Signing Day, thanks to late announcements and flips, was business as usual for Clemson and Florida State.
They were the only ACC teams to average a top-25 class, both residing in the top-15. Updating the five-year cycle, Clemson maintained its five top-15 finishes in Scout and Rivals’ rankings respectively, and the Seminoles the same with nine. Pittsburgh finished third in the ACC in this cycle (27.5).
Looking again at the tale of the tape in-state, South Carolina fell outside of the top-15 (18.5), in line with its five-year average (18.2).
The five-year average isn’t the best of comparisons program to program in the Palmetto State though, with Clemson’s low-rated “dandy dozen” 2009 class still on the books for the Tigers. In four-year average, Clemson edges the Gamecocks 15.1 to 19.6.
SEC owns the ’13 top-15
The SEC didn’t invent football, as Dabo Swinney noted Wednesday, but they are running the recruiting world right now.
Seven of the top-15 hail from the conference, including Alabama atop the crowd, with the Big Ten (Michigan, Ohio State and Nebraska) and the ACC (Clemson/FSU) next-best.
ACC-SEC Signing Day Top-15 Classes (Rivals/Scout)
| Avg. Rank) Team | Rivals 4+ Stars (Avg.)/Scout (Avg.) | Top-Three Rated Players |
|---|---|---|
| 2) Alabama | 17 (3.84)/18 (3.92) | 5-star DE Jonathan Allen (6-3 255), DT A’Shawn Robinson (6-5 304), TE O.J. Howard (6-6, 220) |
| T-6) Florida | 16 (3.67)/16 (3.63) | 5-star LB Alex Anzalone (6-3 229), DB Vernon Hargreaves (5-11 185), 4-star RB Kelvin Taylor (5-11 216) |
| T-6) LSU | 17 (3.73)/18 (3.7) | 5-star DB Tre’Davious White (5-11 175), DE Frank Herron (6-5 260), 4-star OT Ethan Pocic (6-6 280), DT Greg Gilmore (6-5 290) |
| 8) Texas A&M | 15 (3.45)/17 (3.56) | 4-star ATH Ricky Seals-Jones (6-5 220), DB Kameron Miles (6-2 200), DT Isaiah Golden (6-2 295) |
| 8.5) Ole Miss | 12 (3.56)/12 (3.62) | 5-star OL Laremy Tunsil (6-6 295), WR Laquon Treadwell (6-3 198), DE Robert Nkemdiche (6-5 260) |
| T-10.5) Auburn | 11 (3.57)/9 (3.35) | 5-star DT Montravius Adams (6-3 290), DE Carl Lawson (6-2 253), 4-star WR Earnest Robinson (6-3 200) |
| T-10.5) Georgia | 15 (3.47)/14 (3.41) | 4-star DB Tray Matthews (6-0 194), OL Brandon Kublanow (6-3 289), ATH Tramel Terry (6-0 190) |
| 12) Florida State | 11 (3.57)/9 (3.41) | 5-star DB Jalen Ramsey (6-0 190), LB Matthew Thomas (6-3 205), 4-star OL Ira Denson (6-4 317) |
| 13) Clemson | 10 (3.3)/10 (3.35) | 4-star DB Mackensie Alexander (5-11 175), LB Dorian O’Daniel (6-1 201), OL Tyrone Crowder (6-2 315) |
UCLA, Notre Dame and Oklahoma round out the top-15 teams.
ACC top-talent not all Tigers and ‘Noles
Atlantic Coast Convos did a breakdown of the top-15 ESPN-rated players that signed to ACC teams, who all lined their top-100.
Clemson signed the ACC's best (CB Mackensie Alexander, No. 4 overall) and also LB Ben Boulware (No. 78) on the list, while a conference-leading five top-100 players are Seminoles (OLB Matthew Thomas, No. 6; CB Jalen Ramsey No. 14; ATH Ryan Green, No. 30; DT Demarcus Walker, No. 40; ATH Levonte Whitfield, No. 74).
Miami signed four (WR Stacy Coley, No. 47; DE Al-Quadin Mohammad No. 58; CB Artie Burns No. 70; QB Kevin Olsen, No. 87), Virginia Tech two (CB Kendall Fuller, No. 18; S Holland Fisher, No. 98) and Pittsburgh (OT Dorian Johnson, No. 29) and Virginia (RB Taquan Mizzell, No. 75) one .
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 0
Be the first to post a comment!
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.