National Signing Day 2014 Near Final Results

Just about all the major recruits are now in and it’s easy enough to see how schools will finish in the Rivals rankings. (I’m using Rivals rankings because they have been the rankings I’ve used for the past several years when we tally the signing day results.)

So, how did your school do? 

Let’s dive in and check it out. 

The SEC leads the way with the most dominant recruiting class performance in signing day history. A remarkable seven of the top nine classes in the country are from the SEC.

Here’s how SEC schools rank nationally at 3 eastern. 

1. Alabama

2. LSU

5. Tennessee

6. Texas A&M

7. Florida

8. Auburn

9. Georgia

15. Kentucky

18. Ole Miss

24. South Carolina (This number will jump because the Cocks still have two four star commits coming and they haven’t signed their full allotment of 20 recruits to count yet). 

28. Arkansas

35. Missouri

41. Mississippi State

49. Vanderbilt 

That’s an average recruiting class ranking of 17.6

The ACC signed the second best classes:

4. Florida State

11. Miami

12. Clemson

22. North Carolina

24. Virginia Tech

30. NC State

40. Virginia

42. Boston College

44. Pittsburgh

46. Louisville

48. Georgia Tech

51. Syracuse

58. Wake Forest

58. Duke

The average ACC recruiting class was 35

The Big 12 signed the third best average recruiting classes. 

14. Oklahoma

19. Texas

26. Oklahoma State

34. Baylor

37. West Virginia

43. Texas Tech

47. Kansas State

50. TCU

54. Kansas

56. Iowa State

The average Big 12 recruiting class was 38.  

The Pac 12 signed the 4th best averag recruiting class. 

13. Stanford

16. Southern Cal

17. UCLA

20. Arizona State

27. Arizona

29. Oregon

38. Washington

45. California

54. Oregon State

63. Colorado

67. Washington State

70. Utah

The average Pac 12 recruiting class was ranked 38.25

The Big 10 signed the worst recruiting classes of the five major conferences. 

3. Ohio State

21. Michigan State

23. Penn State

31. Michigan

32. Nebraska

33. Wisconsin

36. Indiana

52. Minnesota

53. Maryland

57. Rutgers

60. Iowa

65. Northwestern

71. Illinois

74. Purdue

The average Big Ten class was ranked 43.1

…

The biggest takeaways from looking at all five of the major conferences — Notre Dame finished 10th — is that there are just a handful of teams recruiting at an elite SEC level. For instance, the best classes in the Pac 12 and the Big 12 would be the 8th best classes in the SEC. The second best class in the Big 10? It would be the 11th best class in the SEC.

Aside from Florida State, Miami, and Clemson in the ACC no other conference had more than two schools in the top 15. The SEC had eight.  

Now, recruiting rankings don’t always equate with on-field success, but it’s worth remembering this fact — no team won a BCS title without at least two top ten recruiting classes in the four years preceding its title. (And every SEC team had at least three top ten titles).  

Sure, maybe your school signed a bevy of underranked studs who will lead to a championship. 

But chances are, they didn’t. 

Star rankings don’t determine individual success, but they do determine championship teams.

And judging by the greatest signing day haul in the history of the sport, the SEC’s dominance isn’t fading anytime fast.