Another National Signing Day, another big haul for Nick Saban and Alabama.
For the fifth year in a row, Alabama is the national champion when it comes to recruiting. The Tide signed the nation's top class, as computed by 247sports.com's composite rankings, which essentially is a consensus list of the nation's top recruits.
USC had the nation's No. 2 class, followed by Florida State, Tennessee and LSU. The SEC had five of the nation's top-10 classes; the ACC and Pac-12 had two each, and the Big Ten had one.
Signing highly ranked classes doesn't guarantee success on the field in the fall -- but it helps. Using the 247sports.com's consensus class rankings for the past five recruiting cycles (2010-14, which takes into account true freshmen through fifth-year seniors for each school), three teams in the four-team playoff were among the top four recruiting schools in that five-year span; the other (Oregon) was 15th. (The Ducks are 16th this year.)
Still, player development is the biggest key: Five teams in the final top 10 from the 2014 season had an average recruiting ranking of 20th or worse in that five-year span, with three ranking 33rd or worse.
Here are the top 10 classes, along with each school's top three recruits in the 247sports.com composite rankings.
1. Alabama
Rank over past five years: 1st.
Top recruits: QB Blake Barnett (Corona, Calif.); WR Calvin Ridley (Coconut Creek, Fla.); CB Kendall Sheffield (Missouri City, Texas).
The skinny: It's the same old, same old for the Tide -- another NSD, another mother lode of talent. The Tide didn't sign anybody in the top 10, but they still signed six five-star prospects. (Only one of the six is an Alabama native.)
2. USC
3. Florida State
4. Tennessee
5. LSU
6. Ohio State
7. UCLA
8. Clemson
9. Auburn
10. Georgia
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
