Team ranking storylines: Georgia, Clemson come out swinging

Coming into the first day of the Early Signing Period, expectations were generally tempered as to what Wednesday’s events might mean for teams and their place in the Rivals Team Recruiting Rankings. Sure enough, that’s not how things stayed for long. Even with a couple of days left for teams to ink recruits some programs managed to make dramatic climbs, while several others might need to figure some things out before the traditional National Signing Day in February.

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The Bulldogs already had the third-ranked recruiting class heading into Wednesday, so even though there weren’t many places left for them to climb, their move was significant. After picking up four commitments - two of which were five-star prospects Jamaree Salyer and Cade Mays - UGA found itself in the top overall spot by the early evening, although Ohio State is still lurking close behind, even with the flip of quarterback Emory Jones to Florida. Clemson made up ground quickly with two new five-star signees of its own in Jackson Carman and K.J. Henry, both of whom committed on Wednesday as well. The Tigers entered the day as the 30th-ranked team, but now find themselves 16th with just 15 players committed. The biggest win for Clemson, however, is getting all of its commits signed Wednesday.

New head coaches were always going to have their work cut out for them during the Early Signing Period while also trying to get their footing in new locations - regardless of their success at their previous program. Even after an undefeated season at UCF and coming to Nebraska as arguably the most desirable head coach on the market, Scott Frost and the Huskers are still no higher than 60, with 10 of their 13 commits signed on Day 1. Arkansas saw some player movement, for better and worse, after finally getting Chad Morris in the fold, but to be sitting behind embattled SEC West opponent Ole Miss at 80 stings.

To the Rebels' credit, Matt Luke and his staff wasted no time aggressively offering and recruiting prospects once it was confirmed he would stay on as head coach. And though scholarship reductions are a likely possibility in the wake of Hugh Freeze’s dismissal, Ole Miss isn’t in a horrible spot with a ranking inside the Top 50 and all but two players signed out of 16 commitments. Jimbo Fisher has been fortunate to sign several of the big names that had been committed to Texas A&M, but the Aggies are in a bit of a holding pattern until he can further fill out his staff. A&M is still in a nice spot with a top-30 class, and Fisher has been offering prospects from familiar locales, but his first class will be graded in February, not December.

The Nittany Lions entered the day with the sixth-ranked recruiting class, but once a team gets so high in the standings, sometimes the most significant moves are not always the largest. After winning the battle for five-star defensive lineman Micah Parsons and adding high four-star wide receiver Jahan Dotson, Penn State moved to third overall, jumping Texas and Miami, who had great success signing their own classes. If James Franklin can win upcoming head-to-head recruiting battles for Jayson Oweh and Rasheed Walker against Urban Meyer, the Nittany Lions could very well end up behind Georgia come February.

Florida State has high hopes for new head coach Willie Taggart’s success in recruiting his home state, but the Seminoles' class isn’t particularly inspiring right now relative to some of college football’s other top dogs. With just four-out-of-eight players signed at the end of Day 1, Taggart might be headed for another season similar to his first and only one at Oregon unless he can work some magic before February. Fortunately, Fisher luring some of his former commitments away to College Station hasn’t really factored into the equation, and the Seminoles are hovering at 70th overall in the class rankings.

Nick Saban has been critical of the Early Signing Period for a variety of reasons, but perhaps the biggest is that there are now far fewer top-tier recruits for him to try and snatch just before the February deadline. Of course, it has gone the other way as well, where prospects have considered themselves part of the Tide’s class up until the moment of truth, when Saban’s plentiful options gave him his pick of top-ranked capable players, leaving a few players to have to consider alternate options. Alabama now sits in the sixth spot in the rankings after Wednesday, with six players not yet confirmed to send in their letters of intent, and it’s all but guaranteed that Alabama won’t win its seventh recruiting title in the last eight years. Perhaps Saban has some tricks up his sleeve, but he’ll no doubt approach next season with different expectations for the Early Signing Period than he did this year.