The future of college football starts now on national signing day. Plenty of recruits will sign with their future school and will mold the next few seasons of football. Here is how the ACC and Notre Dame rank:
- Florida State- 5 Stars- 1, 4 stars- 18, 3 stars- 6, Total 25
Florida State has one of the best recruiting classes in the country, which should help them get back to an ACC title in the coming years. They have one five-star prospect, but have a lot of talent that could propel them to the top spot in the recruiting rankings by the end of the day.
Cornerback Levontae Taylor is their best recruit and could help out a secondary that loses Jalen Ramsey to the NFL. They have another good cornerback in this class who is a four-star recruit, Carlos Becker. Defensive end Jamarius Robinson and linebacker Keion Joyner are solid recruits as well, which helped Florida State hit every level of the defense in this class.
Jimbo Fisher may have found his quarterback for next season in Malik Henry from California, who is a great dual-threat for the Florida State offense. Center Baveon Johnson is their best offensive line recruit, and will be a future star. They also bolstered their offensive tackle position by signing Landon Dickerson, a four-star recruit. Wide receiver Keith Gavin will join a good receiving corps and will need to battle to get on the field. Running back Amir Rasul will back up Dalvin Cook next season.
- Clemson- 5 stars- 1, 4 stars- 14, 3 stars- 5, Total 22
Clemson is coming off of a National Championship Game appearance and has a great recruiting class to keep their success going. Dabo Swinney has been known as one of the best recruiters in the country and didn’t disappoint this season.
The Tigers have a great defensive class thanks to a great signing day thus far. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence is their only five-star prospect and is physically big, which means he will be the next great Clemson defensive lineman. Cornerback Trayvon Mullen is a four-star prospect and is needed to replace Mackensie Alexander, who is leaving for the NFL draft. They have two talented linebackers in this class in Rahshaun Smith and Tre’ Lamar, who both should be future starters for Clemson.
The Clemson offense was young this season so they don’t need much from this recruiting class. Their best offensive player is running back Tavien Feaster, who will have the honor of backing up Wayne Gallman in his first season. Diondre Overton is a talented big receiver to put next to Artavis Scott next season. They only have one four-star offensive lineman at this point and that is guard Sean Pollard. They may need more from the offensive line in this class.
- Notre Dame- 4 stars- 9, 3 stars- 13, Total 23
Notre Dame is abnormally still without a five-star commit at this point. Brian Kelly still has a good class and should be competing for the College Football Playoff next season with help from this class.
The Fighting Irish have their two best recruits on the offensive line in Liam Eichenberg and Tommy Kraemer, who are both from Ohio. The other great offensive recruit is Chase Claypool out of Canada, who is six foot five inches tall and can be a great red zone target.
The defensive players that stand out are defensive end Khalid Kareem, safeties Donte Vaughn and Spencer Perry and defensive end Julian Okwara, which shows they are still looking for a star linebacker in this class.
- Miami- 4 stars- 11, 3 stars- 7, Total 18
Miami doesn’t have the most players in this class yet, but they do have a lot of talent. Mark Richt has done a good job of retaining commits from Al Golden’s tenure, to make the recruiting class near the top of the ACC. The Hurricanes did a great job recruiting their own state, getting their top ten recruits from the state of Florida.
The top player Miami has in this class, pocket-passing quarterback Jack Allison, looks to have a bright future, but most likely won’t play as a freshman because the Hurricanes have a star in Brad Kaaya. To go along with Kaaya next year, Miami has wide receivers Sam Bruce, Dionte Mullens and running back Travis Horner, who are all talented enough to compete for playing time next season.
Defensively the Hurricanes have one of the best linebackers in the country signed with them, Shaquille Quarterman. They also have linebacker Zachary McCloud, defensive end Patrick Bethel, Joseph Jackson, and safeties Romeo Finley and Cedrick Wright closing out their defensive four star commits.
5. Duke- 4 stars- 7, 3 stars- 14, Total 21Duke has its best recruiting class in school history this season. David Cutcliffe has completed a successful turnaround of the Duke football program and it doesn’t look like they are going anywhere.
The Blue Devils have a very balanced class. Defensively their best recruit is Chidi Okonya, who is six foot seven inches, but is a slender 211 pounds. The other star defensive recruit is safety Dylan Singleton who is undersized at five feet eleven inches, but is a four-star recruit nonetheless.
Offensively the Blue Devils have four different four star prospects. Offensive tackle Robert Kraeling has the necessary size to compete in the ACC already. Tight end Mark Birmingham and wide receiver Scott Bracey will be great targets for Thomas Sirk in their first season. Running back Brittain Brown looks like he will be productive running the football for Duke for the next few years.
6.Pitt- 4 stars- 3, 3 stars- 20, Total 24
Pat Narduzzi has gotten his first full year of recruiting in, and it paid off. He has been extremely successful keeping players in Pennsylvania.
