National Signing Day has come and gone. We've taken a brief look at Boston College's haul, so let's take a look at how the other five teams in the ACC Atlantic fared yesterday.
Down in Tallahassee, Florida State signed the nation's top recruiting class. Well, at least according to two of the four recruiting ranking services. As you might expect, this has the guys over at Tomahawk Nation dreaming of a return to when Florida State regularly bludgeoned the rest of the conference, circa 1993.
"This is Florida State's best class in a decade and serves notice to the rest of the college football world that FSU will soon be back and contend at the highest level. And it serves notice to the other 11 other ACC programs, who cannot hope to compete with the Seminoles talent if FSU continues to stockpile in this fashion."
I will give Seminoles fans this: they really take their recruiting rankings seriously. Congrats, Florida State, on your #1 2011 recruiting class, according to ESPN and 247. I look forward to watching your 2011 split National Recruiting Championship banner raised at the Doak.
At Clemson, Dabo Swinney and the Tigers had a good day, all things considered. Clemson hauled in a top-tier recruiting class, signing four 5-star recruits (according to Rivals) and finishing with a class ranked 8th by Rivals, 10th by ESPN and 11th by Scout. Shakin The Southland gives this class its seal of approval:
"An incredible job by our staff, considering the negativity within the fanbase and a 6-7 season."
Overall, I'm not too concerned about the Tigers 2011 class in the long-term. After all, Dabo Swinney is still the coach down in Death Valley.
Our friends down in College Park didn't have the best of National Signing Days. You know, with the Terps in the middle of a head coaching change, and what not. Here's Testudo Times take:
"Elsewhere, there wasn't a lot of excitement on NSD. Darius Jennings went with Virginia, while Clemson picked up two more five-stars. Both UVA and Clemson loaded up, and Florida State had already pulled in a crazy class. The ACC is getting a lot more talented and it's happening fast. Oh, and James Franklin did a nice job with Vandy's class.
Hopefully 2012 goes a little better."
As an aside, it must be nice to be concerned with what Virginia is doing on the recruiting trail, and not Virginia Tech, as UVa is Maryland's permanent Coastal Division dancing partner. Speaking of Virginia, Brendan from From Old Virginia reports that the Cavs' day went extremely well. While BC plays Virginia what seems like every tenth year, the program that London is building in Charlottesville is certainly one to keep an eye on, particularly with respect to the impact the Cavaliers' program will have on Virginia Tech and Maryland's programs.
Down in Raleigh, akula wolf at Backing The Pack couldn't help displaying his disappointment with Tom O'Brien's recruiting class:
"We addressed some needs and added some good players, but this class was a huge disappointment and there's really no way to spin that. I trust TOB's ability to develop kids as much as the next guy, but he isn't winning any conference titles with classes like this one. On the bright side, State's successful season on the field should make the program an easier sell for the class of 2012, and the coaches have already received a couple of commitments."
The Wolfpack recruiting class finished 11th and 12th in the ACC, depending on your recruiting ranking service of choice. TOB also added that Mike Glennon will be N.C. State's QB next season, with Russell Wilson deciding on playing baseball next season. Sounds like next year's Wolfpack team will look very different from the one that finished within a game of winning this year's ACC Atlantic Division crown.
Finally, down in Winston-Salem, the boys at Blogger So Dear had a running account of the day's National Signing Day action. Wake hauled in just 14 recruits this year, a typical Jim Grobe class of under-the-radar guys. QB Kevin Sousa (no. 23 QB in the country) headlines the class. You could call it an "Al Skinner" diamond-in-the-rough-esque class, I suppose.