The concept of the stretch run to February’s National Signing Day will forever be different, thanks to the new Early Signing Period. It’s now a matter of quality vs. quantity with most teams loading up on signees during the Early Signing Period. Looking up and down the top 50 of the 247Sports Composite, many teams have signed around 20 players out of the 25-player limit.
6 teams that could make big recruiting moves by National Signing Day
With the Early Signing Period done, who’s gonna finish strong heading into February?
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
With 33 players left unsigned in the top 101 players, there are plenty of good players to go around, and some team’s gotta sign ’em. But a look at the teams who haven’t signed huge classes so far for a variety of reasons gives us an idea of who’ll end up making some pretty big leaps in the rankings as February Signing Day approaches.
USC
Current class ranking: 13
Players signed/committed: 13
Class average score: 93.0
Top-100 targets left: WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, predicted to USC; CB Isaac Taylor-Stuart, predicted to USC; WR Jalen Hall, favored to Oregon or USC; ATH Talanoa Hufanga, favored to USC or Oregon; LB Solomon Tuliaupupu, favored to USC.
The Trojans have an elite class by way of average class score, but what they don’t have is a ton of players pledged. With only nine players signed during the ESP and 13 total contributing to their ranking, USC has the smallest recruiting class of any team in the top-30.
The Trojans have two five stars in the class, and keep in mind that, well, they’re USC. That means that if USC wants players west of the Rocky Mountains to be a Trojan, they more often than not end up in cardinal and gold. The second best remaining player in the top-100, WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, is unsigned. If he isn’t a Trojan it’s an upset.
Florida
Current class ranking: 16
Players signed/committed: 15
Class average score: 90.3
Top-100 targets left: OT William Barnes, favored to Florida; WR Jacob Copeland, favored to Alabama or Florida.
Dan Mullen didn’t need a whole lot of time to make a really big flip. The Gators nabbed Emory Jones on signing day, prying him from Ohio State and holding off Alabama and Florida State. With time left to go and a full-court press from a full staff, the Gators can make a run at some impressive players coming down the wire to February Signing Day.
Florida, like a few other teams on our list, is a study of unpredictability. Expect the Gators to be among the few teams that make strong late pushes for players who may not be publicly on their radar as of now, simply because of the new staff being in place.
Florida State
Current class ranking: 34
Players signed/committed: 10
Class average score: 94.4
Top-100 targets left: DB Brendan Radley-Hiles, favored to Oklahoma; OT Nicholas Petit-Frere, favored to Notre Dame.
Get the jokes in while you can before Willie Taggart gets a staff together and the Noles get it truly rolling on the recruiting trail in Tallahassee. Like Florida, a transitional recruiting class has its challenges, and we’re not expecting either Florida power to finish in the top five or anything. The Noles have a number to hit that will end up being fewer than many of their competitors, but there will be quality in that quantity.
Coach Willie Taggart said Thursday that he expects to sign 16-18 players, and that he will not sign more just to sign more. That number feels light, but there is a method to the madness. Not filling up a roster with too many players who project as backup options is the smart long-term move. It also sets Taggart up to sign a very large class in 2019.
Tennessee
Current class ranking: 22
Players signed/committed: 17
Class average score: 88.2
Top-100 targets left: LB JJ Peterson, favored to Tennessee or Alabama; WR Jacob Copeland, favored to Alabama or Florida.
Hey, remember them? Tennessee’s been a pretty strict case of no news being good news since Jeremy Pruitt got hired. But under the radar, the Vols have inked a competent class that is about where the program should be given how rocky the last few months have been in Knoxville.
Of all the teams on this list, Tennessee may be the biggest reach to have a strong close to February Signing Day for a couple of reasons.
One of them being that this is about the best the class could expect to be given all the turmoil. The other is the fact that Pruitt will be handling duties for Alabama for the Playoff instead of off the road recruiting duties all the time. But to the contrary, Pruitt’s done more with less so far, and that trend may continue.
Pruitt and his staff — a staff that is still incomplete and has yet to officially be announced yet — were playing from behind during the past two weeks. They did really well to get in and close on guys like Jordan Allen, Dominick Wood-Anderson, Jerome Carvin and Jeremy Banks.
Because of the late start, we really didn’t see the full impact of the new signing period. Tennessee still has some work to do on some big names and the traditional signing day still looms large for Pruitt and company as they try to close out this class.
Texas A&M
Current class ranking: 27
Players signed/committed: 15
Class average score: 89.21
Top-100 targets left: WR Jaylen Waddle, favored to Alabama or Texas A&M; S Leon O’Neal Jr., favored to Texas A&M despite being a recent A&M decommit; WR Joshua Moore, favored to Texas A&M.
What Jimbo Fisher does down the stretch will be pretty interesting. The Aggies no longer have the swag that Kevin Sumlin brought to table, but that’s only one thing. They also don’t have the advantage of Texas and Oklahoma struggling on the recruiting trail. Both are on heaters this cycle, and that makes things tougher for the Ags.
But there are targets left for the taking, and A&M’ll do their best. Fisher proved to be an elite recruiter in Tallahassee, and A&M has great facilities and the hotbed of Houston nearby.
Stanford
Current class ranking: 52
Players signed/committed: 13
Class average score: 86.94
Top-100 targets left: QB Tanner McKee, favored to Stanford.
Stanford’s on this list because it’s hard to believe they’re this low. After signing an elite class in 2017, the Cardinal are lacking on the trail. It’s tough to know whether they’re just taking a small class this year or whether they’re going to make a big push to the finish, but simple math says if they take one high-level player, the class will leap quite a bit. If Stanford nabs only McKee, its class would leap about 20 spots. The smart money’s on Stanford not staying where they are.
