Class Ranking Following The Early Signing Period

[aubiefifty 16,774]

Auburn lands No. 7 class during early signing period

Posted Dec 18, 2019

4-6 minutes

Auburn Football

Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics

After signing 22 players during the start of the early signing period, Auburn has secured one of the best recruiting classes of Gus Malzahn’s tenure -- and one of the best in the country for the 2020 cycle.

Following two straight years outside the top-10, Auburn made a return to that tier with its 22-member signing class on Wednesday. The Tigers finished the day ranked seventh in the 247Sports Composite team rankings after starting the morning ranked ninth. The rise was thanks to the additions of four new commitments throughout the day: four-star linebacker Desmond Tisdol, four-star defensive back Eric Reed Jr., three-star Buck edge-rusher Romello Height and four-star tight end JJ Pegues.

“When I look at this group, it’s a very talented group," Malzahn said. “Very high-character group. I believe 12 of the (22) have a 3.0 or higher GPA, which is really something. And they have great families. And I really think in this day and time, with the portal, it’s a new day in college football. I think it’s more important than ever to get high character, great families and just the stability of your program, roster management and everything that goes with that. So I’m very excited about this group.”

Auburn entered the day with 20 players committed, and 18 of those commits signed and sent in their letter of intent. The only holdouts were four-star defensive tackle Jay Hardy and three-star JUCO offensive tackle Jonathan Buskey. However, the Tigers got a boost from those four aforementioned additions, which helped strengthen the class and secure at least the second-best class of Malzahn’s tenure, at least in terms of the average strength of signees.

Auburn’s overall team score, according to the 247Sports Composite, is 270.97 -- which would be the fifth-highest team total of the Malzahn era -- but a more accurate measure would be that of the average signee ranking. This year’s class currently has an average prospect rating of 90.88, which is the eighth-highest average in the nation this cycle and currently the second-strongest class under Malzahn. It ranks only behind the Tigers’ 2019 class, which had an average rating of 91.16 with just 21 signees.

Last year’s average was the highest for Auburn during the 247Sports era, which dates back to 1999, meaning the program’s two strongest signing classes have come in each of the last two cycles with Malzahn at the helm.

“I’d like to thank our recruiting staff and our coaches for really recruiting with honesty and integrity, and I really feel like it’s attracting the right type people to Auburn," Malzahn said.

Of course, those numbers could change by February’s National Signing Day, depending on how many more players -- and, specifically, which players -- the Tigers add to their class. Still, the team’s haul on Wednesday was impressive, ranking fifth among SEC teams with only two other Power 5 programs ahead of it: Clemson’s top-ranked class and Ohio State’s third-ranked class. Auburn’s class, as currently constructed, is ranked seven spots ahead of the nearest Pac-12 team (Washington at No. 14) and three spots ahead of the closest Big 12 team (No. 10 Texas), while Notre Dame is two spots behind Auburn.

In all, Auburn signed one five-star prospect in running back Tank Bigsby, 12 four-star recruits and nine three-star prospects. Among the 22-member signing class on Wednesday were six top-150 players nationally, including three top-100 prospects in Bigsby, four-star receiver Kobe Hudson and four-star linebacker Wesley Steiner.

The Tigers signed 12 players on offense, with one quarterback, one running back, four receivers, a tight end/H-back and five offensive linemen, and 10 on the defensive side: four defensive backs, three linebackers and three defensive linemen.

“It says a lot about, you know, where we’re getting as a program,” Malzahn said. “I think that is a good thing moving forward. We’ll still have a few left. We’ll see at the end of the day how everything works out with that, but we identified the guys we want. We were able to get the majority of them, and I think that’s always important.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[DAG 33,980]

Salute to the coaching staff for their hard work. 

[WarDamnEagleWDE 12,737]

Got to get Jones. This is a great class but will always be incomplete without a elite OT. Jones is that guy.

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

Even better than some arbitrary rating is that we've almost met all of our  needs in this class.  1 quality OT and 2 quality DTs in the February signing period and it will be almost a perfect class, imo.

[ellitor 33,091]

To add to the OP here are AU's ranking for each site..

