SEC 2016 recruiting against the rest of the power conferences

At the start of the 2016 recruiting cycle, it appeared as though parity would have its way in college football. But don’t believe the hype.

While four of the Power Five conferences may appear to be fighting a good fight, make no mistake about it, the SEC is still king. That’s probably not earth-shattering news to many.

While the other four conferences grapple for top talent, the SEC has it in spades. As the dust settled on National Signing Day, the SEC emerged as the top dog, and it wasn’t even close.

The SEC pulled 16 of the 29 five-star recruits.* The Pac-12 was a distant second with five.

FIVE-STAR COMMITMENTS

*The American Athletic Conference also has one.

Alabama made a miraculous comeback on Signing Day to capture its sixth consecutive top-ranked recruiting class. The Tide pulled in five five-stars, as rated by rivals.com. That’s more than two (Big 12, Big Ten) of the five Power Conferences combined. It took the entire Pac-12 to match the Tide’s number.

Georgia and Clemson were Alabama’s closest competition for five-star talent with three each. Eight SEC teams in all were able to land at least one five-star athlete.

There’s no doubt that the top dog in recruiting is the SEC. The conference has more five-star athletes going to its schools than the other four Power Conferences combined.

FOUR-STAR COMMITMENTS

The SEC dominance is widened when you add in four-star recruits to the mix. It’s just no contest. As the dust begins to settle on National Signing Day, the SEC finds itself in a league of its own with more four-star talent than the ACC and Big 12 combined.

LSU led the way with 15 four-star athletes. That’s tied for second-most nationally to Florida State’s 18. Both the ACC and Big Ten were top-heavy with two teams in each conference bringing in the bulk of talent. Clemson (10) combined with FSU to make up nearly half of all four-star talent in the ACC, while Ohio State (15) and Michigan (15) did total half of the Big Ten four-star talent.

Half of the teams in the SEC reached double digits in the recruiting of four-star athletes.

QUARTERBACKS

By sheer numbers, the Power Five conferences recruited 63 players on the 247sports.com list of quarterbacks, both pro-style and dual-threat.

There were only two five-star quarterbacks in 2016, as ranked by 247sports.com, and both are headed to the SEC from out-of-state. Ole Miss pilfered Shea Patterson from the state of Florida while Georgia plucked Jacob Eason way out west in Washington.

In addition, four dual-threat quarterbacks ranked with  four-stars also will attend SEC schools, and all four of them are also going out-of-state as well. New Jersey’s Jarrett Guarantano is headed to Tennessee; Pennsylvania’s Brandon McIlwain is going to South Carolina, Texas product Jalen Hurts is headed to Alabama, and Florida product Woody Barrett is going to Auburn.

Yes, the reach of the SEC is a long one, indeed.

RUNNING BACKS

This is one area where parity can be argued. The Big Ten edged out the SEC by the numbers and also claimed three of the top seven running backs in the country. Penn State led the charge, staying in-state to land Miles Sanders, the nation’s top-rated running back and the only five-star on the board.

But that’s not to say the SEC was shut out, not by a long shot. In fact, SEC schools plucked four of the top six. Alabama went to North Carolina to get B.J. Emmons (ranked No. 2) and Arkansas reached into Texas to snag No. 3 Devwah Whaley.

Both LSU and Georgia stayed in-state to take No. 5 Devin White and No. 6 Elijah Holyfield (yes, that Holyfield) respectively.

RECEIVERS

Once again the SEC leads the way in skilled players. The lone five-star on the board – Demetris Robertson of Savannah, Ga. – remained uncommitted on National Signing Day despite Notre Dame’s efforts to recruit him by showing up in his driveway with the school’s equipment truck, an 18-wheeler with the school’s insignia plastered across it.

The Georgian is reportedly leaning towards staying home to play for the Bulldogs or chasing the equipment truck back to South Bend.

That leaves Tyrie Cleveland as the top-rated receiver to commit. The four-star from Houston spurned the Cougars for SEC country. He’ll play for Florida.

The SEC was able to land four of the top nine receivers. Two of those are going to Auburn. The Tigers picked up No. 6 Nate Craig-Myers, from Tampa, Fla., and No. 9 Kyle Davis, from Lawrenceville, Ga.

Ole Miss stayed in-state for No. 5 A.J. Brown, though they went to Starkville to get him.