SEC
Signing Day had it all. Winners, losers, crazy family moments and plenty of staged events that probably sounded like a good idea at the time.
How should we remember it all?
Here’s one word that best describes every SEC team’s 2018 recruiting class.
Alabama
Word: Meh.
Why? Alabama’s recruiting reign was at risk long before Wednesday, but nobody expected the Tide to slip all the way to … seventh? (Think about how ridiculous it is that people are actually forecasting doom and gloom because Nick Saban only landed another top 10 class. Such is the standard and expectation in Tuscaloosa.)
The coup de grace was that Saban couldn’t even keep the best in-state player. Justyn Ross, a 4-star WR from Phenix City, chose Clemson.
Arkansas
Word: Predictable.
Why? What, exactly, were you expecting? Arkansas’ classes typically fall in the mid to low 20s nationally — and that’s a best-case scenario. The Hogs’ last Top 20 class was in 2004, when they finished 18th.
Clearly, there was nothing “best-case” about the scenario Chad Morris walked into two months ago, but he still managed to snag 4-star QB Connor Noland. He might not win the job in 2018, but Noland is the sixth-rated QB entering the SEC this cycle.
Auburn
Word: Explosive.
Why: Auburn’s class finished No. 12 — the first time Gus Malzahn ended up outside the top 10. But it’s heavy on playmakers.
QB Joey Gatewood and the Cam Newton comparisons generate headlines, but Malzahn also added two of the top 15 running backs in the country and three of the top 35 receivers in the class.
Florida
Word: Fun.
Why: It’s been awhile since we said that, no? Dan Mullen also was in a tight spot, trying to quickly build a respectable class while fending off national pursuers in the most talent-rich state in the country.
It’s a smaller class, but it’s offensive-minded, just like the man who put it together.
Emory Jones could win the starting QB job this season, and Jacob Copeland’s dramatic Signing Day decision gives the Gators two of the top 16 receivers in the class. Only three other programs in America can make that claim.
Gators fans wanted points. They’re coming.
Georgia
Word: Historic.
Why? What more is there to say? The ruthless Dawgs signed seven 5-star prospects, the most since 247Sports.com began tracking recruits in 2000.
Kentucky
Word: Fearless.
Why: There isn’t enough in-state talent to keep Kentucky in the hunt, so Mark Stoops headed north and took on the two biggest names in the Big Ten.
All three of the Cats’ 4-star prospects came from Ohio or Michigan. That included LB Christopher Oats, who flipped from Ohio State.
The other two 4-stars will help anchor the Cats’ offensive line for years.
LSU
Word: Perseverance.
Why: No. 15? That’s usually LSU’s final AP ranking, not its recruiting ranking.
This Tigers class is the lowest-ranked since finishing 21st in 2002. The Tigers added just two players Wednesday. Ed Orgeron did his best to put on a happy face.
Myles Brennan has to like the fact the Tigers added the No. 3 receiver in the class, 6-2 Terrace Marshall. Stealing him from Alabama was all the sweeter. He’ll be paired with JaMarr Chase, who is 6-1 and ranked the No. 15 receiver in the class.
“(Chase) and Terrace Marshall remind me of Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham when we signed them back in the day,” Orgeron told reporters. “I wasn’t here, but I remember when we signed them. We expect that tandem to be great.”
Losing longtime commit Patrick Surtain to Alabama was disappointing, but DBU’s class did include Kelvin Joseph, a 4-star safety.
Mississippi State
Word: Unbelievable.
Why? All Joe Moorhead did, in short order, was replace the most successful coach in program history and quickly build/retain a recruiting class that rivaled any of the recent ones Dan Mullen constructed.
The Bulldogs’ class ranked No. 27 nationally and included 5 4-star high school prospects.
One of those was a QB, too.
That’s impressive considering Mullen’s most famous recruits — Dak Prescott and Nick Fitzgerald — were lightly regarded 3-star prospects.
Missouri
Word: Mundane.
Why: Every prospect the Tigers signed was a 3-star recruit.
Save for three recruits overall, it’s been that way for each of Barry Odom’s three recruiting classes.
Year
National rank
SEC rank
2018
41
12
2017
43
13
2016
43
13
Ole Miss
Word: Surprising.
Why? Given all the storms surrounding the program, Matt Luke was able to reel in a 4-star QB and two 4-star WRs. All three from out of state, too.
All things considered, that’s better than could be expected for a program still handcuffed by NCAA penalties.
South Carolina
Word: Insufficient.
Why? The Gamecocks’ class was good and solid, but the SEC East landscape has changed. Dramatically.
Georgia just landed the No. 1 class in America. That’s the first time since Florida’s 2010 class that an SEC East team finished ahead of every West team.
In that context, the Gamecocks didn’t do enough to keep pace.
Tennessee
Word: Salvaged.
Why? In a 6-month span in which everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong, Tennessee still finished No. 20, one spot behind South Carolina, one spot ahead of … Michigan.
If this is rock bottom for the Jeremy Pruitt era, the Vols will happily take it.
Texas A&M
Word: Impressive.
Why? Context is everything. Jimbo Fisher got there late in the process and found that rival Texas had planted its flag. Fisher is no stranger to recruiting wars. He eventually conquered Florida. If he can work that magic again in Texas, the Aggies will be national contenders.
This class included 13 4-stars, and the No. 18 national ranking wasn’t terribly far from Kevin Sumlin’s final three classes.
Vanderbilt
Word: Audacious.
Why? Derek Mason challenged the staff to swing big. The Commodores landed three 4-star prospects, matching the combined total they signed in the three previous recruiting classes.
One of those earlier 4-star gets was Kyle Shurmur, however.
Shurmur is entering his senior season, and the ‘Dores still haven’t landed an obvious replacement.
“Insufficient” best describes the content of this entry. I am sincere and honest when I say I’ve seen better content in a gallon of milk with a two month old stamped expiration date.
I’m all for banging on bad/lackluster SDS articles, but your post was more “insufficient” than that of this article. All you did was state an opinion and crack a bad joke. Never once did you offer up WHY you think this was “insufficient”. Make SDS better; not worse.
He thinks it’s insufficient because the writer didn’t praise his team and it pissed him off. He wanted them to say it was a great class for USCe and they are on their way to an SEC East crown. However, I do think South Carolina’s class is a little better than it sounds in this article.
Don’t trip over that ego on the way out. Congratulations on the class ranking.
@RoosterC Wasn’t planning on going anywhere. And no ego, just an opinion like everyone else on here.
What ever you say, Sparky.
Because South Carolina isn’t a recruiting hub, but they still managed a top 20 class. I wouldn’t say that’s ‘insufficient’.
Exactly. There are limitations being at S.C. as someone who is familiar with those limitations, Muschamp overachieved.
How about some cheese with that whine? You are SC, Small Carolina and do not have the base to recruit with the big guys, especially since Georgia is off limits now to outside teams for 4 and 5* players. Get used to it. See you in September.
USC and UGA have the same amount of titles in the last three decades. Stop blowing your load because you made the dance. Fact – Bama wins them. Opinion – Georgia might win one at some point in the future. Stop picking on USC fans you fn natty losing punk. Did I just read that correctly, is a losing punk from Georgia trying to bully someone. #5 in 9. I was at the game. I saw Tua drop that beautiful pass into Smiths hands in OT live. I saw the weak dawg fans that where barking at me all night just hang their heads and leave as we got to watch the stage get built and Saban smile. You are pathetic. Same you as your non title winning dawgs. You disgrace the army as well. We all know your punk ass never saw combat.
HA! GOT EEM!!
#18, you prove beyond a doubt that winning does not bring class.
