- Sep 8, 2014
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Good article, and glad to see UF get a mention (finally):
https://theathletic.com/191242/2017...rgia-penn-state-clemson-florida/?source=email
Olson: The early signing day’s biggest winners
Now that the signing frenzy has slowed down and letters of intent are in, here’s a look at the winners that stand out from day one of college football’s first early signing period.
Georgia
If you want to compete with Alabama and Clemson for national championships year after year, you need to sign recruiting classes like this one. Georgia got everybody’s attention on Wednesday with a dominant day from start to finish. Kirby Smart and his staff landed the No. 1 class, according to 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, and have taken their game to another level in this cycle.
The Bulldogs kicked things off by landing five-star lineman Jamaree Salyer and four-star cornerback Divaad Wilson, a former Florida pledge. They held off Florida State for four-star running back James Cook, the younger brother of Dalvin Cook. And that was just the start.
Then Justin Fields, their five-star QB commit, stuck to his word and signed. And five-star lineman Cade Mays, a former Tennessee commit, picked Georgia. And five-star defensive lineman Brenton Cox picked Georgia over Alabama. And a few surprises arrived Wednesday night, when four-star corner Nadab Joseph flipped from Alabama and No. 5 ranked outside linebacker Channing Tindall announced his commitment.
In all, the Bulldogs locked up six five-stars on the day, all of them top-25 ranked prospects. One important piece to this puzzle in Smart’s eyes, in building a class to continue competing at the highest level: He signed a bunch of winners.
“The No. 1 stat for me is 10 of the 17 played for a state championship, seven won a state championship,” he said Wednesday. “So we’re really excited about this class.”
Clemson
Four of the nation’s top nine ranked recruits are calling Clemson their new home. How’s that for a statement on how far Dabo Swinney has brought this program?
The Tigers officially signed the nation’s No. 1 offensive player (quarterback Trevor Lawrence) and No. 1 defensive player (defensive end Xavier Thomas) in the 247Sports composite rankings. Those two have been on board for a long time and helped maintain this recruitment momentum all year. That momentum paid off Wednesday with commitments from No. 1 offensive tackle Jackson Carman and No. 2 ranked defensive end K.J. Henry.
“Christmas came a little early,” Swinney said.
Clemson beating out Ohio State for Carman, the top-rated recruit in Ohio, is a big deal, and Carman made that steal all the more fascinating with the comments he made to The Athletic’s Ari Wasserman on Wednesday.
The Tigers also added four-star back Lyn-J Dixon, a former Tennessee commit, to finish the day with 15 signees. Don’t be fooled by the smaller size of that class so far — eight of these signees are top-150 ranked prospects.
Texas
The “DBU” revival is coming soon in Austin after Texas signed an incredible class of defensive backs on Wednesday.
They already had B.J. Foster (No. 1 ranked safety) on board going into the day, along with Caden Sterns (No. 3 safety), Jalen Green (No. 4 cornerback), DeMarvion Overshown (No. 7 safety) and D’Shawn Jamison (No. 12 cornerback). All of those guys signed with zero drama. And then the Longhorns capped the day with Anthony Cook, beating out LSU and Ohio State for the No. 2 recruit in the state of Texas and the nation’s No. 5 corner.
“I don’t want to get into who’s ‘DBU’ and who’s not ‘DBU,’ but I would put our DB history among anybody in the country,” Texas coach Tom Herman said Wednesday. “I think (assistant coaches) Jason Washington and Craig Naivar have an unbelievable track record of developing talent.”
In their first full year of recruiting in Austin, Herman and his staff signed the top five recruits in Texas and a class that currently ranks No. 3 nationally. And the Longhorns aren’t close to done — Herman believes he’ll have up to 10 more spots still open in this class going forward.
Florida
Dan Mullen had to address the Gators’ less-than-exciting quarterback situation as soon as he touched down in Gainesville. And he quickly found and stole a guy capable of being Florida’s long-term solution: Emory Jones.
The No. 40 overall recruit had been committed to Ohio State since the summer of 2016. But the new Florida staff convinced Jones to take an official visit over the weekend and persuaded him to make the flip and become of the centerpiece of a class that’s still a work in progress.