7th Composite
5th ESPN
7th 247 only
8th Rivals

If you wonder why ESPN is the outlier it's because of Chris Thompson. ESPN ranks him high as the #73 overall recruit. 247 has dropped him to 558 overall & Rivals has dropped him to a 3* & somewhere between 500  & 700 overall.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Did the Place kicker/punter from Thompson sign with anyone?

[AUintheATL 1]

3 hours ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Got to get Jones. This is a great class but will always be incomplete without a elite OT. Jones is that guy.

WDE...  completely agree! You seem to always be in the loop with who we are getting, what are you currently hearing? I know it will be an all out WAR to take him from UGA.

[toddc 13,194]

Did we ask the kicker to gray-shirt who was the Alabama HSAllstar kicker?

[tinman 305]

5 hours ago, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Got to get Jones. This is a great class but will always be incomplete without a elite OT. Jones is that guy.

Any idea where he is leaning at present?

[ellitor 33,091]

50 minutes ago, tinman said:

Any idea where he is leaning at present?

He's still committed to UGA so that's the safe bet right now,

[ellitor 33,091]

1 hour ago, toddc said:

Did we ask the kicker to gray-shirt who was the Alabama HSAllstar kicker?

PWO for now.

[JFDTiger80 790]

Is this kicker HS kicker coming to AU regardless of getting a scholly?

[ellitor 33,091]

20 minutes ago, JFDTiger80 said:

Is this kicker HS kicker coming to AU regardless of getting a scholly?

Not necessarily. If he gets a scholarship offer from another school he may take it for obvious financial reasons.

[AUpreacherman22 3,885]

On 12/19/2019 at 8:27 AM, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Got to get Jones. This is a great class but will always be incomplete without a elite OT. Jones is that guy.

I agree.  This class has a lot of strong points!  But it deserves an asterisk until we get some top level OL, specifically OT.  Jones is our only hope this year.  And our chances look slim atm.  

[JFDTiger80 790]

11 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Not necessarily. If he gets a scholarship offer from another school he may take it for obvious financial reasons.

Sure, I get it. I would hope we would give up a spot for him if we have 2 to 3 scholarships still. I understand we are looking for a possible OL signee and maybe a transfer QB. I think that may still leave 1 spot. I think Anders could use a little competition which should make both kids better in the long run. I am still of the opinion that the kickers are worth the scholarship. 

[AU64 10,122]

On 12/19/2019 at 9:30 AM, dyehardfanAU said:

Even better than some arbitrary rating is that we've almost met all of our  needs in this class.  1 quality OT and 2 quality DTs in the February signing period and it will be almost a perfect class, imo.

Yep....that is really the key.....a school can get several isolated highly rated players but unless they fill the gaps of graduates or just known weaknesses, the rankings don't tell the whole story.    

As for AU, seems that we will be going into the next season with some serious talent......but IMO, it is almost always about the QB and we will have maybe the top returning QB... at least I don't know anyone I would trade for Bo. 

[AUwent 3,748]

On 12/19/2019 at 9:27 AM, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Got to get Jones. This is a great class but will always be incomplete without a elite OT. Jones is that guy.

I (still) have no idea why we're keeping Grimes. I haaaaate to make criticism after how highly ranked a class we just signed but we urgently need some highly ranked offensive linemen!

[ellitor 33,091]

4 hours ago, AUwent said:

I (still) have no idea why we're keeping Grimes. I haaaaate to make criticism after how highly ranked a class we just signed but we urgently need some highly ranked offensive linemen!

No. We need linemen that can play good college football regardless of where they’re ranked. At least we brought in some linemen this year unlike past years when we were bringing in very few.

[LakeBum 187]

2 hours ago, ellitor said:

No. We need linemen that can play good college football regardless of where they’re ranked. At least we brought in some linemen this year unlike past years when we were bringing in very few.

