Jackson Free Press

National Signing Day in college football is close to the draft in the NFL. Most every coach will say that his team got some of the players that it needed to win in the next season or in the near future through that event.

Just like the NFL Draft, football fans won’t know the true winners and losers from Signing Day for a couple of seasons. The high-school and junior-college players that signed with teams yesterday, Feb. 1, still have to live up to the potential that made them worth taking a chance on.

Most recruiting rankings, including Scout, Rivals and ESPN, only look at the Division 1 FBS teams. There are few sites that rank FCS teams, but http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/CompositeTeamRankings">24/7 Sports ranks 250 teams across the nation. The website has Alcorn State University with the 186th-ranked recruiting class and Jackson State University with the 206th-ranked class.

Mississippi Valley State University wasn’t ranked in the top 250 schools in the 24/7 Sports rankings, but interestingly, Mississippi College ended up at 218th on the site.

While the http://herosports.com/news/ranking-the-top-30-recruiting-classes-in-the-fcs#1">recruiting rankings are somewhat lacking for FCS schools, there are plenty of options for FBS-school rankings. Some look at every FBS schools, and some have a cut-off point at the top 75 or 100 schools.

The top-10 national recruiting classes, no matter which ranking service you are looking at, feature mostly blue-bloods of the sport. The University of Alabama, the University of Southern California, Florida State University, the University of Michigan, Louisiana State University, Ohio State University, the University of Georgia, and the University of Oklahoma all finished in the top 10 in the four ranking lists used for this article.

Alabama finished as the top class in every ranking, and the SEC finished with three teams in the top three. The Big Ten placed two teams, and the ACC, PAC-12 and Big 12 placed one team each.

Mississippi State University ended up with the best ranking out of the three FBS schools in our state. The Bulldogs had the 24th-ranked class for http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/CompositeTeamRankings">24/7 Sports and http://insider.espn.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/classrankings?action=login">ESPN, 25th class for https://www.scout.com/college/football/recruiting/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=14&yr=2017">Scout and 27th for https://n.rivals.com/team_rankings/2017/all-teams">Rivals.

The University of Mississippi finished with the 29th-ranked team on https://www.scout.com/college/football/recruiting/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=14&yr=2017">Scout’s list, 30th for http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/CompositeTeamRankings">24/7 Sports, 36th for http://insider.espn.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/classrankings?action=login">ESPN and 39th for https://n.rivals.com/team_rankings/2017/all-teams">Rivals.

In the SEC recruit rankings, MSU finished ninth according to http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/CompositeTeamRankings?Conference=SEC">24/7 Sports, https://www.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=14&view=2&yr=2017">Scout and ESPN, but finished 11th for https://n.rivals.com/team_rankings/2017/sec">Rivals. The Rebels ended up 12th in the SEC for ESPN, http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/CompositeTeamRankings?Conference=SEC">24/7 Sports and https://n.rivals.com/team_rankings/2017/sec">Rivals, and11th for https://www.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=14&view=2&yr=2017">Scout.

The University of Southern Mississippi finished with the 71st-ranked class according to https://n.rivals.com/team_rankings/2017/all-teams">Rivals, 79th for http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/CompositeTeamRankings">24/7 Sports and 81st for https://www.scout.com/college/football/recruiting/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=14&yr=2017">Scout. http://insider.espn.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/classrankings?action=login">ESPN didn’t have the Golden Eagles ranked among its 75-team rankings.

USM finished with the second-best ranking in Conference USA according to https://n.rivals.com/team_rankings/2017/cusa">Rivals and the third best in the conference for http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/CompositeTeamRankings?Conference=C-USA">24/7 Sports and https://www.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=9&c=14&view=2&yr=2017">Scout.

These rankings are a best guess from some of the top recruiting services, but until these new recruits step on the field, we won’t find out if they live up to their rankings.

Coaching, a drive to succeed and the health of the player end up being just as important, if not more, than the stars beside a player’s name on recruiting day.