After losing quarterback commit Matt Corral to Ole Miss last week, Mullen managed to find an even better prospect to replace him, one with more than enough talent to compete for the starting job immediately. Much will be expected of the Georgia native, no doubt.
“He's not just coming to play quarterback,” Mullen said. “He's coming to play quarterback at the University of Florida. A lot of responsibility comes with that.”
Penn State
The Nittany Lions finally sealed the deal for good with five-star DE Micah Parsons. Signing the nation’s No. 4 recruit and the top prospect in Pennsylvania required withstanding a whirlwind recruitment that included a decommitment from Penn State in the spring, a lot of visits elsewhere and a bizarre, rocky recruitment with Ohio State, who had to stop recruiting Parsons after he took a Snapchat photo with Kirk Herbstreit during his official visit that bizarrely violates NCAA rules.
Parsons’ pledge helped put Penn State at No. 4 in the class rankings. Coach James Franklin offered up one of the quotes of the day on finally winning that battle.
“You’re going to have to wait for the book,” Franklin said. “I’ve been doing this for 23 years, and the book will probably be five chapters on my career and 15 chapters on the ups and downs and the journey of Micah Parsons.”
Maryland
Let’s give Maryland coach DJ Durkin and his staff major props for bringing in top-25 ranked recruiting classes in each of the last two years. The Terps inked 22 players on Wednesday, and nearly all of their signatures were in by 8:30 a.m. ET. One big-name newcomer on that list: defensive lineman Byron Cowart. The No. 3 recruit in the class of 2015 signed with Auburn out of high school, then left after two years and went the JuCo route. He could be a serious steal for the Terps when he arrives in January with two seasons of eligibility.
Baylor
The Bears went 1-11 this season and then went out and signed a top-25 class Wednesday. Matt Rhule and his assistants did a really nice job evaluating talent in the state of Texas and have a 20-man group thus far that’s loaded with speed. They’ve signed an exciting quarterback to lead this group in four-star Gerry Bohanon out of Arkansas, and they successfully held off a lot of schools from poaching guys out of their class. This class has a chance to really expedite the rebuilding process at Baylor.
https://theathletic.com/191242/2017...rgia-penn-state-clemson-florida/?source=email
Olson: The early signing day’s biggest winners
Now that the signing frenzy has slowed down and letters of intent are in, here’s a look at the winners that stand out from day one of college football’s first early signing period.
Georgia
If you want to compete with Alabama and Clemson for national championships year after year, you need to sign recruiting classes like this one. Georgia got everybody’s attention on Wednesday with a dominant day from start to finish. Kirby Smart and his staff landed the No. 1 class, according to 247Sports Team Composite Rankings, and have taken their game to another level in this cycle.
The Bulldogs kicked things off by landing five-star lineman Jamaree Salyer and four-star cornerback Divaad Wilson, a former Florida pledge. They held off Florida State for four-star running back James Cook, the younger brother of Dalvin Cook. And that was just the start.
Then Justin Fields, their five-star QB commit, stuck to his word and signed. And five-star lineman Cade Mays, a former Tennessee commit, picked Georgia. And five-star defensive lineman Brenton Cox picked Georgia over Alabama. And a few surprises arrived Wednesday night, when four-star corner Nadab Joseph flipped from Alabama and No. 5 ranked outside linebacker Channing Tindall announced his commitment.
In all, the Bulldogs locked up six five-stars on the day, all of them top-25 ranked prospects. One important piece to this puzzle in Smart’s eyes, in building a class to continue competing at the highest level: He signed a bunch of winners.
“The No. 1 stat for me is 10 of the 17 played for a state championship, seven won a state championship,” he said Wednesday. “So we’re really excited about this class.”
Clemson
Four of the nation’s top nine ranked recruits are calling Clemson their new home. How’s that for a statement on how far Dabo Swinney has brought this program?
The Tigers officially signed the nation’s No. 1 offensive player (quarterback Trevor Lawrence) and No. 1 defensive player (defensive end Xavier Thomas) in the 247Sports composite rankings. Those two have been on board for a long time and helped maintain this recruitment momentum all year. That momentum paid off Wednesday with commitments from No. 1 offensive tackle Jackson Carman and No. 2 ranked defensive end K.J. Henry.