UGARMYRet….. Well you have already proved that losing doesn’t bring class…… Class shouldn’t be something you try to discuss on SDS…. You should stick to crying, and blaming the refs…
I can confirm that UGARYMYRet is one of the worst fans we have on here. He is not well thought of in the Georgia community.
Please do not judge us all by him. I do not believe he is a true fan and he nor his ideas represent us true fans.
Thanks for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Georgia
BTW #18, since you decided to spit on my military service and insult it, why not tell us about your time in uniform and some of your combat tours? (“You disgrace the army as well. We all know your punk ass never saw combat.”)
Yet when someone says a disparaging remark about UGA, you are on it like white on rice. Hypocritical behavior my friend. The author didn’t consider we are on our third year of a rebuild and that we have improved each year since 2015. We are on the way up in on field achievement and recruiting. Coach Muschamp wasn’t hired with a silver spoon in his mouth like Kirby was. “Small” Carolina had much less talent than UGA but still maintained less of a loss margin than other teams UGA played last year. Id say we are not where UGA is and we don’t recruit with as much ease as Florida and Tenn, but we are holding our own which is greater than insufficient.
Hypocritical behavior to defend Georgia from a Georgia fan? That must be a Carolina philosophy. BTW, my many relatives around Charlotte tell me there is only one “Carolina” and they don’t wear red.
Yeah, hypocritical. The only school that wears red in the SEC is full of dog squeeze.
It’s red to everyone outside of Columbia East.
We landed 17 4*s and still finished out of the top 10 at 12th in the country. There was a lot of talent out there but not so much in Alabama as there usually is. Our biggest disappointment was not getting more O-linemen.
One stud at OT would have made it a phenomenal class. The point separation between class #6 and class#12 was paper thin. If Auburn would have landed Ross, it would have jumped them up to #7 on 247.
#5 in 9.
our recruiting sucks so bad, it needed a graph to demonstrate. How are we not last in the SEC? Pretty sure even Vandy got better guys coming in.
Still trying to overcome the damage done by your players a few years ago with the threatened boycott. Very bad for everyone concerned.
People feeling/ wanting to be empowered isn’t always a bad thing, America was quite literally founded on those same principals. But I guess since Missouri football players aren’t considered founding fathers you don’t wrap your lips around their loins.
You can be as crude and vulgar as you want but what they did was a near fatal blow to both the team and the university itself.
You guys either didn’t read or forgot what happened immediately after the Pinkel family strike. 1. Pinkel was fired. 2. Faculty and Administrators who were enablers had the money for their salaries written out of the budget by the State Legislature. The BYU game happened and everyone behaved. Numerous players were demoted by younger players. Even the Wall Street Journal acknowledges that the event was a hoax ! Missouri’s classes are exactly like a knowledgeable football fan would expect after Pinkel was “retired” and Odom was hired with zero HC experience. If anything, the post hunger-strike Missouri world is way better than anyone could have imagined. Not just football, but the whole athletic program is more highly rated than it has ever been. The basketball program is better today than ever since Norm Stewart, possible exception the class Haith inherited. Wresting in the hunt again for a National Championship. Women’s programs are looking better to recruits nation wide every year. Nationally recognized sports writers are saying Missouri national brand is stronger than it ever has been and climbing. Just because a hater wants something to be true, doesn’t cancel out a Missouri River flood of facts.
Wolfman, only the retired Army LEG from UGA brought it up that I can tell.
I guess that describes our class pretty well. I was a little disappointed but 1or 2 players would have made the difference. So salvaged seems reasonable. I don’t understand the SC comment either though. SC has rarely been a recruiting juggernaut. Spurrier did well I think. I hate SC and muschamp (in a sports way guys) but the class seems pretty solid to me.comparing them to ugas class really isn’t fair. UGA has been to tge mountain top and is considered an sec blue blood. SC is still climbing trying to get there.
Thanks Fuzzy, I didn’t have time to type enough of a response to help the UF fans.
Good get on John Mincey, I wish we could have gotten his favor.
