After the Franklin carnage, Vanderbilt rebounds on Signing Day

Former Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin left at the wrong time. His departure in January to Penn State led to a number of de-commitments, and worries that Vanderbilt would not be able to fill their numbers. Defensive co-ordinator Derek Mason, from Stanford (which is better than Vandy in terms of academics, but would still be twinned with them in terms of academics-before-athletics institutions), came to town. And although he had a slow start, the speed that Vandy recruited in the last few days before National Signing Day would have made Nick Saban or Les Miles happy….and they picked up a monster DE recruit from under Stanford’s nose in Nifae Lealao. He also added 4-star DB Emmanuel Smith, who had offers from Ole

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Despite Evans, a superb National Signing Day for Auburn

Regardless of the screw-up with local boy Rashaan Evans, Auburn had a very, very good National Signing Day. To explain the Evans situation: five-star OLB Evans went to a local Auburn high school and it was anticipated that he would become an Auburn Tiger. So much so that Auburn put his name on their website, celebrating their victory. Well, it was a little too early, rather like Alabama fans celebrating a 2013 Iron Bowl victory. At his commitment ceremony, he opted to play for the Alabama Crimson Tide. Anyway, it’s all in the past, because Gus Malzahn had a great haul – at prep and JUCO level. Auburn signed the best JUCO player in the land in WR D’haquille Williams

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Florida Chomps Way to Top 10 National Signing Day Haul

The Florida Gators may have had a goddawful 2013 season, but if the 2014 season plays out like National Signing Day did, then the fanbase will have little to complain at Will Muschamp about. Five-star CB from Arizona Jalen Tabor decided that he’d prefer to take his talents South, and opted for Gainseville. Tabor’s move made Adoree Jackson’s decision not to play for the Gators (he’s going to USC) less of a kick in the teeth. He’ll be helped out in the secondary by DB J.C. Jackson, who many felt wouldn’t be a Gator by the end of the day, DB Duke Dawson (already enrolled) and DB Quincy Wilson, who was one of Florida’s earliest signings of the day. Muschamp also picked

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Texas A&M continues National Signing Day excellence

We’d like to make this clear: Texas A&M fans on Twitter spent an awful lot of time in hope as some of the country’s biggest recruits made their decisions to come to schools, but they weren’t exactly crying their eyes out when it didn’t happen. That’s because Kevin Sumlin had already put together a monster JUCO recruiting haul, and the signatures already coming in were among the best classes in the country. And, thank God for Aggies fans (and much-maligned (and generally by us) defensive co-ordinator Mark Snyder), a bunch of it was on the defensive side. DE Myles Garrett, the No.2 player at that position in the nation, is coming to College Station, as is already-signed athlete Speedy Noil.

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South Carolina comes in with solid National Signing Day haul

With Jadeveon Clowney and three other juniors going to the pros – as well as talisman quarterback Connor Shaw- South Carolina needed to shore up their class with an excellent National Signing Day…..and did. A lot of the big signings were on the defensive side. Steve Spurrier picked up DE Dante Sawyer, LB Bryson Allen-Williams and defensive tackle Dexter Wideman – who had committed earlier to Florida State – and reports have said that they expect DE Jhaustin Thomas to make an impact, too. Four-star Defensive back Chris Lammons came aboard, and DE Blake McClain, who was meant to be going to Nebraska, decided that he preferred the Palmetto State as well. On the offensive side, the Head Ball Coach lost his

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Tennessee comes in with HUGE recruiting haul

After years of being terrible, Tennessee head coach Butch Jones has come in with just what the doctors in Knoxville ordered: A monster haul. By the end of National Signing Day, 32 players had signed up to be Volunteers (yeah, you read that right), much to even the biggest UT bloggers, who titled their National Signing Day post: “Where did all these bricks come from?” The answer is that Tennessee kicked butt and got signings in pretty early – including shoring up their defense with some excellent recruits. The biggest signings of these was safety Todd Kelly (59 on ESPN’s Top 300 list), OLB Dillon Bates (105), and DE Dewayne Hendrix (176). On the offensive side – and something that

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Kentucky Derby: Wildcats Post Strong National Signing Day

When people talk to you about the Kentucky Wildcats, the thing they bring up most often is the fact that the program’s a basketball program which happens to play a bit of football. And with former Jared Lorenzen suddenly in the news for, er, eating Jared Lorenzen, the school’s football program’s been a source of laughter for many. But with former Kentucky defensive star Danny Trevathan helping to take the Denver Broncos to the Super Bowl, ‘Big Blue’ winning  a basketball game comfortably and Mark Stoops having a solid National Signing Day, things might be changing in Lexington with this good few weeks. Kentucky got into the news a few days ago when fDT Matt Elam decided he wasn’t going to

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No Title? No problem! Bama’s No.1 on National Signing Day

No Championship? No problem for Nick Saban. The Alabama Crimson Tide was AGAIN the No.1 recruiting team on National Signing Day, with a tremendous signing day haul. It included: Three of the ESPN 300’s top 10 players (OT Cameron Robinson, DE Da’Shawn Hand, CB Tony Brown), and the No.10 and No.12 players in the nation, too (ATH Bo Scarborough, and CB Marlon Humphrey). They also stunningly picked up OLB Rashaan Evans from Auburn High school – who had also been rated highly, despite many thinking – including Auburn itself– that Evans was a cert to play in Jordan-Hare. The move seemed to have annoyed Evans’ mother, who seemed clearly worried about what people in the area would think. Saban described

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LSU caps great National Signing Day with two No.1s

LSU capped a fantastic National Signing Day with the signing of Leonard Fournette – the No.1 player in the nation and the No.1 running back. Fournette, a running back from New Orleans, was always relaxed about signing for LSU, wearing school clothing even before class to relax the worried Tiger faithful. Such was his size, Fournette’s press conference got some on Twitter saying: “You can’t tell me [he’s] an 18-year old man”. But before that, WR Malachi Dupre from John Curtis – the country’s No.1 wide receiver, also declared that he was going to be a Tiger and “bring a National Championship back to the State”. Dupre was joined by four-star WR Trey Quinn. Les Miles’ defense was also added

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Georgia has a 5-star day at National Signing Day

Usually when it comes to Georgia fans, they like to swear in the general direction of Mark Richt. They blame him when the Bulldogs lose. They blame him when the Bulldog players get arrested. They blame him when the Bulldog players get injured. But now, Georgia fans are actually happy with Mark Richt- especially after National Signing Day. The Georgia coach landed No.14 player on the ESPN 300 list DE Lorenzo Carter (despite the close attentions of Florida, LSU and Florida State), which definitely got the fans buzzing – especially those who had been critical of Richt for not filling out his staff after defensive co-ordinator Todd Grantham decided to leave for Louisville. The 6ft 5, 324lb player said: “The defense

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