clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

2016 College Football National Signing Day

The road to the NFL is long.

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Happy National Signing Day, everybody. It's the day when hope spring eternal in college football...for about half the teams. The other half suck. Bad. A lot. And recruiting isn't gonna pull them out (Go North Texas!).

National Signing Day Coverage

National Signing Day Coverage

Last year for NSD, we looked at the top 10 recruits since 2010 and how they've panned out. Let's update that table:

Name POS School Scouts Rk. Rivals Rk. Notes
2010
Ronald Powell DE/OLB Florida 1 1 Drafted by New Orleans Saints (2014, 5th round)
Jackson Jeffcoat DE Texas 2 12 UDFA taken by Seattle Seahawks (2014)
Dominique Easley DE Florida 3 7 Drafted by New England Patriots (2014, 1st round)
Jordan Hicks OLB Texas 4 16 Drafted by Philadelphia Eagles (2013, 3rd round)
Michael Dyer RB Auburn 5 11 UDFA taken by Oakland Raiders (2015)
Lamarcus Joyner CB Florida St. 6 14 Drafted by St. Louis Rams (2014, 2nd round)
Robert Woods WR USC 7 6 Drafted by Buffalo Bills (2013, 2nd round)
Seantrel Henderson OT Miami 8 2 Drafted by Buffalo Bills (2014, 7th round)
Matt Elam S Florida 9 25 Drafted by Baltimore Ravens (2013, 1st round)
Jonathan Dowling S Florida 10 176 (?!) Drafted by Oakland Raiders (2014, 7th round)
Kyle Prater WR USC 45 3 UDFA taken by New Orleans Saints (2015)
Sharrif Floyd DT Florida 25 4 Drafted by Minnesota Vikings (2013, 1st round)
Keenan Allen WR Cal 33 5 Drafted by San Diego Chargers (2013, 3rd round)
Owamagbe Odighizuwa DE UCLA 17 8 Drafted by New York Giants (2015, 3rd round)
Da'Rick Rogers WR Tennnessee 30 9 UDFA taken by Buffalo Bills (2013)
Marcus Lattimore RB South Carolina 19 10 Drafted by San Francisco 49ers (2013, 4th round)
2011
Jadeveon Clowney DE South Carolina 1 1 Drafted by Houston Texans (2014, 1st round)
Anthony Johnson DT LSU 2 17 UDFA taken by Miami Dolphins (2014)
Cyrus Kouandjio OT Alabama 3 4 Drafted by Buffalo Bills (2014, 2nd round)
Isaiah Crowell RB Georgia 4 23 UDFA taken by Cleveland Browns (2014)
Karlos Williams S Florida St. 5 8 Drafted by Buffalo Bills (2015, 5th round as RB)
Christian Westerman OT Auburn 6 27 Expected mid-draft pick in 2016 (G, Arizona St.)
Malcolm Brown RB Texas 7 10 UDFA taken by St. Louis Rams (2015)
La'el Collins OT LSU 8 6 UDFA taken by Dallas Cowboys (2015)
Tony Steward ILB Clemson 9 13 Drafted by Buffalo Bills (2015, 6th round)
Jeff Driskel QB Florida 10 32 Potential draft pick in 2016
Curtis Grant LB Ohio St. 46 2 UDFA taken by San Diego Chargers (2015)
George Farmer WR USC 12 3 UDFA taken by Dallas Cowboys (2015)
De'Anthony Thomas ATH Oregon 16 5 Drafted by Kansas City Chiefs (2014, 4th round)
Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix SS Alabama 19 7 Drafted by Green Bay Packers (2014, 1st round)
Ray Drew DE Georgia 13 9 UDFA taken by Miami Dolphins in 2015
2012
Mario Edwards DE Florida St. 1 3 Drafted by Oakland Raiders (2015, 2nd round)
Johnathan Gray RB Texas 2 5 Unlikely draft pick in 2016
Dorial Green-Beckham WR Missouri 3 1 Drafted by Tennessee Titans (2015, 2nd round)
Noah Spence DE Ohio St. 4 9 Transferred to play 2015 at Eastern Kentucky; Expected early draft pick in 2016
Keith Marshall RB Georgia 5 48 Unlikely draft pick in 2016
Landon Collins SS Alabama 6 17 Drafted by New York Giants (2015, 2nd round)
D.J. Humphries OT Florida 7 2 Drafted by Arizona Cardinals (2015, 1st round)
Davonte' Neal ATH Notre Dame 8 107 Transferred to Arizona; Unlikely draft pick in 2017
Andrus Peat OT Stanford 9 32 Drafted by New Orleans Saints (2015, 1st round)
Eddie Goldman DT Florida St. 10 7 Drafted by Chicago Bears (2015, 2nd round)
Shaq Thompson SS Washington 16 4 Drafted by Carolina Panthers (2015, 1st round as OLB)
Jonathan Bullard DE Florida 37 6 Expected early draft pick in 2016
Stefon Diggs WR Maryland 13 8 Drafted by Minnesota Vikings (2015, 5th round)
Jameis Winston QB Florida St. 14 10 Drafted by Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2015, 1st round)
2013
Robert Nkemdiche DE Ole Miss 1 1 Expected early draft pick in 2016
Carl Lawson DE Auburn 2 4 Expected early draft pick in 2017
Vernon Hargreaves III CB Florida 3 2 Expected early draft pick in 2016
Mackensie Alexander CB Clemson 4 42 Expected early draft pick in 2016
Laremy Tunsil OT Ole Miss 5 14 Expected early draft pick in 2016
Matthew Thomas OLB Florida St. 6 15 Injury-tinged 2013 campaign; Impressive redshirt freshman in 2014, marred by early season suspension; suspended for all of 2015; TBD
Jaylon Smith OLB Notre Dame 7 3 Expected early draft pick in 2016
Kelvin Taylor RB Florida 8 38 Expected mid-draft pick in 2016
Derrick Henry RB Alabama 9 36 Expected early draft pick in 2016
Eddie Vanderdoes DT Notre Dame 10 21 Transferred to UCLA; ACL injury in first game of 2015 season; Expected draft pick in 2016

