The Early Signing Period is done and as expected it put a major dent in the traditional signing day with signings hitting around the 75 percent mark and leaving the future of old signing day in doubt.
Number of unsigned verbally committed players now drops below 500. We have 447 in our database which includes service academies who don’t actually sign so that number is actually lower than 447. #EarlySigningPeriod
— Tom Luginbill ?? ? (@TomLuginbill) December 21, 2017
At the end of the day, it appears that the Early Signing Period has probably done more good than anything and it’s here to stay. Will adjustments be made? Sure. Will there be an even earlier signing period before the start of the high school football season like Jimbo Fisher suggested? Possibly. But the bottom line is the recruiting cycle moved up significantly this week and programs will have to adjust accordingly.
So without further ado, let’s talk about the Winners and losers and Saban of the first early signing period.
Biggest winner: Glory, glory Georgia
Kirby Smart treated the Early Signing Day like it was the only signing day that mattered and set up the program to get maximum exposure through high-profile signings that left the Bulldogs with the No. 1 rated class in the nation.
The Bulldogs held on to 5-star quarterback Justin Fields and 4-star running back James Cook despite late overtures from other programs. They added elite 5-star offensive linemen Jamaree Salyer and Cade Mays, a former Tennessee commit, to centerpiece one of the best offensive line recruiting classes in recent memory.
Smart is an absolute monster on the recruiting trail and he has put the rest of the SEC on notice by winning all the top recruiting battles in the state of Georgia.
Bigger winner: Dan Mullen
Emory Jones, a 4-star quarterback, might have been enamored with FSU, but Florida gave him the best chance to see the field early, if not immediately, and the Franklin, Ga., product chose the Gators.
This was a recruit Mullen had to have and it justified his move to Gainesville. He was hired by Florida to bring in quarterback prospects and fix the offense; Jones gives the Gators a quarterback who fits into Mullen’s scheme and someone he can build the offense around.
I would be surprised if Jones isn’t the Gators starter in Mullen’s opener at The Swamp. Getting Ole Miss wide receiver Van Morrison as a transfer should also provide immediate help in the passing game.
QB Emory Jones @eXjones6 with the Chomp pic.twitter.com/BGBMkqDfyV
— Andrew Spivey (@AndrewSpiveyGC) December 20, 2017
Also, Friday, former 5-star wide receiver Trevon Grimes announced that he will transfer from Ohio State added another quality receiver to his haul.
Other winners: Programs with stable coaching staffs
For a guy who said he didn’t like the Early Signing Period, Ed Orgeron had no problems taking advantage of it by signing 19 of the 21 verbally committed prospects, including 5-star wide receiver Terrace Marshall. In reality, the ESP should always be a boon for LSU given how successful the program is with in-state prospects.
Will Muschamp predicted he’d get about 12 early signings and South Carolina signed 20, including 3-star linebacker Rosendo Louis and 3-star safety Israel Mukuamu, who were both late flips from FSU.
Kentucky signed 20 of its 21 verbal commits. Vanderbilt signed 16 of its 18 verbal commits. Auburn had a quiet signing day relatively speaking but signed 15 of its 20 verbal commits, including 11 4-star prospects.
But staffs at Kentucky and South Carolina have gotten the majority of their classes signed and delivered and don’t have to worry about those players being poached in January.
Now for the flip side …
Winner and loser: Ole Miss and Matt Luke
Luke got a couple of early signing wins, especially with 4-star quarterback Matt Corral and 4-star wide receiver Elijah Moore, who flipped to the Rebels from Florida and Georgia, respectively.
That should help offset the losses of Shea Patterson (Michigan) and Van Jefferson (Florida) but the Rebels still have about 8-9 spots to fill and the talent pool is drying up quickly. The top players are probably going to be scared off by Ole Miss’ sanctions so the staff could be battling with G5 teams to fill out their roster.
Short-term losers: Jimbo Fisher and Jeremy Pruitt
In the long-term I think both coaches and programs will be fine. But in the short team Fisher lost 4-star defensive lineman Bobby Brown on the first day and Pruitt won’t have Mays to join Trey Smith on the offensive line. Pruitt did well, especially considering the state of the Tennessee program when he got there, and signed a couple of junior college prospects to get to 12 total.
Fisher tried to get in late on Terrace Marshall, but it was too late to pry that 5-star wide receiver from the hometown Tigers.
And Fisher wasn’t able to bring any recruiting relationships with him from FSU because by all accounts he and his staff stopped recruiting in early October when it was evident that Fisher was either leaving or would have to make major staff changes if he stayed.
All that being said I expect both coaches to get momentum in January and close strong.
Losers with work left to do: Arkansas
Woof, the Razorbacks will end early recruiting at the bottom of the SEC and 69th nationally. It’s going to be a rebuild in Fayetteville and Chad Morris is going to need to time to figure out what he’s got and what he needs to make this first class successful.
Getting in-state 4-star quarterback Connor Noland is a good piece to build around but there’s a lot of work left to be done.
And finally … there’s a separate category for …
Nick Saban
No one really knew what to expect for the Early Signing Period, but it seemed like more coaches, i.e. Smart, Muschamp and Orgeron, decided to go all-in on early signing while Saban seemed much more non-committal.
His plea earlier in the week came off like a guy that didn’t want to accept the changes in the recruiting cycle.
Now let’s not cry for Alabama; the Tide signed 14 and could get one more with former Texas A&M commit Bobby Brown.
They have the sixth-ranked class in the nation and second best in the SEC. But Nick Saban is like Ricky Bobby – if you ain’t first, you’re last. Since Saban arrived at Alabama they did their damage in January. They would poach recruits, hosts all the blue-chippers in one mid-January weekend and replace previously committed players with ones that evaluated higher.
Early signing will force Saban to adjust his strategy. But there’s more: Alabama isn’t the only major player in town any more.
Smart has gotten Georgia to place even more resources into football and he’s rewarded them with an SEC title. Texas A&M is going to give Jimbo Fisher anything he needs beyond the $75 million guaranteed salary. Tennessee and Florida, despite their strange coaching searches, are going to do whatever it takes to get back to an elite level.
The landscape around Saban is changing. If Clemson coach Dabo Swinney will tell a signee that the Ohio State coach Urban Meyer has one foot out of the door at age 53 just imagine what he’d say about the 66-year-old Saban.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
