Mind of Mike: Random thoughts on National Signing Day 2017

NATIONAL SIGNING DAY 2017: Farrell Awards | Winners and losers | Alabama is No. 1

The Mind of Mike is a dangerous place. Here are some random thoughts from Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell regarding National Signing Day 2017.

Marvin Wilson was the topic of conversation for the last many weeks and, while there wasn’t as much hype about where he’ll go as there was with Rashan Gary last year, it wasn’t far off either. The nation’s No. 2 player chose Florida State over LSU and Ohio State, a big blow moreso to the Tigers who were counting on teaming him with fellow defensive tackle Tyler Shelvin. LSU led on more than one occasion but let this one slip away and FSU will have an instant dominator who could have a year like Ed Oliver at Houston or Dexter Lawrence at Clemson.

Fellow defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon was the only other five-star not committed and he did a great job of keeping everyone guessing. The former Michigan commitment was linked with Alabama as his leader for a while. But rumors floated about Michigan and his mother’s trust in Jim Harbaugh, about USC and the lure of family out on the West Coast, about Georgia and what color his mom’s nails were being painted the day before NSD. In the end Solomon chose Michigan again and is a great get for a Big Ten program. Harbaugh did something Urban Meyer hasn’t been able to do – land an elite defensive tackle from the Southeast.

USC: Killed it on National Signing Day, I mean killed it. We thought the Trojans would land teammates Joseph Lewis and Greg Johnson as well as Austin Jackson and we felt they had a good shot at defensive tackle Jay Tufele. But pulling a surprise for linebacker Levi Jones and keeping Josh Falo away from his brother at Colorado made for a great finish as they pushed toward the top.

Alabama: Anyone else surprised that Alabama kept LaBryan Ray and Henry Ruggs home and stole Devonta Smith from Louisiana? Smith makes it six players from the state of Louisiana in this 2017 class for Alabama. That’s impressive.

LSU: It was an up-and-down day overall for LSU as it lost out on Smith and Wilson but landed K’Lavon Chaisson, Todd Harris and Tyler Taylor. The LSU class is very strong overall and meets a ton of needs.

Florida: Its class finished higher than I expected by far at No. 9 and got some nice prospects like CJ Henderson, Brian Edwards and Tedarrell Slaton on NSD but also got a couple talented but iffy prospects in James Robinson and Adarius Lemons. The Gators finished pretty well, didn’t flop as I predicted, but I’m still not sold on this being a class that takes them to the next level.

Georgia: UGA had a quiet day and missed on Markaviest Bryant, a kid many thought it would steal from an Auburn lean, but overall this class is a difference maker.

Florida State: The 'Noles whiffed on a few guys they hoped to steal out of state like Jones, Devonta Smith and Ruggs, but landed Marvin Wilson and pushed into the national top five. This class is freaky good with the only question being how much FSU improved at linebacker.

Ohio State: This class is ridiculous and in three years we could be talking about a bumper crop of talent leaving early for the NFL.

Michigan: It added the cherry on top of a great class with Solomon and the receiver group is impressive with Nico Collins added now. He’s high on potential but needs some work on consistency. He brings size to the group and it’s a well-balanced mixture.

Oklahoma: The Sooners didn’t close as well as they wanted but I still like this class and it distances them from anyone in the Big 12 even further.

Texas A&M: A lot of attention will be paid to the offensive firepower in the Texas A&M class but trust me on this one, the Aggies improved a ton on defense with this class.

Miami: It now has the best 1-2 punch at slot receiver in this class with Mike Hartley and Jeff Thomas now that Jamire Calvin flaked on Nebraska again and won’t team up with Tyjon Lindsey. Calvin is a tough loss but maybe it will be better in the end. The kid was leaning toward Nebraska forever, chose Oregon State on national television, de-committed and chose Nebraska, and then picks Washington State on Signing Day. That’s some red flag stuff.

Notre Dame/Tennessee: Three classes I worry about being ranked higher than the needs met? In addition to the Gators, I worry about the Notre Dame and Tennessee classes in many respects.

