There are four constants in the five top-rated signing classes as ranked by Rivals, Scout, and ESPN. The first is Florida, toplining every list, and looking to field a horrorshow of talent even by stratospheric Gator standards. Texas follows close behind, no surprise to anyone who's ever been in a room with Mack Brown. After that it's some combination of Auburn and Alabama.
...Auburn?
Rivals has five SEC schools in the top ten, as does ESPN, but no one would have blamed you for predicting a down year on the trail for the Plainsmen. Gene Chizik's first Tigers team went 8-5, finished second from the bottom in the SEC West, and barely escaped the Outback Bowl with their skins. Their offseason is going gangbusters, however; whatever they're paying the players with now that Bobby Lowder's broke, it seems to be working. (We kid. We kid. At least until the investigation breaks, we kid.)
Also puffed of chest and full of fresh football hatchlings: Florida State, trading on prestige and the promise of a Jimbo Fisher regime, pulled down an impressive class after what passes for a disappointing season in Tallahassee. UCLA closed strong, especially in the running backs department. And Tennessee hauled in a class that cracked both Rivals and ESPN's top tens despite losing their coach mere weeks before Signing Day dawned.
And just for LOLZ: the final ranked I-A class in Scout's rankings is Ohio; Rivals dogs Florida Atlantic. (Howard Schnellenberger too busy plying his trade on a trail of an entirely different sort?)
