One of the most important decisions of National Signing Day doubled as perhaps its most symbolic. Just before 10:30 a.m., 300-pound defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon sat inside a gym in his hometown of Leesburg, Georgia, and pulled from beneath a table a white cap with the maize “M” of Michigan emblazoned on the front. Solomon had been one of the last five-star holdouts, and he offered the latest example of how the Big Ten has infiltrated Southeastern Conference territory.
The addition of Solomon virtually ensures Michigan will end the day with a recruiting class ranked by consensus in the top five, likely landing at fourth behind Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia. It also struck a blow for the Big Ten, which has stepped forward to challenge the SEC as the dominant conference in college football recruiting. The two conferences — despite strong showings from several schools from the ACC, where national champion Clemson resides — emerged as the clear winners of Wednesday. According to the composite rankings assembled by 24/7 Sports, the top four classes, and 11 of the top 18, hailed from either the SEC or the Big Ten.
The SEC, it must be said, still holds the crown. Nine of the top 22 classes, according to 24/7 Sports’s composite rankings, reside in the SEC, including five of the top 10. Alabama had the top overall class, edging out Ohio State with perhaps the best class of Nick Saban’s career. Georgia owns the third-best class. Texas A&M had the best class in its hypercompetitive home state, and Tennessee managed a top-15 class despite a disappointing finish.
The strength of Alabama’s class led to a potentially unprecedented move from the Crimson Tide. Jarez Parks, a four-star defensive end, had been committed to Alabama and planned to make it official at a ceremony at Sebastian River High in Florida. But as Parks readied to make the announcement, he instead tearfully told the crowd he needed to wait. What happened: Alabama coaches told Parks he would need to grayshirt, or defer his scholarship and delay joining the team until next February, because the Tide needed a spot for LaBryan Ray, a five-star defensive end from Alabama.
A school telling a recruit of Parks’ reputation to grayshirt is unthinkable. Alabama made it a reality.
At least on signing day, LSU reaped the benefit of retaining and promoting interim coach Ed Orgeron. The Tigers jumped from the sixth-ranked recruiting class to fifth after gaining three four-star defensive players on Wednesday alone: inside linebacker Tyler Taylor out of Georgia, safety Todd Harris from Louisiana and, in a major coup, K’Lavon Chaisson out of Houston. Chaisson had been considering Texas, but the Tigers wrested him away from his home state. (New Texas Coach Tom Herman has learned the recruiting challenges posed by taking over a major program.) Orgeron again showed why he’s regarded as a top recruiter, and the continuity helped LSU hold prior commitments.
Still, the Big Ten emerged as a threat. Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh have built recruiting factories at Ohio State and Michigan and can be counted upon to sign elite classes, securing players from all over the country. Penn State has recruited well under James Franklin, and the Nittany Lions’s Big Ten title helped attract a top-20 class this year.
Both conferences had midlevel teams shoot in different directions. Facing potential sanctions over a host of NCAA allegations, Ole Miss plunged in the rankings, down into the 50s by some measures. The Rebels’ ascension, based on highly touted classes signed by Coach Hugh Freeze, added to the SEC’s superiority. But their inability to land a premier class hurt this year.
The Big Ten received a surge from an unlikely candidate. Under energetic second-year head Coach D.J. Durkin, Maryland has pulled in the 18th-best class in the country, per the 24/7 Sports composite. It had an especially good signing day, flipping former Virginia Tech commit Tahj Capehart, a three-star wide receiver, at the 11th hour and landing four-star running back Cordarrian Richardson of Memphis in a significant surprise. Richardson had been previously committed to Clemson and chose the Terps over Michigan State, Rutgers and Ole Miss, though he had not officially signed with Maryland as of early Wednesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Nebraska built on a top-25 class with a strong start to signing day. The Huskers added defensive tackle Damon Daniels out of Dallas.
Solomon’s pick reverberated especially because National Signing Day has brought with it less mystery than usual. At the highest altitudes of the experts’ rankings of high school seniors, things mostly settled before Wednesday. There will be the usual hat dances, crushed fan bases and championship aspirations birthed. But more of the biggest decisions have been made than in a typical year.
“There’s not going to be as much drama as there has been in the past,” Mike Farrell, national recruiting director for Rivals.com, said earlier in the week.
As evidence, Farrell pointed to the number of five-star players available. Only two from Rivals’s rankings have yet to make final their college commitments. Marvin Wilson, a defensive tackle from Houston ranked as the sixth overall prospect by 24/7 Sports’s composite, appears to be leaning toward either Ohio State, LSU or Florida State. He’s expected to make his choice around 4:30 p.m.
The tale of Solomon could safely be filed under the Only In 2017 College Football Recruiting banner.
In August, he was committed to Michigan. And then he received a letter from an athletic department official thanking him and his mother for attending a barbecue at Michigan. The problem: Solomon had not actually attended the event. The other problem: The official had spelled Solomon’s first and last name wrong in the letter. It was, to Solomon, a large enough affront to decommit from the Wolverines.
“It was just a little heartbreaking, for me to supposedly be so high on their list, for them to confuse me with someone else,” he told 24/7 Sports in August. “Plus they spelled both of my names wrong after I told them, but that was not the main issue. I guess they do not have tabs on me.”
You may have noticed a lack of social media drama in this particular saga. Fear not. A few months later, a fellow recruit broadcast a Periscope video of himself with Solomon, and Solomon could be seen and heard saying “[Bleep] Michigan.” It became enough of a hullabaloo in Ann Arbor for Solomon to issue an apology on Twitter.
And so Solomon entered National Signing Day a penitent and sought-after 18-year-old. He was one of only two (or four, depending on where you look) five-star recruits yet to make a final decision. He had whittled his choice to four teams: Alabama, Southern California, Georgia and Michigan. A little after 10 a.m., Solomon sat behind a dais and reveled his decision, a major development for Michigan and a pair of powerhouse conferences.
Clemson won the prize that actually, you know, matters this season. The national champions had a quiet signing day, wrapping their 14-member class before 10 a.m. Clemson will probably finish somewhere in the teens, according to the 24/7 Sports composite. But, as Farrell explained, that’s kind of a technicality. The Tigers’ small class hurts their ranking, but those 14 players provide both quality and a show of the expansion of Clemson’s appeal. Rivals’ No. 2 quarterback, Hunter Johnson, committed to the Tigers out of Brownsburg, Indiana, the heart of Big Ten country. And that showing in the title game will reap rewards into the future — Farrell said the Tigers are favored to land the best quarterback and the best running Pashacasino back in the Class of 2018.
Who else is having a good day? Georgia, where second-year Coach Kirby Smart has engaged in, and even won some, recruiting faceoffs with Saban, his former boss at Alabama, where Smart was the defensive coordinator. The Bulldogs might finish with the third-highest-rated class. They received another boost early Wednesday, when four-star cornerback Ameer Speed of Jacksonville, Florida. chose Georgia over Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Michigan State and Oregon.
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