Analyst Roundtable: NSD surprises, memorable moments, predictions

The Rivals analyst roundtable returns as our team of experts recap another exciting National Signing Day.

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“Cordarrian Richardson committed to Maryland with a video that included sending a camera to literal space only to sign with UCF. Making things even more unbelievable is the two Richardson commitments took place in the same day. I guess the winner here is UCF, so it’s a positive thing if you look at it from their perspective. From most other perspectives, it’s neither positive nor negative. It’s just hilarious.” - Southeast analyst Rob Cassidy

“Aubrey Solomon to Michigan wasn’t a stunner, but it was surprising in some ways since he had been committed before and decommitted and Alabama made him such a priority. So to see Jim Harbaugh and Michigan do what Urban Meyer and Ohio State did when they started their run to the national title, win huge five-star battles in the Southeast, makes for some excitement for 2018 and beyond when it comes to the recruitment of Southeast five-stars.” - National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell

“I was really surprised by Marvin Wilson picking Florida State. With Ed Orgeron being a great defensive line coach and LSU being closer to home, I thought the Tigers had Wilson in the bag. Kudos to Odell Haggins and the rest of the Florida State staff for pulling off what I see as a big upset.” - Mid-Atlantic analyst Adam Friedman

“I'm going with Florida taking James Robinson in what could have been a disaster for the four-star receiver. Here's a bulletin: Teenagers sometimes do stupid stuff especially if they're away from home and it looks like that's what Robinson did during his Ohio State trip. He's not the first and he won't be the last. But Robinson has worked incredibly hard to get to this position and one dumb decision shouldn't railroad his chances. Hopefully, the four-star sees this as an opportunity of a lifetime to go to Gainesville, be responsible and maximize his abilities. It was a regrettable week for Robinson and it looked bad on signing day but the Gators were his saving grace and hopefully Robinson takes that to heart and grows up from it.” - National recruiting analyst Adam Gorney

“Pickerington (Ohio) Central's Morgan Ellison came out to the Columbus stop of the Rivals Camp Series last April and bested one of the deepest field of running backs I have seen in a regional camp to win positional MVP. Despite beating out several four-stars and prospects committed to Power Five schools, Ellison had not yet earned his first FBS scholarship offer. Those offers would eventually come, but his first from a Power Five program did not come until January and he accepted that offer from Indiana University on Signing Day with a video tribute to his late grandfather. ” - Midwest analyst Josh Helmholdt

“I think the biggest surprise was Marvin Wilson's commitment to Florida State. It seemed to me that he was headed to LSU or Ohio State for a variety of reasons, but it was clear throughout the process that he had a strong connection to head coach Jimbo Fisher. Florida State wasn't connected to a ton of players looking to make commitments on Signing Day and really only missed out on Levi Jones, but the pairing of Wilson with recent five-star defensive end commit Josh Kaindoh gives the Seminoles plenty to look forward to on the defensive front for years to come.” - Texas analyst Nick Krueger

“While it wasn't totally out of left field I think the biggest surprise was Aubrey Solomon recommitting to Michigan. It's really hard for schools from outside of the Southeast to get players like him but to hold off Georgia, Alabama and also USC was really something. Making it even more important is the fact that Solomon's teammate, Otis Reese, is one of the top prospects in the 2018 class and already committed to the Wolverines. Solomon's signature makes it even that much more likely that Reese sticks as well.” - Southeast analyst Woody Wommack

“I don’t think anyone expected Jarez Parks being forced to take a grayshirt offer from Alabama. A Rivals250 prospect, Parks was thought to be commodity on the recruiting trail. His options dwindled quickly after he failed to adequately develop as a senior however, and he was left holding a grayshirt. Neither party is really 'at fault' here. It just seems like an unfortunate situation based on timing and a breakdown in communication.” - Cassidy

“It has to be the Jarez Parks situation and this is perhaps a big message to prospects when it comes to communicating with schools and perhaps not waiting until the end to commit. It appears now that Parks was set on Alabama for a long time but because he waited, he found out at the last second they didn’t have room for him. They took him as a grayshirt but had he committed earlier or at least tried to, he might have known they weren’t as high on him and could have found another option. I feel for the kid, but I also don’t think he handled his recruitment that well.” - Farrell

“Virginia Tech needed to bring in some offensive linemen in this class and the one that was going to be a big difference maker was Rivals250 prospect Mekhi Becton. Highland Springs High School in Richmond, Virginia has been good to the Hokies in the past but Becton ended up choosing Louisville on Signing Day. That was a tough break for the Hokies.” - Friedman

“The whole Jarez Parks situation was just sad - and it was supposed to be one of the most memorable days in the kid's life. Up front, I don't know all the particulars and I have no idea whether Alabama was making it blatantly clear to him in the days leading up to Signing Day that there was no room for him but it certainly didn't seem that way. Prospects get ripped all the time for decommitting or looking at other schools, some coaches even pull scholarships if a kid visits another school, and then Alabama tells the guy last-second there's no room? Parks is going to greyshirt and stay with Alabama because he wanted to go there so badly. If that's not commitment, I don't know what is.” - Gorney

“Texas did not sign a top 10 player in its own state for the first time ever in the Rivals.com era. In fact, the Longhorns highest ranked in-state prospect isn't even in the top 15 (No. 17 Sam Ehlinger). Texas apparently got its man in Tom Herman, who is known as a strong head coach-recruiter, but Longhorn Nation has to be underwhelmed with the recruiting results. In the meantime, Texas' Big 12 rival Oklahoma landed a quarter of the top 16 players in the Longhorn's home state.” - Helmholdt