We lost a few we thought we would get. He was a very welcome addition.
Joseph will play corner for LSU. The only reason he played safety in HS was because teams could just avoid his side of the field when he was on the island and free safety allowed him to roam the field. Surtain sure would have been nice, but he did what he thought was best for him. Orgeron’s only mistake in recruiting was holding a spot for a qb that was not committed. He should have given that spot to Goodrich when he had the chance. That, and he should not have trusted Surtain. If he was committed to LSU, he would have signed during the early period after being committed for two years.
I like how he says Bama had a ‘meh’ class then immediately says how ridiculous it is to say that about a top 10 class. Which is it?
Also, Auburn had a lower than usual ranking (Malzahn’s worst ever) but he calls it ‘explosive’.
Agree. I would kill for a meh class like that this year. Guess when you have so much success anything less than #1 at everything football is jaw dropping to this writer and some UGA fans LOL.
I know there are writers who have no idea how much better the SEC is than the Big 10, Big 12, and PAC. These writers think that when you finish tied for sixth in this league you can still be made of “mundane” classes. Keep trying writers, maybe some day you will have a mind of your own, capable of adult logic. Missouri’s classes rated about the same when they beat Oklahoma State in the Cottonbowl, and Minnesota in the Citrus Bowl. Just in case you want to dismiss this argument a Missouri thing.. South Carolina is another program that makes this one-brain cell story obvious. And Kentucky’s classes have had more than courage ever since Stoops arrived. Finally the question about Florida’s class gets no answer from the word “fun”. Florida will do well but most fans want to know if they “clean” now.
LMAO^
ROFL!
Wolfman, while I agree that a 3 star athlete is nothing to sneeze at, that fact is that the elite programs are never in a rebuilding phase like us…they simply reload every year and come out firing on all cylinders. The guys we get take about 3 years to develop into really good players, and when our starters get injured we can’t replace them very easily. On the other hand, Alabama had half their defense on the injured list and still won the NC. That’s the difference, and that’s why our 2018 class of pure 3 star athletes is, by comparison, mundane. We’re still in the top 40 and there are a bunch of D1 schools looking up at us though, so we’ll have to see what we have.
There’s a reason why I can already predict that the top 10 teams next year will include Bama, UGA, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Auburn, Clemson, and most likely Penn State, Miami, and Notre Dame. There’s always one to two surprises, one of those rebuilt teams coming out of nowhere and kicking butt — Like Wisconsin last year or Mizzou in 2013.
That is one of the best perspectives I have read on this bog in the last few years.
There is no 3 Star athlete, except in fairly tale land. There is a very small group, less than a half dozen, athletes per position, so talented that nobody needs a recruiting service to Star rate them….. after that there is a huge pool of talent where the college the coaches who will be teaching them have to decide if they have a physical and mental set that works. So while your idea would make sense for less than a half dozen extremely successful programs in some years, it doesn’t hold true for the over-whelming picture of college football. It certainly doesn’t hold true for the ridiculous one-word descriptions used in this story.
I am forgetful in my old age. Please remind me when the last time Mizzou won anything important. Tossing out names from other lack luster programs does not make you better. The SEC made a huge mistake when they let you cupcakes in. The recruiting and TV market in your state is nowhere near worth the revenue you get to have drip on you from the Tide.
You stupid POS, you trying to bully Missouri here? You are more than forgetful, looks like extreme dementia that causes you to blurt out crap and nonsense. Once bingo is done, back to your room and stay there. (You want a personal battle here, you came to the right place you stupid piece of….) (You disgrace the army as well. We all know your punk ass never saw combat.)
You’re no better. You go around posting stupid $hit just like he does. You already attack posters on SDS….. You should just fade away like UGA did in the second half…..
#18 – You seem to have this delusion that every college football is capable of being in the same stratosphere as the elite. The fact is that there are WAY more schools in our country that are just like Mizzou, and very few like Bama. We can’t all be powerhouses that live in hotbeds of 4 and 5 star athletes, it’s just not possible.
