Much like the stock market, recruiting cycles are filled with streaks and dry spells.

It makes for some great narratives for college football writers, especially during the long summer months when off-field arrests and “talking season” among coaches represent the biggest headlines.

But most of those are isolated plot points within a much bigger graph.

Although it’s apparent that some teams work ahead, while some wait (perhaps to better evaluate their needs), it’s difficult to assign much value to short-term trends.

The goal, in reality, is to reach the fall of 2016 and beyond with a collection of players who will help a team succeed on the football field. Whether a team leads the SEC in June commitments won’t do much to determine win-loss record. But momentum and buzz sometimes can be influential factors with respect to recruiting decisions.

Here’s a look at how many commitments each SEC team has received by month during the 2016 cycle.

2016 SEC COMMITMENTS BY MONTH

Team Pre-April April May June July*
Alabama 3 4 2 8 3
Arkansas 2 3 1 4 2
Auburn 2 1 2 6 1
Florida 7 0 5 2 4
Georgia 6 2 3 1 2
Kentucky 15 1 0 2 2
LSU 8 1 1 7 1
Mississippi State 8 0 0 2 4
Missouri 0 3 1 7 1
Ole Miss 10 1 1 1 5
South Carolina 4 0 0 1 8
Tennessee 5 2 1 4 1
Texas A&M 3 3 1 6 0
Vanderbilt 0 2 1 5 2
SEC Totals 73 23 19 56 36

*Through July 29.

  • Here are the SEC leaders by month: Kentucky (pre-April), Alabama (April/June), Florida (May) and South Carolina (July).
  • Kentucky (15) and Ole Miss (10) got a fantastic jump on the 2016 class, corralling double-digit commitments before April Fool’s Day. At that point, Missouri and Vanderbilt didn’t have a single ’16 class pledge.
  • You may have noticed South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier’s impromptu press conference July 22 deriding his “enemies.” Since then, the Gamecocks have secured a string of commitments. From March 28 to July 13, the team received a single commitment. From July 14 to July 29, eight players committed to South Carolina.
  • The Gamecocks aren’t the only hot team. Alabama (12) and Florida (11) lead the SEC in 2016 commitments since May 1. Both teams have climbed the rankings in a significant way.
  • Texas A&M is the only SEC school without a July commitment. The Aggies also lost five-star offensive tackle Gregory Little, a decommitment who many believe will eventually pledge to Alabama. Not a great month for coach Kevin Sumlin and A&M, which has fallen out of the national Top 25, according to the 247Sports composite team rankings.
  • Mississippi State and South Carolina didn’t land any commitments in April or May.
  • Every SEC team now holds at least 10 commitments. That compares favorably to the biggest stragglers in the ACC (Georgia Tech — 6), Big 12 (Iowa State — 3), Big Ten (Indiana — 9) and Pac-12 (Colorado — 5).