Just to illustrate how hard it is to predict who will turn out to be a great offensive tackle based on how they were in high school,

Here is  ATHLON Sports  2019 NFL Tackle Rankings with their 247 HS Ranking

1. David Bakhtiari, Green Bay  -  2 Stars

2. Mitchell Schwartz, Kansas City - 3 Star

3. Andrew Whitworth, Los Angeles Rams - 5 Star

4. Ryan Ramczyk, New Orleans  - NO Ranking

5. Terron Armstead, New Orleans - NO Ranking

6. Lane Johnson, Philadelphia - NO Ranking (QB in HS)

7. Tyron Smith, Dallas - 4 Star

8. Joe Staley, San Francisco - 2 Star

9. Taylor Lewan, Tennessee - 4 Star

10. Jason Peters, Philadelphia - 4 Star (as a WDE)

[AU64 10,122]

8 hours ago, LakeBum said:

Just to illustrate how hard it is to predict who will turn out to be a great offensive tackle based on how they were in high school,

Here is  ATHLON Sports  2019 NFL Tackle Rankings with their 247 HS Ranking

1. David Bakhtiari, Green Bay  -  2 Stars

2. Mitchell Schwartz, Kansas City - 3 Star

3. Andrew Whitworth, Los Angeles Rams - 5 Star

4. Ryan Ramczyk, New Orleans  - NO Ranking

5. Terron Armstead, New Orleans - NO Ranking

6. Lane Johnson, Philadelphia - NO Ranking (QB in HS)

7. Tyron Smith, Dallas - 4 Star

8. Joe Staley, San Francisco - 2 Star

9. Taylor Lewan, Tennessee - 4 Star

10. Jason Peters, Philadelphia - 4 Star (as a WDE)

Thanks....JMO but OL are as hard to predict as QBs....in the cased of OLs,  if local teams are an indication, the big tough guys play defense.   I took a look at the Rivals 250 a while back and there was a surprising (to me) small number of them in the top 250...seemed out of proportion to the total number of players. ...for example only 9 OGs and 3 centers to go with about 20 OTs. to get spread across 120 or more teams.   Sounds like some of the offensive linemen come from either the defense or from growing guys who start life as a TE.   I'm thinking perhaps Pegues is in that category. 

[Sizzle 3,912]

8 hours ago, LakeBum said:

Just to illustrate how hard it is to predict who will turn out to be a great offensive tackle based on how they were in high school,

Here is  ATHLON Sports  2019 NFL Tackle Rankings with their 247 HS Ranking

1. David Bakhtiari, Green Bay  -  2 Stars

2. Mitchell Schwartz, Kansas City - 3 Star

3. Andrew Whitworth, Los Angeles Rams - 5 Star

4. Ryan Ramczyk, New Orleans  - NO Ranking

5. Terron Armstead, New Orleans - NO Ranking

6. Lane Johnson, Philadelphia - NO Ranking (QB in HS)

7. Tyron Smith, Dallas - 4 Star

8. Joe Staley, San Francisco - 2 Star

9. Taylor Lewan, Tennessee - 4 Star

10. Jason Peters, Philadelphia - 4 Star (as a WDE)

Tytus Howard was a QB in HS, went to Alabama state as a TE then gained 100 pounds and became a first round pick offensive tackle

[doc4aday 1,887]

On 12/19/2019 at 9:27 AM, WarDamnEagleWDE said:

Got to get Jones. This is a great class but will always be incomplete without a elite OT. Jones is that guy.

You are dead on correct with this. If we get him, this should give us one of the better OL recruitment that we have had since Gus has been here. I hope the JUCO tackles will turn out to be solid players that can be on the field for 2020.

[ellitor 33,091]

1 hour ago, doc4aday said:

If we get him, this should give us one of the better OL recruitment that we have had since Gus has been here

Unfortunately the bar isn’t set to high on that one.

[doc4aday 1,887]

35 minutes ago, ellitor said:

Unfortunately the bar isn’t set to high on that one.

Hey ellitor...do you think the Braves will re-sign Josh Donaldson?  He was one of the major factors in the good season we had in 2019.

Thanks & WDE!  (have a happy new year my friend!)

[ellitor 33,091]

1 hour ago, doc4aday said:

Hey ellitor...do you think the Braves will re-sign Josh Donaldson?  He was one of the major factors in the good season we had in 2019.

No clue. My mind is all on AU & the Saints right now.