Four Iowa State recruits signed their national letters of intent Wednesday to play basketball for the Cyclones.

Junior college transfers Emmanuel Malou and Donovan Jackson along with high school signees Jakolby Long and Solomon Young filled out the four-person recruiting class.

“Great job by my staff,” said ISU coach Steve Prohm. “[I’m] really excited about those four guys. [It’s a] good balance with two junior college kids, two high school kids. Point guard play was huge. To get a kid like [Emmanuel Malou], with his talent level and skill level is great, and then get two high school kids that can step in physically and play right away.”

While Prohm shied away from naming any player as the highlight of the class, he said, “Emmanuel Malou probably has the most hype.”

Malou comes in with the highest ranking as the No. 2 junior college recruit and a four-star prospect. An Australian native, Malou will come to Iowa State by way of Yuba College in California. The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 14.7 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game as a freshman at Yuba.

There are some concerns regarding Malou’s eligibility, but Prohm is optimistic about getting Malou eligible right away.

“As of right now, our intention is that he plays from day one,” Prohm said. “But we’ll deal with that throughout the year and continue to deal with compliance and work at it. But he’s a guy that regardless [of eligibility concerns], you got to get in your program.

“We had to get him done, and we did.”

While it will be awhile before anything becomes clear regarding Malou’s eligibility, signing during the early signing period will allow Iowa State more time to work on getting him cleared.

“The best thing about his situation is signing early, so now we can get to working on all that stuff,” Prohm said. “We probably can have a decision or know really by hopefully the end of spring or early summer.”

Perhaps the second-highest touted signee is Donovan Jackson, a point guard from Iowa Western Community College, who is ranked as the No. 7 junior college player in the country.

Jackson averaged 13.6 points while shooting 40 percent from 3-point range in his first season at Iowa Western.

“He’s one we wanted for sure,” Prohm said. “T.J. [Otzelberger] did a great job, knew him, had a relationship with him. I just had to see him play when I got here, really liked him, think he can do great things for us next year.”

Rounding out the class are Solomon Young and Jakolby Long, a pair of high school recruits. Long comes to Iowa State by way of Mustang, Okla., where he averaged 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists as a junior.

Young averaged 15.8 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game as a junior out of Sacramento High School.

“Solomon Young brings a toughness to our team that we’ll need coming into next year, and Jakolby [Long] brings some toughness on the perimeter.”

Prohm said Iowa State is most likely done with the early signing period, but he would love to get a mid-year transfer.

Prohm and his staff are also targeting another point guard or scoring guard in case junior point guard Monté Morris decides to go pro after this season, as well as a couple of forwards.