National Signing Day Reset

Ronald Powell was the most sought after recruit in America, and the Florida Gators snatched him up

Written by: D. Wash

There weren’t any parades, Turkeys, or chestnuts roasting on an open fire. But last week there was a major holiday for college football. February 3^rd was National Signing day. National Signing day is the day that shapes the future of college football and, indirectly, the NFL for years to come. Every year hundreds of high school recruits decide what college they will go to and on national signing day recruits can officially sign their Letter of Intent to attend and play sports for a school. 

The Winners

                Despite coaching questions and changes, the recruiting classes that the University of Florida and USC were able to put together were by far the best in the nation. Between the two schools, they picked up six of the top seven prospects and 21 of the top 100 prospects, which is unbelievable. If even some of these prospects can perform up to their potential, then there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that both of these schools will be able to continue their tradition of winning and being the premiere teams in college football.

USC Motto: “Offense Sells Tickets”

Lane Kiffin was not only able to keep together the excellent recruiting class that Pete Carroll assembled, but he also picked up some new tools that will be used effectively. The school’s top 5 recruits are all project to make an impact on the offensive side of the ball (with the possible exception of #6 recruit Robert Woods who could play either wideout or safety in college). Both Running Back Dillon Baxter and Wideout Kyle Prater (ranked #17 and #3 respectively) have already enrolled, giving them a chance to make an impact despite a talented roster of skill position players. Prater especially could make an impact his entire duration at USC, as he has excellent body control and the size (6-5, 205) to be able to make a catch even if he’s covered. Offensive Tackle recruit  Seantrel Henderson (#2 recruit nationally) is another impressive pick up by the Trojans. He is huge (6-8, 301) and could easily be groomed into a first round draft pick by the time he leaves USC. The aforementioned Robert Woods has impressive speed (4.43) and overall athleticism. He hits like a linebacker and is simply explosive with the ball in his hands, which will give Kiffin and the USC staff a difficult decision to make about which side of the ball he belongs on. Though those four are the top of the recruiting class, USC was also able to get an astonishing 13 four star prospects in addition to the 4 five star recruits (Henderson, Prater, Baxter, and Woods). With these future Trojan stars on their way to campus, as well as the building blocks already present in Pasadena, people should only expect USC to look more and more impressive offensively over the next few years.

Florida’s Motto: “Defense Wins Championships”

Florida went looking for talent on the other side of the ball, and they found it in both quality and quantity. The star of the class is without a doubt the destructive defensive end prospect Ronald Powell. Blessed with speed (4.52), size (6-4, 230), and an array of moves, Powell (who had the honor of being named the #1 recruit in the class)has the potential to make an immediate impact on the Gators Defense. Even when matched up against top offensive linemen prospects, he’s been able to be extremely effective and fight through blocking. If coaches at Florida can inspire him to give 110% in every practice rep, then Powell has the opportunity to amount one of the most impressive sack totals that college football has ever seen. He’s that good. Future teammates of Powell include defensive tackles Sharrif Floyd and Dominique Easley (ranked #4 and #7 respectively). Both have the potential to play as freshman, and with those three all coming into Florida at the same time, SEC quarterbacks should be very afraid of what they should be able to do when put together. Other top recruits include the versatile 5 star athlete Matt Elam and the extremely strong 4 star cornerback prospect Joshua Shaw. Florida was able to pick up some offensive prospects (TE Gerald Christian, WR Chris Dunkley, OL Ian Silberman and Chaz Green) as well, and with a total of 4 five star prospects and 18 four star prospects, its my opinion that Florida had the top recruiting class of 2010. Not only was the class they put together impressive, but by convincing 11 of their recruits to enroll early, Florida is giving themselves a chance to use some of their extensive recruiting talent from 2010 in this upcoming season.

The Best of The Rest

Though Florida and USC easily had the top 2 recruiting classes, there are a number of other schools that had impressive classes as well. Texas was able to bring a lot of their instate talent to Austin for the upcoming season. DE Jackson Jeffcoat has the potential to build a Julius Peppers like body if he commits himself to football full time (he also plays basketball) and LB Jordan Hicks has the speed and coverage abilities to do a lot in pass coverage and blitzing. Add in 5 four star wide receivers, and there is little doubt that Texas will be able to continue their contention for national titles in upcoming years. UCLA  was a big surprise this year, and with another big recruiting class next year they may be able to realistically contend with USC. Cal also had a big year, picking up quite a few top defensive prospects such as top Safety recruit Keenan Allen and massive DE prospect Chris Martin. Florida state is another team that was able to pick up a pair of five star recruits, stealing them from Florida even though they are undergoing a coaching change. While Notre Dame’s class wasn’t extremely impressive, it didn’t have a precipitous drop off that you would expect after an unpleasant coaching transition.

What’s Happened to Big Ten Football?

The biggest disappointment of national signing day (and the entire college recruiting process) was the efforts of the Big Ten. The SEC and Pac 10 were able to draw the majority of the 26 five star prospects (11 and 9 respectively), while the Big Ten could only manage to reel in a single 5 star recruit (MSU commit, DE prospect William Gholston). That in itself is enough reason to lose some hope for Big Ten football, as its 5 star prospects that end up becoming Heisman winners, National Champions, and First Round Draft Picks. Penn State did manage to pick up enough four star recruits to have a top 15 ranked recruiting class (Michigan was also able to crack the top 25 recruiting classes), but considering the deep tradition of winning in Big Ten Football, only two top 25 recruiting classes is just embarrassing. If the Big Ten is unable to turn around their lackluster performance in recent years with good recruiting classes, I fear that the reputation of the conference will forever be tarnished, and they will never be able to return to the place of glory that they had five or ten years ago.