Rare is the football coach who will take the podium on the first Wednesday in February and admit to the media that "you know, we just didn't do all that hot in recruiting this year."
Instead, even if seven five-stars turned you down for your arch-rival or the stud you felt you had locked down for a year bolted to Notre Dame at the last minute, any coach worth his whistle will proclaim that their signing class is perhaps the best they have ever had and that "all our needs were met."
Which is why we are here, to detail the Five Winners and Five Losers of National Signing Day 2011.
Five Winners
1. CLEMSON TIGERS
GRADING UP: Clemson landed two five-star linebackers Wednesday as part of a stellar closing stretch, signing Stephone Anthony (6-3, 220, Wadesboro, N.C., Anson HS) and Tony Steward (6-2, 225, St. Augustine, Fla., Pedro Menendez HS) -- giving the Tigers four of the nation's Top 25 recruits according to Rivals.com.
Anthony and Steward join fellow five-stars RB Mike Bellamy (5-10, 185, Punta Gorda, Fla., Charlotte HS) and WR Sammy Watkins, Jr. (6-1, 180, Fort Myers, Fla., South Fort Myers HS) in a class that was expected to trail Florida State by a considerable margin in the conference.
Clemson also landed a surprise OL on Wednesday, as Spencer Region (6-6, 330, Cullman, Ala., HS) spurned offers from Alabama and Auburn to sign with coach Dabo Swinney.
2. AUBURN TIGERS
GRADING UP: The rich get richer, no pun intended.
Auburn's Wednesday began with a pleasant surprise when four-star DB Erique Florence (6-2, 181, Valley, Ala., HS) chose the Tigers over Southern Cal on national television. The Tigers also received a NSD letter faxed from five-star LB Kris Frost (6-3, 210, Matthews, N.C., Butler HS) upholding his commitment offered just eight days after Auburn downed Oregon, 22-19, in the BCS National Championship Game.
Signed letters-of-intent followed from OT Christian Westerman (6-5, 288, Chandler, Ariz., Hamilton HS), who had switched from Texas to the Tigers on Jan. 21, and C Reese Dismukes (6-4, 287, Spanish Fort, Ala., HS), who was an early Auburn commitment.
Gene Chizik and the Tigers looked like they really hit the big-man lottery during the lunch hour when five-star OT Cyrus Kouandjio (6-7, 322, Hyattsville, Md., DeMatha HS), committed to Auburn over Alabama. Kouandjio, who was considered the best offensive lineman in the country, appeared ready to sign his letter, but then opted to postpone actually signing -- throwing his eventual destination into question.
3. FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES
GRADING UP: Although ACC mate Clemson might have looked like the belle of the ball, the Seminoles ruthlessly took advantage of coaching-change years at Florida and Miami (Fla.) to lock down the Sunshine State.
Coach Jimbo Fisher signed 28 new Seminoles, led by four-star DT Timmy Jernigan (6-2, 275, Lake City, Fla., Columbia HS).
Jernigan joins five-star RB James Wilder Jr. (6-2, 219, Tampa, Fla., Plant HS) and five-star DB Karlos Williams (6-2, 210, Davenport, Fla., Ridge HS) as the Seminoles' most prized recruits.
4. SOUTHERN CAL TROJANS
GRADING UP: This one gets two gigantic asterisks by it, both because the NCAA is set to come down on the Trojans like a ton of bricks and because of Wednesday's FanHouse story about Lane Kiffin's Failure to Monitor antics at Tennessee.
That said, it is truly "All Hail" to USC for now. Kiffin and ace recruiter Ed Orgeron landed five-star WR George Farmer (6-2, 192, Gardena, Calif., Junipero Serra HS) and also beat out several Pac-10 schools for the services of DT Christian Heyward (6-2, 269, San Diego, Calif., Point Loma HS). But the Trojans lost out on five-star ATH De'Anthony Thomas (5-9, 160, Los Angeles, Calif., Crenshaw HS), who switched his commitment late Wednesday night to Oregon.
5. LSU TIGERS
GRADING UP: Coach Les Miles has been grazing on only the top-of-the-line sod during the recruiting process, and it paid off Wednesday in a big way.
LSU landed THREE five-stars as part of a 22-player haul -- OL La'El Collins (6-5, 285, Baton Rouge, La., Redemptorist HS), DT Anthony Johnson (6-4, 298, New Orleans, La., O. Perry Walker HS) and WR Jarvis Landry (5-11, 178, Lutcher, La., HS).
Five Losers
1. FLORIDA GATORS
CURVE, PLEASE: OK, new coach Will Muschamp only had about a month to work on the 2011 Gators signing class, and he did a fair job with 18 commitments -- including keeping QB Jeff Driskel (6-3, 225, Oviedo, Fla., Hagerty HS) on board. But when you look at the classes Auburn, Alabama, LSU and Georgia hauled in, well, pushing the Gators back to the top of the SEC East could be a multi-year task.
2. PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS
CURVE, PLEASE: Want proof that Joe Paterno has lost his fastball? Look no further than Penn State's 2011 signing class. All 16 of them.
Yes, we know ATH Bill Belton (5-9, 191, Atco, N.J., Winslow Township HS) might be a star, and DE Shawn Oakman (6-8, 240, Lansdowne, Pa., Penn Wood HS) will likely grow into his huge frame. But it will take a lot more than this to compete in the Big Ten.3. MIAMI HURRICANES
CURVE, PLEASE: Ditto what was said about Florida, almost to the letter -- only swapping out "Will Muschamp" for "Al Golden."
Miami only signed 16 players Wednesday and somehow missed out on all of the approximately 974 five-star athletes produced annually inside the Sunshine State, with DE Anthony Chickillo (6-3, 226, Tampa, Fla., Alonso HS) the closest can't-miss of the compressed bunch.
4. UCLA BRUINS
CURVE, PLEASE: If there is one state that produces more than the approximately 974 five-star athletes Florida does each year, it is California. And yet, Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel managed to whiff on all of them for his 16-player 2011 class.
QB Brett Hundley (6-4, 210, Chandler, Ariz., HS) has the potential, at least, to make folks someday forget about the shortened numbers.
5. MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS
CURVE, PLEASE: For being the Big Ten champions, coach Mark D'Antonio and the Spartans didn't exactly parlay those rings to the maximum on the recruiting trail -- as new Michigan coach Brady Hoke even managed to out-recruit Sparty down the stretch.
The best of the 21-player Michigan State class? LB Lawrence Thomas (6-4, 232, Detroit, Mich., Renaissance HS). The rest? Well, we hear East Lansing is nice from May-July
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