As we trudge and stumble our way toward the halfway point of National Signing Day 2014, we figured now would be as good a time as any to update how individual teams are faring on the recruiting trail.
Ohio State began the day as the No. 2 football program in Rivals.com‘s team rankings. Thanks to a handful of touted signings, including one of the top wide receivers in the country, LSU has jumped past the Buckeyes and into the No. 2 hole behind top-ranked Alabama.
The Tigers began the day rated outside of Rivals’ Top Five.
Of the teams in the Top 10, seven come from the SEC. The lone exceptions? Ohio State (No. 3), Florida State (No. 4) and Notre Dame (No. 9). In fact, nine of the teams in the Top 20 hail from the SEC while 11 of the Top 30 are from that conference.
The lowest-rated SEC school? Vanderbilt at No. 65, and that’s due in large part to James Franklin pillaging the Commodores recruiting class on his way to Penn State. Outside of Vandy, the lowest-rated SEC school is Mississippi State at No. 36.
Outside of the SEC, the ACC and Pac-12 each have six teams in Rivals’ Top 30, while the Big Ten and Big 12 have three each.
The top recruiting classes for each of the five major FBS conferences are as follows:
ACC: Florida State (No. 4)
Big Ten: Ohio State (No. 3)
Big 12: Oklahoma (No. 16)
Pac-12: Stanford (No. 13)
SEC: Alabama (No. 1)
At the moment -- and obviously rankings will change all across the board before the day’s over -- the highest-ranked team from a non-Big Five conference is the AAC’s USF (No. 40).
Below is how the Top 30 of the Rivals’ team rankings look at the time of this posting:
