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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
NSD Predictions
Welcome to The Crootletter (sign up to get this in your inbox every morning!). I'm Bud Elliott, SB Nation's National Recruiting Analyst, and in this space I'll be sharing news, rumors and musings on the world of college football recruiting.
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) |
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) |
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.