Fansided

Miami Football Recruiting: Hurricanes announce early signing day class

MIAMI, FL - OCTOBER 9: Miami Hurricanes fans hold signs that spell out 'wide right' prior to the game against the Florida State Seminoles on October 9, 2010 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida. The Seminoles defeated the Hurricanes 45-17. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - OCTOBER 9: Miami Hurricanes fans hold signs that spell out 'wide right' prior to the game against the Florida State Seminoles on October 9, 2010 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida. The Seminoles defeated the Hurricanes 45-17. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

The Miami Hurricanes have announced their early National Signing Day class for 2018.

The 2017 Miami Hurricanes have been one of the surprise teams in college football. They came into the season ready to take that next step as a program and they very well did with their regular season.

Miami was in the playoff discussion by remaining undefeated late into the season and they made it to the ACC Championship Game against the top team in the country. While they didn’t fare well, making it as far as they did highlighted the job that Mark Richt has done as well.

While they’re preparing for bowl season, they’re also getting ready for the next batch of recruiting too. This year, the recruiting rules have changed a bit and now there is an early National Signing Day that will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 20.

Programs will be able to lock up players a little quicker before the main National Signing Day in February, but it’s going to be interesting to see the effects the first one has. Nonetheless, Richt has put together a strong class thus far.

Via 247sports, Miami currently has the fourth ranked class overall. There’s plenty of time for them to either rise further or drop a little bit depending on what happens. However, it’s clear what they’re aiming to do.

Next: 30 bucket list items for college football fans

With a senior wide receiver group on the roster currently, they’re bringing in plenty of skill position players with this class. While they have players that are committed already, they have scheduled commits for this week’s early signing period.

The big skill players on the Hurricanes’ board are Mark Pope and Lorenzo Lingard. Pope is a four-star local receiving product, while Lingard is the 20th ranked overall player in the nation and a five-star running back. It’s clear with this class that Richt is looking to field some dynamic weapons, along with some defensive pieces that should help keep a strong core together.