The big day is in the books. National Signing Day brings a few surprises but for Texas A&M, most of the hay was already in the barn. The Aggies did well in addressing pressing needs and finished just outside of the top 10 nationally, according to 247Sports.com.

Overall rank: 12

SEC rank: 6

5-stars: 0

4-stars: 9

3-stars: 18

Here are five takeaways from the Aggies’ 2017 class:

Line bulk: Getting bigger, longer and leaner was the priority with this class, and it was addressed. In all, 10 of the 27 in the Class of 2017 are linemen, including five on the offensive side of the football.

“We set out at the beginning to not only increase our front, but the profile of our front; to be bigger on the offensive line,” head coach Kevin Sumlin said. “I think we achieved that. There were some tough decisions towards the end of recruiting based on that, but it worked out for us.”

Going JC for DE help: It has to be a bit unnerving to lose the likes of Myles Garrett and Daeshon Hall in the same year. So the Aggies have replenished the position with three 3-star athletes in this year’s class. That’s replenish, not replace – there’s no replacing that duo. But Sumlin plucked the No. 2-rated defensive end in the class by going the JUCO route with Micheal Clemons.

LB addressed: A pair of 4-star linebackers already enrolled in the school has to bring a smile to the face of DC John Chavis. They are two of three linebackers the Aggies picked up in this year’s class. That should help shore up a position which has gotten its share of criticism over the past couple of seasons.

“Those three linebackers are very athletic, very physical, have a great frame, can play the game and they are smart, too,” Sumlin said.

QB help: The quarterback position will be up for grabs next season with Jake Hubenak the only returning player with any experience. The Aggies brought in a couple of talented signal-callers last season and added a couple more in this year’s class as well. Can 4-star QB Kellen Mond compete? Or what about 3-star QB Connor Blumrick? Both are already on campus, and that should make for a very interesting spring.

Overall: On the surface, a No. 12 ranking nationally isn’t too bad. But upon further review, that ranking is just slightly above middle-of-the-pack as far as SEC programs go – sixth out of 14 teams. Furthermore, it ranks just fourth among the seven SEC West teams.

So, unless Sumlin and his staff can coach them up, Aggies fans can expect mediocrity in the SEC with continued classes like this one. Granted, it’s an improvement over last year’s class that ranked No. 18 nationally and only eighth in the SEC, but it still doesn’t compare with the powers in the strongest conference in the country.