Mizzou came to the SEC a proud program, and gave up our rivalries and traditions. Expecting southern hospitality, we have only seen ugliness from other fan bases. Even with 2 SEC East championships we’re still looked at as though we can’t compete here, as though the SEC is just too awesome for us. We have proved you wrong time and again and yet we still hear it. Tennessee, one of the “blue blood” programs is only 1-5 against us since our arrival.
Texas made the BIG 12 conference toxic and we left. If you think Bama could survive in the SEC without the other schools, you’re mistaken. You call us a cupcake, forgetting we played you in Atlanta just 4 short years ago. Every conference has their 2 or 3 elite programs and many average programs, stop acting like the SEC is different just because it has the Tide. If you want to keep your “drippings” by all means switch to the BIG 12 and fight with Texas over it.
Please don’t judge the SEC by the so called Bama fans you see here nor the butt hurt Tennessee fans. I have said here before I am happy to have both you and the Aggies in the conference. We were at the first Missouri SEC game vs Georgia and have never been treated better. We were at your game vs Bama in the GA Dome pulling for you to win. Alabama is in the first stages of fade and they hate it because once you get past Bama college football, there is NOTHING in that state to live for. Tennessee is buried in the swamp of nothingness and can’t find their way out. They lash out at everyone but sink deeper and deeper. So now a new contender has arrived on the scene in Athens and the long knives are out. So stay in the fight, you do have friends here and we do know who is soon going out with the trash.
“Fun” F*?king Up Nobody Uf is a joke
Insufficient? Top 20 class the only disappointing about this class is the loss of channing tinndal and Xavier Thomas and i guess Henry but other than that im proud of what Muschamp accomplished this year
You should be proud, Muschanp is doing well and South Carolina’s program could go from division contender to SEC champ in less than two years.
Alabama and Georgia is widening the gap as far as talent in the SEC. Until other teams match what they have, this will be a Alabama and Georgia competition in the SEC for the next couple of years. Right now the only way you can defeat these two teams is to out coach them in games. Otherwise it is not going to happen any time soon.
Kentucky.
FEARLESS.
Yep, that sums it up.
No fear that any other college is going to steal away any of our 16th highest paid coaching staff in FBS football. Seems most teams would rather play with 11 men on the field when you’re going against a team you haven’t beat in FORTY years.
And no FEAR that any other school would give a $250,000 bonus for what amounted to beating a FCS school.
But back to recruiting.
FEARLESS describes the fact you can’t find at least ONE player from a Kentucky high school to cast his lot with your team. Seems out of state schools found their talent good enough to fill their rosters.
FEARLESS in going into the state of Ohio and go toe to toe with Youngstown State, Akron, Ball State to get a flock of three star players.
Yea, we got a four star, but wonder if it would be easier to start at Kentucky, a team who is happier that a pig in slop to GET TO A BOWL, or at Ohio State who was disappointed in not playing for a national championship?
FEARLESS to drip into the JUCO ranks to pick up their second quarterback. Yeah, that takes guts. AT least they didn’t have to waste time recruiting one developing him inside the system. Quarterback coach? Yea, the staff says we have one. Why? lol, who knows?
FEARLESS describes Kentucky football probably better than any word in the dictionary. Certainly there is no fear among the coaches of getting fired. Just show up, and draw you salary.
The athletic director isn’t going to be replaced. Not when you can convince down sizing the stadium will increase attendance.
It’s Kentucky football.
Nothing expected.
Therefore no disappointments.
Yea, we’re FEARLESS.
Tennessee: Screwed
Seatonda: buttwad
Fuzzyvol: daydreamer
Not sure why Tennessee’s is ‘salvaged’ while TAMU’s is ‘impressive.’ While Pruitt did salvage a class he had far less time on the job than Jimbo and they didn’t finish terribly far apart at #18 and #20.