Cornerback Damar Hamlin is a prized recruit right out of Pittsburgh and decided to stay home to play for the Panthers. He and defensive tackle Keyshon Camp, from Florida, will be ready to play from day one and could have a big impact in their first season. The best offensive recruit is running back George Hill out of Ohio, but he still needs to sign with Pitt to make it official.
- North Carolina- 4 stars- 5, 3 stars 20, Total 25
Larry Fedora and North Carolina have done a good job of recruiting, but last year was the first year when that recruiting truly transferred to the on-field play.
Four-star Tomon Fox is a defensive end out of Georgia, who is a little bit undersized, but makes up for it with quickness. Quarterback Logan Byrd is a four-star pocket-passing quarterback, also out of Georgia, is the only offensive four-star recruit for the Tarheels. Athlete Chazz Surratt, cornerback Patrice Rene and defensive tackle Kyree Cambell are all four-star signees that will have a future impact for North Carolina.
- Louisville- 4 stars- 6, 3 stars- 15, Total 23
Bobby Petrino has Louisville poised to be at the top of the ACC the next couple of years. His recruiting class this season will help their team compete in the tough Atlantic Division.
The best recruit is dual-threat quarterback Jawon Pass, from Georgia. Pass may end up playing another position on the offense, as Petrino gets a lot of dual-threat quarterbacks to play wide receiver and running back. Their secondary was good last season, but they added on to that by getting cornerback Ronald Walker, who is a Juco recruit. They also have three wide receivers and an outside linebacker rounding out their four star recruits.
- Va Tech- 4 stars- 5, 3 stars- 13, Total 21
Virginia Tech is in their first offseason without head coach Frank Beamer and now is looking at Justin Fuentes to lead them. Fuentes has big shoes to fill and has to start with recruiting to build the program back to Beamer’s standards.
The top four recruits are all on the offensive side of the ball, including three receivers. Divine Deablo is a big receiver out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who has the potential to be a star. To go along with Deablo and the other receivers the Hokies have dual-threat quarterback Joshua Jackson who may be able to compete for the starting job next season.
- NC State- 4 stars- 1, 3 stars- 22, Total 27
NC State only has one four-star recruit, but has a lot of quality three-star recruits rounding out their class. Dave Doern made a bowl game this season and now needs to make a push and compete in the ACC.
The four-star recruit is tight end Thaddeus Moss, who is six foot four inches and from North Carolina. Jacoby Brissett has exhausted his eligibility, but NC State may have his eventual replacement in three star quarterback recruit, Dylan Parham, who is a pocket passer.
- Georgia Tech- 4 stars- 2, 3 stars- 14, Total 18
Paul Johnson has a unique time recruiting each year because he runs the triple option offense. The option offense helps him compete against teams who often recruit better players.
The Yellow Jackets have two four stars this season bolstering their class. Offensive Guard Parker Braun, from Texas, is an undersized offensive lineman, who will fit in perfectly in the triple option offense. Defensive End Jordan Woods will play as a Freshman for Georgia Tech.
- Wake Forest- 3 stars- 20, Total 22
Wake Forest has a balanced recruiting class in terms of offense vs. defense. Head Coach Dave Clawson needs to improve his 6-18 overall record to keep his job, making this recruiting class important.
The Demon Deacons have two standout recruits that could have impacts on the team as freshmen. Sulaiman Kamara is a defensive tackle commit, out of Virginia, who could see time next season to help what was a decent defense. Wake Forest needs offense because they only averaged 17.4 points per game. Their best offensive recruit is dual-threat quarterback Jamie Newman out of their home state of North Carolina.
- Virginia- 3 stars- 24, Total 24
Bronco Mendenhall is in his first offseason with Virginia and didn’t have too much time to recruit, but will continue to get better at recruiting during his time at Virginia. The Cavaliers don’t have a great recruiting class, but Mendenhall has done well without having the best talent during his time at BYU.
The Cavaliers seem to be targeting offense with their top five recruits coming on the offensive side of the ball. Virginia has three receivers at the top of their class. Joseph Reed and Cole Blackman are both from Vriginia and Hasise Dubois is from New Jersey. Dubois is a big receiver and can create matchup problems.
- Syracuse- 3 stars- 18, Total 20
Syracuse has a class that is at the bottom of the ACC once again. They need to capitalize on this signing day to compete in the ACC.
The best recruit is Rex Culpepper, who is a pocket-passing quarterback out of Florida. They also have offensive tackle Sam Heckel, from Wisconsin, and running back Moe Neal, from North Carolina. Syracuse seems to have a focus on recruiting offense this offseason, due to their scoring offense which is the eightieth best in the country.
- Boston College- 3 stars- 14, Total 22
Boston College has the worst recruiting class in the ACC, but do have 17 three star prospects. The Eagles have a tendency to find diamonds in the rough, like NFL linebacker Luke Keuchly, and they will be hoping for the same thing in this class.
Steve Addazio needs to get these players to pan out to insure his job security. The two best recruits are wide receiver Kobay White and linebacker Ethan Tucky. White is a six-foot receiver out of Pennsylvania. Tucky is six-foot two inch linebacker out of Ohio.