“Christmas came a little early,” Swinney said.
Clemson beating out Ohio State for Carman, the top-rated recruit in Ohio, is a big deal, and Carman made that steal all the more fascinating with the comments he made to The Athletic’s Ari Wasserman on Wednesday.
The Tigers also added four-star back Lyn-J Dixon, a former Tennessee commit, to finish the day with 15 signees. Don’t be fooled by the smaller size of that class so far — eight of these signees are top-150 ranked prospects.
Texas
The “DBU” revival is coming soon in Austin after Texas signed an incredible class of defensive backs on Wednesday.
They already had B.J. Foster (No. 1 ranked safety) on board going into the day, along with Caden Sterns (No. 3 safety), Jalen Green (No. 4 cornerback), DeMarvion Overshown (No. 7 safety) and D’Shawn Jamison (No. 12 cornerback). All of those guys signed with zero drama. And then the Longhorns capped the day with Anthony Cook, beating out LSU and Ohio State for the No. 2 recruit in the state of Texas and the nation’s No. 5 corner.
“I don’t want to get into who’s ‘DBU’ and who’s not ‘DBU,’ but I would put our DB history among anybody in the country,” Texas coach Tom Herman said Wednesday. “I think (assistant coaches) Jason Washington and Craig Naivar have an unbelievable track record of developing talent.”
In their first full year of recruiting in Austin, Herman and his staff signed the top five recruits in Texas and a class that currently ranks No. 3 nationally. And the Longhorns aren’t close to done — Herman believes he’ll have up to 10 more spots still open in this class going forward.
Florida
Dan Mullen had to address the Gators’ less-than-exciting quarterback situation as soon as he touched down in Gainesville. And he quickly found and stole a guy capable of being Florida’s long-term solution: Emory Jones.
The No. 40 overall recruit had been committed to Ohio State since the summer of 2016. But the new Florida staff convinced Jones to take an official visit over the weekend and persuaded him to make the flip and become of the centerpiece of a class that’s still a work in progress.
After losing quarterback commit Matt Corral to Ole Miss last week, Mullen managed to find an even better prospect to replace him, one with more than enough talent to compete for the starting job immediately. Much will be expected of the Georgia native, no doubt.
“He's not just coming to play quarterback,” Mullen said. “He's coming to play quarterback at the University of Florida. A lot of responsibility comes with that.”
Penn State
The Nittany Lions finally sealed the deal for good with five-star DE Micah Parsons. Signing the nation’s No. 4 recruit and the top prospect in Pennsylvania required withstanding a whirlwind recruitment that included a decommitment from Penn State in the spring, a lot of visits elsewhere and a bizarre, rocky recruitment with Ohio State, who had to stop recruiting Parsons after he took a Snapchat photo with Kirk Herbstreit during his official visit that bizarrely violates NCAA rules.
Parsons’ pledge helped put Penn State at No. 4 in the class rankings. Coach James Franklin offered up one of the quotes of the day on finally winning that battle.
“You’re going to have to wait for the book,” Franklin said. “I’ve been doing this for 23 years, and the book will probably be five chapters on my career and 15 chapters on the ups and downs and the journey of Micah Parsons.”
Maryland
Let’s give Maryland coach DJ Durkin and his staff major props for bringing in top-25 ranked recruiting classes in each of the last two years. The Terps inked 22 players on Wednesday, and nearly all of their signatures were in by 8:30 a.m. ET. One big-name newcomer on that list: defensive lineman Byron Cowart. The No. 3 recruit in the class of 2015 signed with Auburn out of high school, then left after two years and went the JuCo route. He could be a serious steal for the Terps when he arrives in January with two seasons of eligibility.
Baylor
The Bears went 1-11 this season and then went out and signed a top-25 class Wednesday. Matt Rhule and his assistants did a really nice job evaluating talent in the state of Texas and have a 20-man group thus far that’s loaded with speed. They’ve signed an exciting quarterback to lead this group in four-star Gerry Bohanon out of Arkansas, and they successfully held off a lot of schools from poaching guys out of their class. This class has a chance to really expedite the rebuilding process at Baylor.
