We’re just over a week away from National Signing Day, and it’s time to look back at all the action that has gotten us to this point. Here are the pre-National Signing Day recruiting superlatives for the 2015 class.

Most important mom: Byron Cowart’s Mom

Moms are always important, but we’ve seen the mothers of highly touted recruits get an upgrade in their status in recent years. Whether it was the Landon Collins fiasco on national television or the Alex Collins mess when his mom ran away with his LOI so he couldn’t turn it in to Arkansas, not being in sync with the woman of the family can be ugly.

Byron Cowart is one of the nation’s top recruits and both Auburn and Florida are fighting hard to land him. His mom has been very instrumental throughout the process. It began with her killing Georgia’s chances by not wanting him to be near certain family members in Georgia and has continued with relationships established with coaches at both Auburn and Florida.

When the recruiting dead period ended on January 15th, Florida assistant coaches Kirk Callahan and Terrell Williams wasted no time. They took Cowart’s mom out to Denny’s at 12:01 am. Who doesn’t like Denny’s at midnight?

During his visit to Gainesville this past weekend, Florida fans panicked when they heard Cowart when home early, but the five-star prospect cited his mom needing to get back to work.

Cowart has handled the recruitment process very well. He’s going to make one fan base really happy on National Signing Day. Something tells me that his mom will be fully in sync with the announcement.

Most Active On Social Media: CeCe Jefferson

You might name this category: The recruit enjoying the process the most.

Jefferson could teach a course on how to maximize the hoopla that is recruiting in 2015. For example:

Like Cowart, Jefferson is a five-star defensive end. He’s supposedly narrowed his choices down to Ole Miss and Florida, but frankly, for all we know, Jefferson may announce that he’s heading to Maryland.

What is clear is that Jefferson enjoys the heck out of the process. During his recent visit to Ole Miss, Jefferson was the recipient of a “We Want CeCe” chant during an Ole Miss basketball game. Enjoy the ride, big fella.

Whether it is retweeting his own recruiting ratings, sending out tweets that likely give false hope to various fan bases or just tweeting about random life experiences, Jefferson is on fire and he knows it.

He’s expected to make his announcement on National Signing Day.

Biggest flip flopper: Arden Key

South Carolina fans have a love/hate relationship with Arden Key, a four-star defensive end from Lithonia, GA.

On June 16, 2013, Key committed to the Gamecocks.

On September 22, 2013, Key decommitted from the Gamecocks.

On June 3, 2014, Key committed to the Gamecocks.

On January 6, 2015, you guessed it, Key decommitted from the Gamecocks.

Key took an official visit to South Carolina this past weekend. He’s also considering Georgia, LSU, Auburn and Miami.

Biggest battle: Florida and Auburn

Will Muschamp as the Auburn defensive coordinator certainly plays a part, but Auburn and Florida are going hard after many of the top guys and it’s not all Muschamp related.

The top offensive lineman in the country, Martez Ivey will choose between Florida and Auburn.

Byron Cowart (mentioned above) is likely down to Florida and Auburn.

CeCe Jefferson (mentioned above) is probably down to Ole Miss and Florida, but Auburn has been in the mix, and he and Cowart have made comments about wanting to play together.

Jeffery Holland is a four-star linebacker and has Auburn and Florida as two of his top remaining schools.

Four-star QB Ryan Davis has Florida and Auburn as two of his top schools.

Which school will win out?

Biggest Provider of Home Town False Hope: Damien Harris

Five-star running back Damien Harris is from Berea, KY, and he sure gave the Big Blue Nation some hope as he went through the recruitment process, but in the end, he couldn’t break free of the tractor beam pulling him to Tuscaloosa.

Biggest Package Deal Recipient: Lanard Fournette

Lanard Fournette is committed to LSU. Who?

Meet Lanard, brother of Leonard. No that’s not a typo. Lanard Fournette is a three-star running back. Likely two of the stars are a result of his last name.

Interestingly, he has offers from LSU, Alabama, Miami and Tulane.

In a recent interview, Lanard said the following about he and his brother: “I feel like I can go east and west more than he can. Leonard is more of a north-and-south, downhill back.”

What a tandem!!

Sketchiest Recruitment: Tim Irvin

It’s typically around this time of year when some high school recruit posts a photo of himself with a bunch of cash.

This year, it was Tim Irvin who posted the wad of cash on snapchat following an Auburn visit. The fact that he flipped to Auburn after previously committing to Texas of course resulted in plenty of speculation regarding the decision, the cash and the relationship between the two.

irvin

Be sure to invest your new found cash, Mr. Irvin, in some slow-growth mutual funds. Plan for your future, young man.

Biggest message board conspiracy: Miss State Guy Figures Out Ole Miss Recruiting

This is why we all love college football.

