Ah, another National Signing Day is in the books. There's always a lot to glean from days like this, so let's dive right in.
Here are 10 takeaways from this year's National Signing Day:
The SEC is still king
The SEC continued its reign as the country’s premiere recruiting conference in 2016. Of Rivals’ top 15 classes of this cycle, seven come from the SEC. Alabama, of course, leads the way at No. 1, with LSU (No. 6), Ole Miss (No. 7), Auburn (No. 9), Georgia (No. 12), Florida (No. 14) and Tennessee (No. 15) all finishing with outstanding classes as well.
And while the SEC’s depth cannot be matched, the Big Ten and ACC made their presences felt near the top in this cycle. Ohio State and Michigan finished at No. 3 and 4 respectively while Florida State’s class was No. 2 with national runner-up Clemson coming in at No. 5. Additionally, several signing day commitments boosted the classes of USC and UCLA, who rounded out the Top 10 at Nos. 8 and 10, respectively.
Alabama's dominance continues
Alabama did it again. For the seventh time in the last 10 years, Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide finished with the No. 1 class in Rivals’ team rankings.
Alabama landed a whopping nine commitments on Wednesday, including in-state linebackers Ben Davis and Lyndell Wilson and Washington D.C. defensive end Terrell Hall – all five-star prospects. That flurry of signatures gave the Tide 24 signees in this class, including five five-stars and 10 four-star prospects.
Alabama’s five five-stars is more than any other program.
USC had a down year, but finished strong
When stacked up against 2015’s top-ranked class, USC took a step back in 2016. The Trojans had a tumultuous season with the unceremonious departure of Steve Sarkisian and finishing with six losses, but Clay Helton and company finished out the recruiting cycle with a bang, reeling in six more commitments on signing day.
Five-star cornerback Jack Jones led the way by committing in a video with Snoop Dogg. The Trojans also added defensive end Connor Murphy, running back Vavae Malepeai and offensive lineman E.J. Price, all of whom are four-star prospects and members of the Rivals250.
Michigan owns New Jersey
Michigan made a lot of noise with its extravagant “Signing of the Stars” event on Wednesday, but not as much noise as Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines made in the state of New Jersey.
Everybody knows about No. 1 overall prospect Rashan Gary, who signed with UM over Clemson, but Michigan also earned the commitments of five of the top eight prospects in the state. Running back Kareem Walker, defensive end Ron Johnson and wide receivers Ahmir Mitchell and Brad Hawkins – all four-stars – plus three-star defensive lineman Michael Dwunfour have signed with the Wolverines.
Michigan also made noise with six commitments from Florida and three from California.
Texas prospects are staying home
The Texas schools, in the Big 12 especially, did a great job keeping the state’s best prospects at home. Of the Top 50 prospects in the state, 32 are signed to play for Texas schools. The classes of Baylor (20 of 22), Texas (19 of 24) and TCU (13 of 22) are littered with in-state talent. Texas A&M brought in 15 in-state products as well.
All of this left Oklahoma on the outside looking in for recruits from the Longhorn State. The Sooners signed just three Texas prospects in this class. For perspective, Bob Stoops brought in 11 in 2015 and at least 10 in seven of the last eight classes.
The lack of success in Texas, including four-star DB Parrish Cobb’s decision to flip to Baylor on Tuesday, led to a down recruiting year for Oklahoma, which finished with the 24th-best class. The Sooners can still move up, however, as five-star LB Caleb Kelly is set to announce Wednesday night.
Texas, Georgia finish with splashes
Speaking of Texas, Charlie Strong and company had a heck of a day. The Longhorns had the fifth-best class in the state when the week began, but landed a whopping nine commitments in the past two days, including seven on Wednesday from Brandon Jones, Jeffrey McCullough, Marcel Southall, Jordan Elliott, Chris Brown, Erick Fowler, and Chris Daniels. Fowler, a five-star linebacker from Manor, Texas, is the best of that bunch.
Texas hasn’t had much success on the field to start off Strong’s tenure, but if he keeps bringing in top-end talent like this, the Longhorns will turn it around sooner rather than later.
Like Texas, Georgia also finished off its class with a bang. New head coach Kirby Smart showed his recruiting chops in a big way by landing five-star athlete Mecole Hardman and four-star defensive tackle Michail Carter. Both are in-state prospects, as are new DT David Marshall and wideout Tyler Simmons. Simmons flipped from Alabama.
Clemson's momentum carried over into recruiting
It’s amazing how success on the field translates to the recruiting trail, huh?
Clemson has consistently recruited well under Dabo Swinney, but the program ascended to a new level by advancing all the way to the College Football Playoff National Championship. This time around, Swinney brought in the No. 5 class in the country, highlighted by linebacker Rahshaun Smith and defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, both five-star prospects.
The big news of the day for Clemson was landing the signature of four-star cornerback Trayvon Mullen, the No. 117 prospect in the country.
Duke's best class ever?
Since the inception of Rivals’ rankings in 2002, a Duke recruiting class had never finished higher than ninth in the ACC (2009 and 2012). This year, Duke boasted its best-ever recruiting class, jumping up to No. 6 in the conference and No. 31 overall.
Scott Bracey, a four-star wide receiver from Richmond, Va., is the crown jewel of the class, coming in at No. 67 in the Rivals100. The Blue Devils also received signatures from three other four-star recruits: offensive linemen Julian Santos and Robert Kraeling and linebacker Koby Quansah.
There was no drama for the Duke coaching staff this year, either. In fact, according to Laura Keeley of the Raleigh News & Observer, Duke received all 19 of its signed NLIs by 8:27 a.m. ET. Now that’s efficient.
LSU owns Louisiana
LSU brings in great classes year after year, and it does it by dominating the state of Louisiana. Of LSU’s 23 signees, 16 are from Louisiana. Of those 16, 11 are in the Top 16 of Rivals’ state rankings and are all four-star recruits.
You’ll win a lot of games bringing in talent like that.
USF, Houston win on social media
National Signing Day gives programs a chance to show off its talent in the social media department (if there is such a thing.) South Florida and Houston were two programs that caught our attention.
Seriously, how cool are these GIFs from USF?
We got to see what it was like in the war room behind the scenes, too. Willie Taggart was pumped to land four-star wideout Darnell Salomon.
Houston’s social media strategy was just as good. The Cougs brought in local rappers like Paul Wall and Slim Thug to welcome signees.
Famous athletes like J.J. Watt and Dallas Keuchel were also involved.
Really cool stuff.
Oh, and honorable mention goes to Boston College coach Steve Addazio for this effort.
Washington State did well, too.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
