NSD: The Farrell Awards
Signing Day, at least day one, is in the books and with that comes the Farrell Awards. Enjoy.
MORE: Mind of Mike | Top 10 flips on NSD | What's left to watch for in Early Signing Period | Biggest surprises | Breaking down team rankings | How every Power Five school announced signings | NSD blog | Rivals studio show
FLASH AWARD
Georgia’s offense obviously is not lacking talent, but game-breaking wide receivers have still been hard to come by. That may have changed with the addition of Rivals250 Arian Smith, who possesses legitimate world-class speed. Sometimes that speed doesn’t translate to the football field, but Smith has shown that he is very comfortable between the white lines.
SHOCK CITY
It wasn’t a surprise that five-star WR Rakim Jarrett didn’t sign with LSU, but it was thought that Alabama had the best chance to grab his signature. It was also thought that he would likely wait until February to sign.
Well none of that happened as Jarrett decided to stay in-state and sign with Maryland. While he did take a recent official visit to College Park, few people thought that the Terps actually had a fighter’s chance. This is an enormous recruiting victory for coach Mike Locksley and his staff.
BIGGEST IN-STATE LOSS
Texas A&M missing out on EJ Smith was a blow to the Aggies. They were optimistic with Smith, but after he signed with Stanford, the recruitment of Zachary Evans becomes more important than ever.
WAITING GAME
As usual, there were a few recruits who suddenly decided to wait until February to sign. One of these was Rivals100 DE Reggie Grimes, who committed to Oklahoma in late November. All signs pointed to Grimes signingWednesday , until rumors started swirling earlier this week that he might wait till February. And that seems to be the current situation.
While word is that this isn’t a knock against the Sooners, it will obviously give schools an extra five weeks to try and change his mind. The biggest benefactor of this decision right now is South Carolina, who has been in his ear for weeks.
Five star OT Broderick Jones also delayed signing and will take officials to Georgia and Auburn.
MR. DRAMA
As with every National Signing Day, there are a few unexpected twists and turns. The winner this year is four-star DB Jaiden Francois, who seemed ready to make his decision, then took a phone call and walked off the stage. He and his family then disappeared for several minutes before finally returning, leaving again, returning and dragging out the announcement for an hour.
Finally, he committed to Nebraska over Miami, who he had been previously committed to twice. Hopefully his playing career in Lincoln is a little bit more stable.
BEST SIGNING DAY VIDEOS
Baylor. Hands down. Baylor used puppets to announce each commitment. Nothing else needs to be said about this. Every other school needs to step up their game immediately.
POTENTIAL DRAMA
The good news for South Carolina fans is that in-state five-star DE Jordan Burch committed to the Gamecocks. The bad news is that he has yet to actually sign and submit his Letter of Intent. Burch is a quiet kid who doesn’t do many interviews, so getting answers on why this has not yet happened will likely be easier said than done. In the meantime, the drama level will continue to increase.
DYNAMIC DUO
Oregon has solidified itself as a recruiting juggernaut on the West Coast. The addition of five-star Justin Flowe to already committed/signed five-star Noah Sewell gives the Ducks an amazingly lethal inside linebacking duo for the next few years. It should be fun to watch how the two push one another during their time in Eugene.
BIGGEST FLIP
Running back Jase McClellan to Alabama from the Oklahoma Sooners. McClellan has a chance to be a star in Alabama’s system and this was a flex of Nick Saban’s muscle as he just stole a long-time commit away from a power program.
TROLL OF THE DAY
Donnell Harris was expected to announce between Florida and Texas A&M despite being committed to the Aggies for quite some time. Rumors started flying that he would flip to Florida as early as last week but by Wednesday everyone knew he was sticking with Jimbo Fisher. However, Harris revealed a Florida sweater at his announcement before taking it off to reveal a Texas A&M shirt. I’m not sure why he had to troll Florida but for some reason he did.
BEST NEW COACH
Mike Norvell did a great job in the short time he had especially landing two quarterbacks and adding help at wide receiver. Questions about how he will recruit at Florida State are already being answered. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman comes in a close second.
JUCO LOVE
Nebraska really helped its class with some key JUCO commitments led by Omar Manning. These guys can come in early and make an immediate impact, which is what the roster needs.
REACH OF THE DAY
Michigan went on a little known quarterback named Dan Villari who is ranked as a three-star because he’s a good athlete and could play another position. Yes I know JD Johnson had to give up football due to medical issues, but Michigan had plenty of time to try to poach another QB rather than reach on one.
OUT OF STATE STEAL
Flowe was supposed to head across the country to Clemson, but it ran out of room so instead he’ll play at Oregon for Mario Cristobal. It’s not a huge leap from California to Oregon, but it’s enough to continue to swing the recruiting power away from USC and towards the Ducks.
MR. INDECISION
DE/LB Reggie Grimes has been committed to Oklahoma for awhile but decided not to sign on Wednesday. He said it was a family decision and has nothing to do with his interest in the Sooners, but you can bet schools like South Carolina and Tennessee will be in touch.
50/50
DT Timothy Smith has been committed to Alabama for awhile but visited Florida many times and was thought to be torn between the two. In fact I was told by many sources he was 50/50 between the two. However, Alabama won out in the end and he’s going to be a star there.
SCARE TACTIC
Another DT, Clyde Pinder from Florida, was committed to North Carolina for some time but said be wasn’t going to sign early in the morning. Many thought that could lead to a flip to Florida, but Pinder waited to see if Smith flipped from Alabama to the Gators and when he didn’t, he decide to sign with UNC as he had intended.
DENY, DENY, DENY
LB Romello Height swore on social media that he was done with the recruiting process and was 100% committed to Miami. Then he took a secret visit to Auburn and signed with the Tigers on Wednesday. Miami coaches were stunned and he played the game well.