Oregon: The Ducks did better than I thought and pushed to No. 2 in the Pac-12 and No. 18 overall. Despite the distractions, Willie Taggart did a good job. That being said the Stanford and UCLA classes are much better, just smaller.

Kentucky: The Wildcats beat Louisville again, ranking 25th while the Cardinals are 27th.

Maryland: It had a very nice class and finishing 16th in the nation is amazing for a team that was a disaster a couple of seasons ago. Still, Penn State keeps slapping Maryland around a bit. PSU came in late and took linebacker Ellis Brooks and then took fellow Maryland product Tariq Castro-Fields, who was expected to follow Anthony McFarland to the Terps. Imagine if Maryland landed those two and kept five-star Josh Kaindoh?

Arkansas: Very quietly, it finished with a Top 25 recruiting class.

Baylor: The Bears finished 34th in the country. This is after not being in the Top 100 when Matt Rhule took over. That’s amazing.

Texas and new head coach Tom Herman fell flat on their face on National Signing Day. A huge year awaits him in 2018 in recruiting and he hasn’t coached a game yet.

Ole Miss pushed up to 39th in the country by taking a ton of kids on National Signing Day but it hasn’t been a pretty recruiting year and wasn’t a particular pretty finish.

Iowa could have had a top 25 recruiting class with a little more flexibility from Coach Kirk Ferentz, but instead finished 40th. That can be a huge difference in recruiting.

How about these small classes with amazing average star rankings? Stanford’s class is off the charts and just ahead of Clemson when it comes to quality and UCLA’s small class is loaded as well. Both are better than Oregon’s higher-ranked class but fall behind the Ducks simply because of numbers. Wisconsin took a smallish class but finished well for a program with little home recruiting territory and I also like Utah’s class with 20 commits, fewer than most teams ahead of it.

The best recruiting rivalry remains Urban Meyer vs. Jim Harbaugh but a close second, at least to me, is going to be Nick Saban vs. Ed Orgeron. Saban will continue to charge hard into Louisiana to attempt to steal away top talent and Orgeron will have to fend him off if he wants to win the SEC West and defeat Bama. This year and especially on National Signing Day, the two went head to head often. Well, to be honest right now it’s not a rivalry because Saban killed Orgeron in Louisiana, but we’ll see what happens next year.

OL Stephan Zabie (hurt Texas): Herman and Texas made Zabie a priority over the last month, so to see him commit to UCLA, a school that only offered him a couple of weeks ago, is a tough pill to swallow for the Longhorns.

DT Jay Tufele (hurt Utah): While Tufele has been trending toward the Trojans, this is still a big loss for Utah. Keeping the big defensive lineman home had been a priority for the staff for months, and losing him to a conference rival adds more salt in the wound.

DE K’Lavon Chaisson (hurt Texas): Another big loss for Texas, as LSU goes into the Lone Star State and plucks Chaisson. The Longhorns were thought to be the leader going into National Signing Day so this is especially damaging.

DT Marvin Wilson (hurt LSU): This one stung as interior defensive line recruiting hasn’t been awesome in recent years for the Tigers and Wilson spurned the SEC, a chance to play closer to home and his one-time leader to head to FSU.

LB Levi Jones (hurt FSU): Jones is long and athletic, and could have helped shore up an average linebacker group immediately.

DT Jay Tufele (hurt Utah): Talent like this doesn’t grow on trees in Utah so the Utes needed to keep this kid home.

WR Jamire Calvin (hurt Nebraska): While his decision-making is flaky, you can’t deny what his speed would have done for the Huskers' offense.

OT Mekhi Becton (hurt Virginia Tech): The Hokies led for Becton at one point, and big and agile offensive lineman haven’t been abundant in-state in recent years.

DB CJ Henderson (hurt Miami): The 'Canes can’t afford to let talented skill kids like this continue to get away from Miami, especially when they end up staying in state.