The announcement that Matt Hustad has signed a national letter of intent to play at Arizona State University of the PAC-10 Conference highlighted local signings on Wednesday's national "Signing Day" for college football recruits.

Hustad is joined by Helena High teammate Ryan Fetherston and Capital High's Clay Bignell, who signed with the University of Montana and Montana State University, respectively.

Hustad was the Montana Gatorade Player of the Year and had verbally committed to UM before former MSU quarterback and assistant coach Dennis Erickson lured him to ASU. Erickson had been in contact with Hustad as the University of Idaho coach and then got back in touch with the offensive line prospect after accepting the head coaching position for the Sun Devils.

"I got down there (to Tempe) and I loved it," Hustad told the IR last month. "I looked at Sun Devil Stadium and saw that it holds over 70,000 people. I got blown away by the whole thing. It is a dream to play in the Pac-10."

The athletic Hustad also played baseball for the American Legion Senators and basketball for the Bengals. His father, Byron, played college football at Utah.

Fetherston is the IR's male athlete of the year for 2006. He played both quarterback and linebacker for the Bengals and won the 189-pound AA state title in wrestling in 2006 and is currently undefeated this year at 215.

Fetherston is admired by his coaches and teammates for his leadership qualities.

"He never feared being the guy that made a mistake," Arntson told the IR in December. "He always believed that he would be the guy to make the play to win the game."

Fetherston, who hails from East Helena, is expected to play defensive for the Grizzlies. He's been an academic all state selection three times.

Bignell is a two-time first team all state selection at linebacker and is the nephew of legendary MSU tight end Joe Bignell of Avon, who was an All-America selection and starred on the Bobcats' 1984 national title team.

"A vital cog in another run by Capital to the state championship," MSU coach Mike Kramer said of Bignell. "Clay is a tremendous athlete on the hoops floor, and from an obvious Bobcat family. He is cowboy tough."

Bignell starts at center on the Capital basketball team. He was named first team all state in basketball last season and is expected to garner the same honor this year. If so, he is thought to be the only Helena athlete to earn first team all state honors two years running in football and basketball.

Currently the Bobcat roster has four players (Bignell, Bobby Daly, Dustin O'Connell, and Jesse Hoffman) from Capital High, while the Grizzly roster has four players (Fetherston, Dan Carpenter, Mike Ferriter and Brad Sternberg) from Helena High.

The Grizzlies signed seven players, including Fethterston.

The Bobcats landed 14 players. MSU loaded up on the defensive side of the ball, bringing in nine defensive players.

The Bruins/Bobcats play the Bengals/Grizzlies on Nov. 17 in Bozeman this year.