JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Now that National Signing Day has come and gone and it’s time to see how our local schools did. Florida, Florida St. and Georgia all finished ranked in the top 15.
Six SEC teams have new coaches this year if you include Mississippi's Matt Luke, who served as interim coach last fall. The others are Arkansas' Chad Morris, Florida's Dan Mullen, Mississippi State's Joe Moorhead, Tennessee's Jeremy Pruitt and Texas A&M's Jimbo Fisher.
Most of the coaches got their jobs just a few weeks before the new December signing period. Pruitt said about half the members of the Volunteers' 20 signees hadn't even visited Tennessee's campus until the weekend after he took the job in early December.
"There was just no time in December (for new coaches) to get things done before the early signing period," said Mike Farrell, the director of recruiting for Rivals. "A lot of them were hiring staff, transitioning from one team to another."
Mullen fared the best of the new coaches with a class that ranked 14th as of late Wednesday evening. Fisher class that ranked 14th as of late Wednesday evening. Fisher made a late surge to get the Aggies to 17th. Tennessee was 20th, Mississippi State 27th and Ole Miss 31st. Arkansas was outside the top 50.
That left them far behind some of the SEC's more established programs. Georgia led the national team recruiting rankings to end the seven-year reign of Alabama, which ranked seventh. Auburn was 12th nationally and third in the SEC.
Florida State finished ranked No. 11 after signing 21 recruits.
Here is the complete list of recruits from Florida, Florida St. and Georgia:
Florida
Noah Banks, ot, 6-7, 305, Iowa Western C.C., Council Bluffs, Iowa
Chris Bleich, ot, 6-6, 305, Wyoming Valley West, Plymouth, Pa.
Amari Burney, s, 6-1, 215, Calvary Christian, Clearwater, Fla.
Andrew Chatfield, de, 6-2, 221, American Heritage, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Iverson Clement, ath, 5-11, 199, Rancocas Valley Reg H, Mount Holly, N.J.
Jacob Copeland, wr, 6-0, 192, Escambia, Pensacola, Fla.
Trey Dean, s, 6-2, 180, Dutchtown, Hampton, Ga.
Richard Gouraige, ot, 6-5, 271, Cambridge Christian School, Tampa, Fla.
Trevon Grimes, olb, 6-4, 267, Lee County, Leesburg, Ga.
John Huggins, s, 6-0, 200, Mainland, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Van Jefferson, wr, 6-2, 195, Ole Miss, Brentwood, Tenn.
Emory Jones, qb, 6-2½, 195, Heard County, Franklin, Ga.
Dante Lang, te, 6-5, 220, Boca Raton, Boca Raton, Fla.
Malik Langham, de, 6-5½, 269, Lee, Huntsville, Ala.
Griffin McDowell, ot, 6-4, 280, Lee County, Leesburg, Ga.
Evan McPherson, k, 6-0, 165, Fort Payne, Fort Payne, Ala.
Dameon Pierce, rb, 5-11, 205, Bainbridge, Bainbridge, Ga.
Kyle Pitts, te, 6-5½, 235, Archbishop Wood, Warminster, Pa.
David Reese, olb, 6-2½, 213, Vero Beach, Vero Beach, Fla.
Randy Russell, s, 5-10, 180, Miami Carol City, Opa Locka, Fla.
Justin Watkins, wr, 5-11, 172, East Ridge, Clermont, Fla.
Florida St.
D'Marcus Adams, wr, 6-0, 170, Mainland, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Christian Armstrong, ot, 6-5, 335, Warner Robins, Warner Robins, Ga.
Isaiah Bolden, cb, 6-2, 175, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, Fla.
Dennis Briggs, dt, 6-4, 252, Gateway, Kissimmee, Fla.
Jamarcus Chatman, dt, 6-2.5, 258, Rome (Rome, GA)
Robert Cooper, dt, 6-2, 377, South Gwinnett, Snellville, Ga.
Amari Gainer, olb, 6-2½, 204, Lawton Chiles, Tallahassee, Fla.
Jalen Goss, ot, 6-7, 265, Lowndes, Valdosta, Ga.
Anthony Grant, rb, 5-11, 200, Buford, Buford, Ga.
Tre'Shaun Harrison, ath, 6-2, 190, Garfield, Seattle, Wash.
Keyshawn Helton, wr, 5-9, 160, West Florida Tech, Pensacola, Fla.
Malcolm Lamar, de, 6-5, 250, Armwood, Seffner, Fla.
Anthony Lytton, cb, 5-10, 173, Dr. Henry Wise, Upper Marlboro, Md.
Camren McDonald, te, 6-4, 220, Long Beach Poly, Long Beach, Calif.
Christian Meadows, og, 6-3, 330, Macon County, Montezuma, Ga.
Chaz Neal, de, 6-7, 253, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, Fla.
Xavier Peters, olb, 6-4, 225, Lakota West, West Chester, Ohio
Asante Samuel Jr., cb, 5-9½, 166, St. Thomas Aquinas, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Warren Thompson, wr, 6-3, 200, Armwood, Seffner, Fla.
Jaiden Woodbey, s, 6-2, 204, St. John Bosco, Bellflower, Calif.
Jordan Young, wr, 6-2, 185, Heritage, Conyers, Ga.
Georgia
Adam Anderson, olb, 6-4, 214, Rome, Rome, Ga.
Tommy Bush, wr, 6-5, 191, Samuel Clemens, Schertz, Texas
Jake Camarda, p, 6-2, 175, Norcross, Norcross, Ga.
Tyson Campbell, cb, 6-2½, 180, American Heritage, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Owen Condon, ot, 6-7, 315, Bishop McGuinness, Oklahoma City, Okla.
James Cook, apb, 5-11½, 181, Miami Northwestern HS, Miami, Fla.
Brenton Cox, de, 6-4½, 247, Stockbridge, Stockbridge, Ga.
Jordan Davis, de, 6-5, 238, Southwind, Memphis, Tenn.
Warren Ericson, ot, 6-4, 315, North Gwinnett, Suwanee, Ga.
Justin Fields, qb, 6-3, 221, Harrison, Kennesaw, Ga.
John FitzPatrick, te, 6-6, 230, Marist School, Atlanta, Ga.
Luke Ford, te, 6-6, 252, Carterville, Carterville, Ill.
Deontrey Hill, og, 6-3½, 346, Houston County, Warner Robins, Ga.
Kearis Jackson, wr, 5-11½, 203, Peach County, Fort Valley, Ga.
Nadab Joseph, cb, 6-1½, 180, Miami Norland HS, Miami, Fla.
Cade Mays, ot, 6-6, 318, Knoxville Catholic, Knoxville, Tenn.
Azeez Ojulari, wde, 6-4, 224, Marietta, Marietta, Ga.
Otis Reese, olb, 6-4, 206, Lee County, Leesburg, Ga.
Jamaree Salyer, og, 6-4, 325, Pace Academy, Atlanta, Ga.
Christopher Smith, cb, 5-11, 175, Hapeville Charter, Atlanta, Ga.
Channing Tindall, ilb, 6-2, 213, Spring Valley, Columbia, S.C.
Quay Walker, olb, 6-4, 236, Crisp County, Cordele, Ga.
Tramel Walthour, dt, 6-4, 277, Liberty County, Hinesville, Ga.
Zamir White, rb, 6-1, 220, Scotland County, Laurinburg, N.C.
Divaad Wilson, cb, 6-0, 180, Northwestern, Miami, Fla.
Devonte Wyatt, dt, 6-3, 300, Hutchinson C.C., Hutchinson, Kan.