Welcome to the first-ever Early Signing Period for college football recruiting. If you don’t know what to expect, that’s OK. Neither do the college coaches going through it and neither do the high school prospects doing the signing. This is new to all of us. But to get you ready, the least we can do is preview a few of the most compelling stories to keep an eye out for over the course of the next 72 hours.
Who’s No. 1?
According to the 247Sports Composite Team Recruiting Rankings, Ohio State has the No. 1 class in the country as the early signing period begins. Will it finish with the No. 1 class at the end of the early signing period? If they don't, the Buckeyes gives up their spot as the odds-on favorite to land the No. 1 class in February.
There are some candidates to put together furious finishes in January that would challenge the Buckeyes for the No. 1 class but only one team looks like it has the juice to top Ohio State during the early signing period, and that’s the Georgia Bulldogs. Ohio State is in danger of losing safety Jaiden Woodbey and quarterback Emory Jones from its commit list on Wednesday and it’s in a dogfight for uncommitted No. 1 offensive tackle Jackson Carman.
Meanwhile, Georgia, sitting at No. 3 in the rankings at the start of the week, could close with five-star names like Cade Mays, Jamaree Salyer, and Brenton Cox. Assuming Justin Fields signs with Georgia as expected and there are no other surprise commitment on Wednesday from someone like running back James Cook, a Georgia close with those three prospects would give it 300.42 points in the team rankings.
Meanwhile, if Woodley and Jones decommit from Ohio State and it misses on Carman but is still able to flip Cameron Brown from Nebraska, the Buckeyes would close the signing period with 300.37 points in the team rankings. That would give Georgia a .05 point lead heading into January.
If you throw in David Wilson, another Georgia target, that could extend Kirby’s lead to a whopping 2.08 points.
Early signing period closers
Georgia is expected to close strong but if it doesn’t, Clemson will be the reason why. The Tigers have a shot at landing Mays, Salyer, Carman and five-star defensive end KJ Henry. At one point, the Tigers were looking like favorites to land all four. As Wednesday has drawn nearer, only Henry remained as a likely signee but Dabo’s staff has kept battling for all four. If Clemson were to somehow score a sweep of that group, it would push the Tigers from No. 15 in the rankings to all the way up into the top three depending on what else happens.
The other school that’s impacting all of these scenarios is USC. The Trojans are currently sitting inconspicuously at No. 36 in the rankings but they’ve put together a realistic opportunity to land Carman, following a strong official visit weekend, flip Jaiden Woodbey from Ohio State, flip four-star Abdul-Malik McClain from UCLA and land four-star cornerback Julius Irvin. With that kind of close, USC would likely finish the day inside the top 10.
Decisions of note
In addition to the decisions above that feature Carman, Mays, Salyer and Woodbey, there are some commitments coming over the next 72 hours that have left plenty of people guessing.
The No. 1 wide receiver in the country, Terrace Marshall, has been long favored to land with the in-state LSU Tigers, however, Jimbo Fisher’s arrival at Texas A&M has complicated things and suddenly we’ve got some drama brewing with his Friday decision.
Emory Jones may be committed to Ohio State but no one expects him to end up in Columbus anymore. Instead, this is shaping up to be a Florida-Florida State battle. He took official visits to both over the weekend and for a pair of new head coaches that are soon to be battling regularly on the recruiting trail, we’ll get our first indicator of who is the new big kid on the block between Willie Taggart and Dan Mullen in this tussle.
Texas is hoping to add to its loaded secondary with the commitment of Anthony Cook, the No. 5 cornerback in the country. LSU is hoping to spoil that party.
While Brenton Cox may be part of Georgia’s furious December close, he also may spark Alabama’s run at No. 1. If he does choose the Tide, he’d likely be joining Eyabi Anoma, a five-star defensive end expected to sign with Nick Saban.
Penn State also has two big decisions it will be tracking, the first out of five-star defender Micah Parsons who likely picks the Nittany Lions despite an official visit over the weekend to Georgia. The second is from wide receiver Jahan Dotson, another Pennsylvania native that is currently committed to UCLA.
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