“The ongoing conversation amongst the Rivals.com analysts all day was the lack of dramatic storylines throughout the day. The situation with Jarez Parks' commitment to Alabama that eventually turned into his acceptance of a grayshirt was as about as interesting as things got. Outside of a couple of commitments from players that didn't give a lot of clues as to where they were committing ahead of their announcements, it was a relatively breezy Signing Day.” - Krueger

“It was a rough day for Texas. As someone who doesn't follow the Longhorns' recruiting as close as some other schools I was really surprised to see Texas miss on all four targets that announced on TV. While the class isn't awful, I do think it's OK for fans to be underwhelmed considering the Longhorns didn't sway any of the major names to say close to home.” – Wommack

“I was happy to see four-star wide receiver James Robinson land at Florida after it looked like the Gators were going to pass on him because of a marijuana citation. Robinson sometimes gets a bad rap as a bad seed and it’s probably about time people stop reacting to a misdemeanor pot charge as if it’s a major crime. I don’t know James personally. It’s certainly not up to me to label him as a good or bad person, but he’s always been great in our interactions. I find him easy to root for. I was happy to see him get his shot to play for his favorite school.” - Cassidy

“I’d say it was hearing Florida was taking James Robinson. Robinson needs to start making better decisions and has been dropped by numerous schools for dumb off-field stuff, but I still wanted to see him get a chance with the Gators. For a kid to go from heading to the Gators to almost no one wanting to touch him over smoking pot seems a bit of an overreaction in this day and age so I’m glad the Gators are taking a chance.” - Farrell

“Listening to coaches such as James Franklin, Mike Riley and Butch Jones talk about their classes and the recruiting process on Signing Day was really insightful. Working with the people at Rivals.com and Yahoo! to put on our Signing Day show was an incredible experience and made for a fun day.” - Friedman

“Following five-star linebacker Baron Browning's Twitter leading up to five-star defensive tackle's Marvin Wilson's announcement was funny. Ohio State had an outside shot at landing Wilson but Browning made it seem like the Buckeyes were going to get him. Browning tweeted out some funny stuff but the best one was a GIF of Anthony Anderson (the father in Black-ish) curled up crying when news broke that Wilson had picked Florida State.” - Gorney

“I am glad the world got to know Northwestern walk-on Joe Spivak. That he spurned a scholarship offer from Michigan State to walk-on at Northwestern is really only a small part of this story. Spivak is a fun-loving kid with a great personality and even though he will not start off on scholarship in Evanston, I expect we are going to hear a lot more from him over the next four years.” - Helmholdt

“Even before my time at Rivals.com, I had been covering National Signing Days for years. The best thing about them in most cases isn't always the ceremonies revolving around one player making one high-profile decision, it's the ones that see a number of players all signing letters and finishing their careers as a team. In many cases, these players have spent years on the same team - going back before their high school years - so to get one final send-off together is a great reward for them.” - Krueger

“It was a hectic day and the main story that caught our attention was the Jarez Parks situation. You had to feel bad for him after he delayed his announcement, but in the end it worked out. He may have to wait to enroll, but he's still going to school for free and getting to play the sport he loves so it's a win-win in the end.” - Wommack

“I’ve said this before and I don’t mind doubling down on it. I think running back Cam Akers is the real No. 1 player in this class. In four-years, he’ll be in the NFL with All-American honors and a Heisman Trophy candidacy in his past. We all know I’ve now jinxed him and he’s probably now destined to sell insurance or own a decent-sized car dealership after an up-and-down college run.” - Cassidy

“Look ahead three or four years and make a prediction now about one person in this class? I’ll say that Kellen Mond proves me right. No one else saw him as a five-star talent but there’s something about the way he handles adversity on the field and never panics that reminds me a bit of Deshaun Watson. I think he ends up having a five-star career at A&M.” - Farrell

“After three or four years at Ohio State, we could be thinking, 'We should have ranked Chase Young higher.' He finished at No. 8 in the Rivals100 and was the second-ranked weakside defensive end in this class but he has so much potential isn’t anywhere close to reaching his ceiling. Young’s versatility is so valuable and it hasn’t really been tapped into just yet. We’ll see if Ohio State is able to take advantage of all of Young’s abiliities.” - Friedman

“My prediction is that there are going to be lengthy debates about which Stanford offensive lineman should be taken with one of the first picks in the NFL Draft - Foster Sarell or Walker Little. Both are already incredibly talented and they picked the perfect system to exploit their abilities because coach David Shaw loves to run the ball so much. There's a good chance Sarell and Little will thrive at Stanford and compete against each other to be a top pick in a few years.” - Gorney

“Four-star JaVonte Richardson will make his name on defense at Kentucky. Make no mistake, I think he is a tremendously talented and unique prospect for the wide receiver position, which is where Kentucky plans to play him, and could be a future pro there. When all is said and done, though, I think his size and skill set combination is going to be just too intriguing for the Kentucky coaches not to move him to the other side of the football.” - Helmholdt

“The debate between who is the true top running back in this class - and essentially the best player overall - has been a divisive topic between the analysts. I am of the opinion that Najee Harris is the best overall player, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Cam Akers become the running back that everyone talks about as the most impactful player in the country during his time at Florida State. I think that he's got a good chance of overtaking Jacques Patrick as well. He's a more explosive option at running back and strikes me as a much closer comparison to Dalvin Cook than Patrick.” - Krueger

“Four years from now I think Davis Mills will have a chance to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. He might have to wait for his chance at Stanford depending on how the quarterback battle plays out, but I think if he stays healthy he has a chance to be the type of guy that projects well to college and beyond.” - Wommack