The end of the spring camp season has come and gone and the rankings for the 2018 class have been updated. Take a look at the big storylines that have emerged in the overall team rankings.
RELATED: Rivals100 | Rivals250 | Position Rankings | Team Rankings
REMATCH OF THE 1987 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP... SORT OF
Miami and Penn State were center stage of the college football world in 1987 when Joe Paterno's Lions upset the No. 1 Hurricanes in the Fiesta Bowl 14-10 to capture the national championship. Thirty years later, those same two teams sit atop the Rivals recruiting rankings for the class of 2018. Miami's top-ranked class is led by five-star running back Lorenzo Lingard and top 25 prospect Mark Pope. Even though the Hurricanes have more commitments, they have a lower average star rating than No. 2 Penn State. Penn State's lone five-star commitment is quarterback Justin Fields. The Nittany Lions did have a commitment from five-star defensive end Micah Parsons, but he decommitted at the end of April.
UNLIKELY SUCCESS IN THE BIG 12
One of the most unlikely storylines of this recruiting cycle is the success Baylor and their new coaching staff has had. The Bears are currently second in the Big 12 recruiting rankings and are 12th in the overall rankings. Matt Rhule and his staff have a massive cloud hanging over the program with many off-the-field investigations and allegations surrounding the university's sexual assault scandal, but they have still been able to have success on the recruiting trail. Unfortunately, the Bears reign near the top of the Big 12 recruiting rankings is unlikely to last. The average star rating of Baylor's 13 commits is close to three and the program's only four-star commitment is running back Stanley Hackett. Teams will surely pass them as the calendar moves forward but it is still an impressive feat.
SEC IS A NO-SHOW IN 2018
The mighty SEC is represented by LSU and Tennessee in the top 10 of the team rankings. Between them they have 13 four-star commitments and the lone five-star is Vols commit Cade Mays. Six of Tigers' head coach Ed Orgeron's top eight commitments are on the defensive side of the ball while Butch Jones and the Vols are more balanced at the top of their class. Looking at the rest of the rest of the SEC, Kentucky is the next highest-ranked team at No. 20. Mississippi State (24) and Florida (29) are the only other SEC teams in the top 30. That means traditional recruiting powerhouses Texas A&M (31), Auburn (36), Ole Miss (46), Alabama (60), and Georgia (67) are off to historically slow starts. Their rise up the rankings will be something to watch as the season inches closer.
SMALL CLASSES WITH POTENTIAL TO ZOOM UP RANKINGS
Speaking of those lower-ranked SEC teams, there are four teams with eight or fewer commitments that could end up in the top five or 10 of the team rankings when Signing Day comes around. Two SEC teams that have a chance to have a meteoric rise from the depths of the team rankings are Alabama and Georgia. Never count Nick Saban out of any recruitment, especially when the Crimson Tide are in the thick of a championship hunt. Watch out for Georgia and its young team if they can string some wins together and win the SEC East. If Kirby Smart's squad can finish with 10 wins the Dawgs might end up with their pick of the litter (no pun intended).
Two obvious teams here are USC and Clemson. The Tigers sit at No. 11 in the team rankings with an average star rating per commitment of 3.88 and the Trojans are No. 13 in the team rankings with a 4.00 average star rating per commitment. They are two of the three teams with two five-star commitments (Ohio State being the other) and each of them are in great position to add many more highly rated prospects. Miami and Penn State better be looking over their shoulder for these guys.
POWER FIVE CONFERENCE POWER RANKINGS
Signing Day for the 2018 class is about eight months away so here is a look at the current conference power rankings. The Big Ten leads all Power Five conferences with the highest average points per team in the overall team rankings followed by the ACC, Big 12, SEC, and Pac-12. Interestingly enough, Georgia Tech out of the ACC and Purdue from the Big Ten have zero commitments between them and are dragging down the average points per team for the conferences, yet both conferences lead the third place Big 12 by a sizable margin.
The Big Ten also has four teams in the top ten of the overall team rankings and has the second most total commitments and four-star commitments. Thanks to Clemson, Florida State and Miami, the ACC has more five-star commitments that the other Power Five conferences. The Big Ten has three five-stars, the Pac-12 has two and the SEC and Big 12 have one each.
In the race for last in the conference power rankings, the Pac-12 edged out the Big 12 and SEC. No Pac-12 school is in the top 10. It has the lowest average points per team in the overall rankings despite USC sitting at No. 13 in the team rankings.
The Pac-12 also has fewer three-star commitments and fewer total commitments than the rest of the conferences. The Big 12 sits in fourth right now with the least number of four- and five-star commitments. This led to the conference also having the smallest average stars per commitment.
