Tide rolls in recruitment game too
The rich just got richer.
Signing players from 15 states, Alabama Coach Nick Saban continues to have the magic touch in college football recruiting. Both Rivals- .com and Scout.com proclaimed Alabama’s recruiting class No. 1 in the nation on Wednesday.
“They got a stud at every single position,” said Greg Biggins, a national recruiting analyst for Scout.com. “There’s not one single area that they didn’t fill with an impact type of kid. They can recruit nationally unlike anyone right now. They’re on a different level.”
Among Alabama’s signees were six players listed as five-star recruits by Rivals- .com, topped by 6-foot-5, 330-pound lineman Cameron Robinson of West Monroe, La., and 6-4, 260-pound defensive end Da’Shawn Hand of Woodbridge, Va.
“It’s their ability to go any place and get anybody,” said Mike Farrell, Rivals.com national recruiting director.
The Southeastern Conference dominated the top 10 recruiting classes, with seven schools placing in Rivals.com’s top 10 and six making Scout.com’s list. Louisiana State was ranked No. 2, helped by Wednesday’s announcement that top receiver Malachi Dupre from John Curtis High in New Orleans would stay in the state.
Stanford was viewed as having the second-best recruiting class from the Pac-12 Conference, behind USC. Among the Cardinal’s nine four-star signees was defensive end Solomon Thomas of Coppell, Texas, who made his announcement by displaying a small tree. The tree is the Stanford marching band’s mascot.
“It was impressive,” Farrell said of the Cardinal’s recruiting class. “With their academic restrictions, Stanford does an amazing job to finish in the top 15 in the country.”
There seemed to be fewer players who switched schools on the final day.
Unlike last year, no mother ran away with a letter of intent to prevent her son from signing. But a Michigan high school player, defensive end Malik McDowell, announced he would sign with Michigan State in apparent conflict with his parents’ recommendation.
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National recruiting rankings
A consensus of rankings published by Rivals.com, Scout.com and ESPN:
*--* Rk. School 1. ALABAMA 2. LOUISIANA STATE 3. FLORIDA STATE 4. TENNESSEE 5. OHIO STATE 6. TEXAS A&M 7. FLORIDA 8. AUBURN 9. NOTRE DAME 10. GEORGIA Others 12. USC 14. STANFORD 20. ARIZONA STATE 21. UCLA *--*
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