North Texas made what head coach Todd Dodge described as a series of key moves to bolster its defense on Wednesday, when the Mean Green signed five junior college players projected to play at linebacker or safety on the first day of the midterm signing period.

Navarro linebacker Brad Graham headlined a class that also includes Pearl River (Miss.) Community College safety Jamison Hughes and safety Ryan Downing, outside linebacker Forlando Johnson and cornerback D’Leon McCord of Butler County (Kan.) Community College.

All five players will transfer at the midterm break and will be available for spring practice.

“We have a good nucleus of players coming back and these five guys make us better immediately,” Dodge said. “They have been playing at a high level of junior college football in Kansas, Texas and Mississippi, which have the three best leagues in the country. They have all been playing against high level Division I talent for two years.”

Dodge said that adding playmakers to UNT’s secondary and corps of linebackers was a priority heading into next season to bolster a defense that showed signs of improving in its second season under coordinator Gary DeLoach.

UNT allowed 35.6 points a game, down from 47.6 points a game in 2008.

The Mean Green is hoping a few key additions will help it continue improving next season.

Graham is arguably the most highly regarded of UNT’s transfers. The 6-0, 210-pounder finished with 96 tackles, including 13 behind the line of scrimmage, and four interceptions.

Graham was named the Defensive Player of the Year in the Southwest Junior College Football Conference and was also a first-team NJCAA All-American.

Hughes posted 37 tackles and two interceptions.

UNT’s three signees from Butler played on one of the top junior college teams in the country the last two seasons. The Grizzlies won the JUCO national title in 2008 and finished the season ranked 10^th nationally this year.

“McCord was a great leader for us and made a lot of plays,” Butler coach Troy Morrell said. “Johnson had a great year last season when we won the national title and Downing made some big plays. They helped us build on our tradition.”

Johnson was a preseason JUCO All-American, but suffered an injury in two-a-days that prevented him from playing in the first three games of Butler’s season. He came back to post 42 tackles and earn first-team All-Jayhawk Conference honors for the second straight season.

Morrell said Johnson didn’t have the year he had hoped for, but has the ability to be an impact player for UNT at either outside linebacker spot in a 4-3 defense.

McCord and Downing were both honorable mention All-Jayhawk Conference selections. Downing ranked second in the league with nine passes defended and also posted three interceptions.

The addition of McCord will address an immediate need for UNT, which lost starting cornerback Adryan Adams and backup Antoine Bush to graduation.

The rest of UNT’s signees will push for playing time at positions where the Mean Green has starters returning.

Safeties Ira Smith and DaWaylon Cook both return along with strong side linebacker Craig Robertson and weak side linebacker Jeremy Phillips.

UNT has already moved safety John Shorter to outside linebacker from safety.

“It’s about creating competition,” Dodge said. “Ira is a versatile player. We don’t have any designs on moving anyone else. The thing about the two safeties we recruited is that they are carbon copies of Cook. We see Downing as a free safety and Hughes as a strong safety. All five of the guys we signed are really good tacklers. That’s important.”

UNT plans on leaving senior A.J. Penson at middle linebacker, where he started the last six games of the season after Tobe Nwigwe went down with a season-ending foot injury. Sophomore Daniel Prior has worked at both middle linebacker and strong side linebacker and could challenge for playing time in the middle.

“We feel good about Penson and Prior,” Dodge said. “Those two players will bring a lot of competition.”

While UNT brought in several players who could help at linebacker and in its secondary, but didn’t address its issues along its defensive front. The Mean Green finished the season tied for 116^th out of 120 teams nationally in sacks with an average of 1.0 a game.

UNT lost arguably its most productive defensive lineman in Eddrick Gilmore to graduation.

“There could be some February guys we sign who are graduating in May,” Dodge said. “We have our eyes on a few guys, but the majority of the guys we sign in February will be high school kids.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com.

North Texas commitments

The following players have orally committed to become a part of UNT’s 2010 recruiting class:

Brandin Byrd    RB       Copperas Cove

Brelan Chancellor         WR      Copperas Cove

Ryan Downing  S          Butler (Kan.) CC         

Javia Hall          QB       Dallas Skyline

Graylin Hawkins           OL       Dallas Skyline

Jamison Hughes            S          Pearl River (Miss.) CC

Forlando Johnson         OLB    Butler (Kan.) CC

Brad Graham    OLB    Navarro JC

DeLeon McCord          CB       Butler (Kan.) CC         

Zachery Olen    K         Richardson Berkner