commitment from Missouri to Iowa State in December. Campos was selected to play in the U.S. Army All-American Game and also played in the International Bowl for Team USA.

Among the class are four early enrollees who have already arrived on campus. Two of those four enrollees graduated high school early and are freshmen.

The decision to enroll at Iowa State early for high schoolers isn’t taken lightly.

“High school guys it’s more of a choice, and I wanted to be very sure of that choice,” Rhoads said. “I want them to be sure of leaving home and leaving mom and dad and leaving the state if they’re going to do that.

“If they’re fully committed to that, we welcome having them on campus.”

This semester, linebacker Alton Meeks, and offensive lineman Shawn Curtis both enrolled after they graduated high school early. While enrolling early for a junior college, players depends on completing credits, enrolling early for high school athletes is more of a personal decision.

Curtis began working toward that goal before he even decided to attend Iowa State.

“I actually decided that last year,” Curtis said. “I didn’t have my decision made to come here yet, but I did decide that I wanted to be a step up above the other players.”

Players who arrive early have the opportunity to get started with classes. For the football team, it allows the players to get acclimated with the team and weightlifting program.

Meeks has also already started to move past the freshman learning curve.

“I think it’s helped a lot,” Meeks said of enrolling early. “The first day I was here I was with Shawn [Curtis] and we were riding the bus [and] got lost for about two hours on the bus system. So we’re not going to have to deal with that when we first get here.”

Rhoads said players have to make the decision to forego high school activities such as prom. For Meeks that wasn’t an issue, and now he is already doing work with the football team. 

“If I was at home I’d just be taking Drawing I and stuff like that,” Meeks said. “But if I came here I’d be taking college classes, getting credit for those classes, learning the verbiage and getting ahead.”

Overall, the ISU football team’s 2013 class is ranked 58th by Rivals.com, but Rhoads said his staff doesn’t put much stock into numbers. 

“Those are part of it? How are we doing in that regard?” Rhoads said when asked about rankings. “It’s not the guys that you don’t get in the recruiting process, it’s the guys that you sign; it’s the guys that you develop.”