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ACC breakdown: Recruiting streaks to follow for 2018 class

RELATED: Big Ten recruiting streaks | SEC recruiting streaks

College football recruiting is often about momentum, and the challenge for most programs is carrying that momentum over from class to class, even if the on-field results vary. Today we take a look at some notable recruiting streaks in the ACC and analyze whether or not schools can extend them with their efforts in the 2018 class.

Will Florida State once again land the Sunshine State's top class?

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James Cook
James Cook (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

The Seminoles' streak currently stands at seven straight years with the top class in Florida, but it looks to be in serious danger of being snapped come February. Miami currently has the top class in the nation and Florida State – along with every other school in America – is chasing the Hurricanes.

The Mark Richt era in Miami has picked up recruiting steam and it seems it’s trending toward ending FSU’s streak as the recruiting kings of the state. The Seminoles will need to rely on Miami’s class falling apart because of an underwhelming season or an outside reason if they hope to land Florida’s top class for the eighth consecutive year.

The swing in momentum has taken place in Miami’s own backyard, where UM, for the first time in years, now seems to have its pick of top South Florida talent. The exception is five-star RB James Cook, a Miami native who is following in his brother Dalvin Cook's footsteps and is committed to FSU.

Whether or not the recruiting momentum will translate to on-field success against the Seminoles is yet to be determined, but there’s no denying that Miami is once again a real challenger to the Seminoles when it comes to the offseason battle.

Could Clemson finish at the top of the ACC team rankings?

Trevor Lawrence
Trevor Lawrence (Rivals.com)

Clemson just won the National Championship and now it's time for the Tigers to win another championship: the ACC team rankings championship. The one time Clemson finished atop the ACC team rankings was 2007. After Miami won it in 2008, it has been Florida State every year since.

The Tigers signed a small class of 14 prospects in the last cycle and will probably have a similarly sized class this year. If Dabo Swinney and company hope to have the top-ranked class in the ACC, this group of signees has to be exceptional. So far, the Tigers are off to a great start. Led by Rivals100 No. 1 Trevor Lawrence and No. 3 Xavier Thomas, Clemson is currently the second ranked team in the ACC and sixth in the nation.

There are dozens of highly-ranked prospects that Clemson has a good chance of signing and it will need to bring some of these players into the fold if the program hopes to be wearing the ACC recruiting crown on Signing Day. Five-stars Jackson Carman, Zamir White, Jamaree Salyer and K.J. Henry all have Clemson at or very near the top of their lists and so do many more highly regarded four-stars. Look for the Tigers to sign another star-studded recruiting class with an average star ranking close to last year's 3.86.

Can the ACC keep up with the top echelon on the recruiting trail?

Dabo Swinney
Dabo Swinney (AP Images)

As we all know, Clemson won the National Championship last season and so did Florida State in 2013. Those are the only two ACC teams that have consistently competed with the nation's best over the last decade. Each year since 2011 the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 have signed nearly the same number of elite prospects, but in 2017 the ACC took a bit of a downturn while the Big Ten and Pac-12 added more highly rated prospects.

In order for the ACC to consistently win, it can't fall behind on the recruiting trail. It's early in the 2018 recruiting cycle, but the ACC is right in the thick of the race. Only two commitments separate the Big Ten, SEC, and ACC as the top three conferences right now, but there is plenty still to play out.

Will one of the ACC's new teams finish higher than fifth in the class rankings?

Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Louisville are still in their infancy as ACC members and are starting to get their feet under themselves. Pittsburgh was the only team to beat Clemson last season and Louisville beat Florida State and had Lamar Jackson win the Heisman Trophy. Syracuse didn't finish with a great record but did beat a Virginia Tech team that would go on to the ACC Championship Game.

Despite their progress on the field, these three teams have not seen a ton of success on the recruiting trail. Louisville finished fifth in the ACC team rankings in the last cycle and Pittsburgh finished fifth in 2016, but those are the highest any of these three teams have gotten. Syracuse has yet to finish better than 10th. Expect these programs to break through this recruiting cycle as they try to capitalize on the momentum they’ve created.

Can any team in North Carolina finish higher than the Tar Heels?

Larry Fedora
Larry Fedora (AP Images)

The state of North Carolina is the cradle of the ACC. Four league institutions call this state home and are charter members of the conference. One team seems to always recruit better than the rest. The North Carolina Tar Heels have finished higher than their in-state peers in the ACC team rankings every year since 2008.

Looking at each team's record over the last nine seasons, North Carolina has consistently performed better than N.C. State, Wake Forest and Duke. The Tar Heels have won at least eight games in six out of the last nine seasons. N.C. State and Duke have only won eight games three times and Wake Forest once during the same span.

As of now, Duke sits fourth in the ACC team rankings, Wake Forest is in a tie for sixth, N.C. State is in eighth and North Carolina is in 12th. This streak could end in the 2018 class, but there is a long way to go.

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