A post on a Mississippi State message board regarding the recruiting tactics of Ole Miss got a lot of attention on places like Reddit and other message boards. In the post, the user says the following:

Orgeron was game-changer for them in recruiting. He just wasnt a HC. Nutts continued the recruiting- but was just riding things out and didnt have the passion anymore. Freezus has come in with the same passion for recruiting as Orgeron and can actually coach a little. Here is Orgeron’s legacy being played out by Freezus:

1. They created a “little black book” of Rebel Alumni across the nation that want to be a part of The Network.

2. Create a list of 25 targets across the nation and get it to The Network.

3. Network member closest to said target finds a way to make contact with that recruit’s family. Find an “in”. Figure out who is going to control the recruitment for the family and see what it will take to get a visit. Pay recruits to visit. Get them on campus

4. Asst coach recruiting said player shares info with local member of The Network and vice versa

5. As the year moves on and the recruiting process progresses- the coaches and The Network start narrowing down who is responding and what the family wants to sign.

6. Set the big Recruit-a-palooza weekend well in advance so Alumni can make plans to be in town that weekend. Always have it coincide with a basketball game if possible. Make Oxford appear busy and populated. Make sure Alumni know faces of these recruits so they give them “handshakes” to make their trip even more exciting. Make the recruits feel like rock stars. Make Oxford seem like the most awesome place in America for that weekend.

Read the rest of the post here.

Most Overblown Status for an assistant coach: T Rob

Travaris Robinson coached defensive backs and was considered the ace recruiter at Florida during the Will Muschamp era. When Muschamp was hired by Auburn, Florida fans knew there was a very real chance that Robinson left Florida to join Muschamp at Auburn. Robinson played football at Auburn, and obviously had a working relationship with Muschamp. The fear was real. T Rob headed to Auburn.

During this period of uncertainty and in the days following the move, you would have thought Florida was closing down its football program. All of a sudden, a guy named T Rob, someone 95% of Florida fans hadn’t heard of until then, was the key to success on the gridiron in Gainesville.

Was T Rob an asset and a great recruiter? Of course. But, Florida had great recruiters before T Rob, and they’ll have great ones after him.

If Auburn lands Ivey, Jefferson and Cowart, I reserve the right to change my mind on this…

Most nervous fan base: Texas A&M

Five-star dual threat QB Kyler Murray has been committed to the Aggies for a year and a half. He’s been identified as Johnny Manziel 2.0, but Kyler Football himself has been doing things to make Texas A&M fans unnecessarily nervous. He took a visit to Texas recently, and it’s been reported that Oregon is pursuing Murray hard as well.

Possibly the biggest risk to Murray’s bright future in College Station, however, is the MLB. Murray is considered a very high draft pick for the 2015 MLB Draft.

In all likelihood, Murray will be an Aggie, but you can’t fault him for enjoying the process just a little, right?

It’s not just Murray, however… from our recent post on the recruiting battles between Texas and Texas A&M, several other big name recruits are keeping the Texas A&M die-hards guessing:

  • Five-star DT Daylon Mack: Mack is the aforementioned former Texas A&M commit. He re-opened his recruitment just hours after Jefferson, one of Mack’s friends, and McNeal picked Texas. Mack seems to have the Aggies back on his radar, but the big defensive tackle has been a bit inconsistent in his stated favorites, adding and dropping LSU from his list, among others.
  • Four-star WR Damarkus Lodge: Lodge is another former TAMU commit, but he dropped his pledge just three months after initially committing to the Aggies. After taking an official visit to College Station two weeks ago, he joined Murray in dropping in at Texas, even tweeting out a picture of what would be his Longhorns jersey.
  • Four-star CB Kris Boyd: Boyd has narrowed his choices down to — guess who? — Texas A&M and Texas. The speedy U.S. Army All-American has taken official visits to both campuses over the last two weeks, increasing the drama leading up to National Signing Day.

Biggest Boom or Bust Scenario: Florida Gators

With the recent change at head coach, Florida finds itself with few commits and a ranking outside the top 50 in recruiting classes.

However, the class could be considered a huge win if they can sign some of the five-stars still in the mix. Martez Ivey, Byron Cowart and CeCe Jefferson are the three main guys still in the mix for the Gators. Signing two or more could mean Signing Day is a huge win for the Gators, but a goose egg will be quite disappointing for a fan base desperately looking for signs that Florida football is headed in the right direction.

Truly the finishing ranking for Florida’s 2015 class could be anywhere from top 15 to outside the top 75. Hey, it’s exciting at least, right?

Biggest Copy/Paste Fail By Recruiting Analyst

This one is easy:

Enjoy National Signing Day!