Top 10 college football recruiting classes after National Signing Day
Which teams are among the top 10 recruiting classes entering National Signing Day 2017?
Coming into National Signing Day 2017, it was a bit of an anomaly in terms of college football recruiting. Yes, everyone was preparing for the same press conferences with high schoolers dealing with media pressure really for the first time. However, what stood out was that many of the top recruits in the country had already signed.
Because of that, there were many people that didn’t predict much movement in terms of how classes ranked against one another. At the top of the class rankings, that held true. However, a slew of four-star recruits and even high-quality three-stars seemed to load up several programs on National Signing Day and shuffle at least parts of the top-10.
With that being said, we also saw the rich get richer when it comes to the likes of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Michigan Wolverines, and even the LSU Tigers. They’re all featured in the top 10 college football recruiting classes following National Signing Day. How do the rest of the rankings shake out? Let’s take a look, beginning with a big mover on Wednesday.
Note: All rankings for prospects and classes are via the 247 Sports Composite Rankings.
Florida Gators
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The Florida Gators and Jim McElwain were under fire for much of the recruiting process leading up to National Signing Day. Considering that they’ve been unable to get over the hump as a program in recent years and the lackluster overall look of their class coming into Wednesday, that seemed to be the case. However, it’s not how you start, it’s how you close. And the Gators closed exceptionally strong on National Signing Day to wind up with this class:
On National Signing Day, the Gators went on a signing frenzy as the landed nine four-star recruits, including six that rank in the top 200 prospects in the country. One of the biggest gets was bolstering their offensive line with the No. 3 ranked guard in the country, Tedarrell Slaton. On the defensive side of the ball, Florida’s noted strength as a program under McElwain, the Gators again came through in a big way. Not only did they land the No. 3 strong-side defensive end in Zachary Carter, but also three four-star cornerbacks: Christopher Henderson, Brad Stewart, Marco Wilson.
Of course, Florida couldn’t escape a monster National Signing Day without causing a little bit of an uproar as they inked wide receiver James Robinson. Robinson seemed to be a pariah in college football recruiting after he tweeted about Ohio State players doing drugs and then reportedly getting arrested while visiting Columbus. Florida was in the lead to nab him, but seemingly had backed off. Yet when Wednesday rolled around, he signed his letter of intent.
Even with that questionable call on the record, Florida is one of the big winners of National Signing Day and has a bright future with a top-10 class of recruits heading down to Gainesville.