Let's tack on 2014:

2014
Name POS School Scouts Rk. Rivals Rk. Notes
Leonard Fournette RB LSU 1 4 6th place in Heisman voting after exceptional season; expected early draft pick in 2017
Jabrill Peppers CB Michigan 2 3 Standout RS freshman season in 2015. Headed toward early draft selection depending on when he declares.
Cam Robinson OT Alabama 3 17 Impressive true sophomore season as Bama's starting LT; expected early draft pick in 2017
Myles Garrett DE Texas A&M 4 2 Beast. Expected early draft pick in 2017
Andrew Brown DT Virginia 5 32 Still developing. TBD.
Da'Shawn Hand DE Alabama 6 1 Buried on Alabama's depth chart. Two TFL in Championship. TBD.
Speedy Noil ATH Texas A&M 7 21 Polarizing undersized WR. TBD.
Tony Brown CB Alabama 8 25 Same as Hand. Waiting for his turn in 2016. TBD.
Adoree' Jackson CB USC 9 6 Top talent, but still tempted by track. Assuming that's an aside...expected early draft pick in 2017.
Quin Blanding S Virginia 10 5 Fully established as a safety. Expected early draft pick in 2017.
Kyle Allen QB Texas A&M 35 7 Improvements came in 2015, but couldn't convince HC Kevin Sumlin to give him full-time job. Transferring to Houston.
Joe Mixon RB Oklahoma 53 8 Impressive in limited opportunity in 2015 behind Samaje Perine. TBD.
Marlon Humphrey CB Alabama 15 9 Legit. Sat for 2015. RS Freshman season in 2015 was stellar. Headed toward early draft selection depending on when he declares.
Jalen Tabor CB Florida 11 10 Making good in a thin Florida secondary. Expected early draft pick in 2017.

So yes, the rankings are still doing just fine.

Worth taking a gander at where the Rams' 2015 class was back in the day:

Name POS School Scouts POS Rk. Rivals POS Rk. Notes
Todd Gurley RB Georgia 22 (N/A nationally) 5 (42)

Gurley is a physically good looking athlete that could be a nice fit as a safety, nickel linebacker given his athletic, sturdy build, but the majority of his experience comes as a running back and he is a very gifted, although not always flashy runner with a blend of size, power, quickness and graceful elusiveness.

Yikes.

Rob Havenstein OT/G Wisconsin 33 (N/A) 43 (N/A) Aw, look at little Robby!
Jamon Brown DT Louisville 48 (N/A) 58 (N/A)

Brown is a big man who can bring a physical presence to either side of the ball. He plays on the offensive and defensive line in high school and while we like his upside at guard we think he will play defense in college.

Nope.

Sean Mannion QB Oregon St. 30 (N/A) 12 (234) This was one of the worst QB classes in a long, long time at the HS to college level. Phillip Sims? Jesse Scroggins?!
Andrew Donnal OT Iowa 23 (N/A) 23 (178) Donnal was fought over by nearly every Big Ten school.
Bud Sasser WR Missouri 63 (N/A) 67 (N/A) Sasser came out of the hotbed of Denton, Texas, where both Ryan and Guyer high school pump talent every year (except to nearby North Texas...damnit).
Cody Wichmann OT/TE Fresno St. N/A (N/A) N/A (N/A) Gotta love the unknowns.
Bryce Hager ILB Baylor N/A (N/A) N/A (N/A)
Martin Ifedi DE Memphis N/A (N/A) N/A (N/A) Ifedi was recruited, but barely offered.
Isaiah Battle OT Clemson 59 (N/A) 36 (N/A) Virginia product who left the state without an in-state offer

Time, man. Time.

As for the here and now, we're about to hit 2pm ET and see some of the major commits announce.

Is LB Mack Wilson still headed to Alabama or will he bolt to follow former Bama Defensive Coordinator and now Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart? LB Mique Juarez has a handful of potential landing spots still in the air. And at 3pm we get a decision from DT Derrick Wilson.

Overall, it's a banner year for LSU. They're absolutely loaded up (yet again) on defensive talents. As for that whole QB position...well, it's LSU.

Ole Miss is having a great year recruiting as well in the SEC as are Alabama. The Rebels nabbed top at OT, QB and S while the Tide snagged the top ILB and RB options according to Scouts (capital S intended).

One of the big battles was across the state of Texas. Coming off of a season forcing the college football world to finally take note of, Houston followed up with an impressive recruiting effort forcing a downshift from Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and TCU. UT has closed hard today though stacking up top defensive prospects.

We've still got some big names left, but from an NFL perspective, it's always fun to look back years after the fact and see both how the top prospects fared but also how many NFLers came out of obscurity to carve out a path to the league.