BG football coach Dave Clawson has a new focus now that football season is over.

Needing to replace 22 seniors – including 16 starters – Clawson is putting the finishing touches on his 2010 recruiting class, which he will introduce on National Signing Day in February.

He said he expects to sign close to the maximum number of players allowed by the NCAA, saying he plans to “bring in basically a whole football team” to add to his team’s overall depth.

One of those players, quarterback Caleb Watkins from Middletown High School, has enrolled to the University early and started classes.

“He’s a player we liked a lot, had in camp and a good athlete and football player,” Clawson said.

Watkins will be one of several players fighting to earn the starting job during spring and fall training camps now that three-year starter Tyler Sheehan has graduated.

Redshirt sophomore Aaron Pankratz served as Sheehan’s backup this season, but he battled redshirt freshman Matt Schilz for that role through this season’s spring and fall camps.

Kellen Pagel, a redshirt freshman, will also be in the mix, and Trent Hurley, a senior at Central Catholic High School in Greensburg, Penn., has also verbally committed to play for the Falcons next season.

And come next season’s opener at Troy, any of those five could be the starting quarterback.

“It is wide open. I cannot tell you who is going to be our starting quarterback at Troy or even in spring,” Clawson said. “The best player who leads the team and can run the offense will be playing for us.”

There are several other positions besides quarterback that Clawson will target during the final few weeks of recruiting too.

He graduated four players from his secondary, all his starting linebackers and three offensive linemen, and he will look to convince undecided players from these positions to play for him during official and home visits the next two weeks.

The recruiting process has been different for Clawson this season, as he is recruiting the players he wants to come to the Falcons unlike last season when he was convincing players that verbally committed to Gregg Brandon’s staff to stay and play for him.

“It’s completely different,” Clawson said. “Last year, we were trying to hold on to guys who had committed to another staff and add a couple to that list. This year, we were involved with these players from the beginning.”

Shrine Game

Recently graduated receiver Freddie Barnes will represent the Falcons in the East-West Shrine Game on Jan. 23 in Orlando.

Played since 1925, the game is played to help raise money for Shriners Children Hospitals and to give select senior players an All-Star Game to play in if they were not invited to the Senior Bowl.

Clawson, who said many times during the regular season that he often doesn’t have time to watch football games on TV, said he plans to make time to watch Barnes play.

“Whenever you have a guy in it you coached … you take great pride that those are guys who were in your program,” Clawson said. “Am I going to watch it to enjoy the game? No. I’m going to watch it to see Freddie do great things. I’m a huge Freddie Barnes fan.”

The game will be aired live on ESPN2 at 3 p.m.

Super Bowl

Another of Clawson’s former players is playing postseason football.

Arizona Cardinals running back Tim Hightower, who played for Clawson at Richmond, gives Clawson at least one player to follow during the NFL playoffs, but he’s not necessarily rooting for the Cardinals to win the Super Bowl.

“I root for Tim to get 150 yards and not fumble it,” Clawson said.

Arizona plays at New Orleans at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow.