NCAA Endzone

National Signing Day went mainly as expected. As predicted in the last post, Notre Dame dropped after a weak last week of signings, and underdogs like Clemson climbed the charts.

The Tigers did so mainly on the back of the signing of DE DeQuan Bowers, by most considered the top defensive player coming out of high school (Gaines Adams, ver. 2?).

Maybe the biggest surprise from N.S.D was that the top recruit, QB Terrelle Pryor from Pennsylvania, decided to wait it out, not deciding on a school. His current list includes Penn State, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida, LSU, Oregon, and Pittsburgh.

Southern Miss, despite going through a coaching change, nearly pulled in a top 20 class, landing just outside, but far and away the top mid-major team. They even managed to get a 5-star receiver to stay in state, and not go to the SEC; the first ever to sign a letter with the Golden Eagles.

Teams who had down years still managed to pull in good classes with solid recruiting. The previously mentioned Fighting Irish only had 3 wins, but pulled in a top 5 class. Minnesota, with only 1 win and none in the Big Ten, put together a terrific class, even though the top talent in the state went elsewhere.

As far as Rivals is concerned, the Alabama Crimson Tide had the best class of 2008. Pulling an absolutely huge class of 36 people (1/3 of their upcoming roster), they kept the local talent at home and still managed to get other SEC players to commit. Nick Saban, a great recruiter, made his prescience felt in his first full season in the southeast.

It seems like the college football season just ended, while the Super Bowl gets set to wrap up the year all together, though everyone is already thinking ahead to next season. Studs have declared, recruits are being brought in, and National Signing Day is within a week away. However, most recruits know where they are headed to play ball next year. With that said, let’s take a look at the recruiting trail so far…

Notre Dame leads the way so far this off-season with the best recruiting class out there. Even after having one of the worst seasons in team history, he has still managed to pull in 22 excellent recruits. That said, it looks like their recruiting is done, meaning several other teams will add talent in these last few days. Expect the Fighting Irish to fall from the top spot.

Coach Nick Saban and Alabama dominated in state, pulling in practically every prospect worthwhile, while also doing a nice job out-of-state. 26 already locked in, with several more big names still in the loop. Maybe the most exciting is T.J. Bryant, who is also considering top recruiters Florida, along with Alabama, among others.

Want a real shocker? Pittsburgh has managed to pull together the number 21 class. Lead by recruiting extraordinar Dave Wanstead, the Panthers landed 5-star wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin and on the defensive side of the ball studs like Shayne Hale.

The overall order of the recruiting results will certainly be decided in this final week, though the rough order for now is Notre Dame, Alabama, followed by Florida. Looks for teams like Georgia and Florida State to make a late surge.