FSU Football: Comparing Signing Class to Classes of 2017 Opponents
By Jason Parker
FSU football again had one of the top classes in the country during Wednesday’s national signing day – but was it better than all the teams they will face?
It’s almost becoming something of a broken record during the first Wednesday each February – FSU football finishes National Signing Day with not just the best class in the state of Florida or the ACC, but maybe the entire country.
This year, that was the case again when an already great class ranked inside the top 10 was bumped up to the top five with the addition at the last minute of stud five star defensive tackle (and honey chicken connoisseur) Marvin Wilson. When the Texas native committed to the ‘Noles, it but FSU’s class up there with teams like USC, Michigan and Ohio State.
Oh, and one team that the Seminoles are going to have to see in less than seven months – the Alabama Crimson Tide.
When you take a look at the final rankings from Rivals 247 service that placed the top 100 classes in order, the Seminoles came out on top of just about every FBS opponent they will face in the upcoming season – except for that pesky team from Tuscaloosa:
"No. 1 Alabama (15 four and five star players)No. 5 Florida State (13 four and five star players)No. 9 Florida (15 four star players)No. 11 Miami (10 four star players)No. 22 Clemson (9 four and five star players)No. 28 Louisville (6 four star players)No. 46 Duke (1 four star player)No. 53 N.C. State (2 four star players)No. 62 Syracuse (No four or five star players)No. 66 Boston College (1 four star player)No. 73 Wake Forest (1 four star player)No. 95 Louisiana-Monroe (No four or five star players)"
While the first five teams on the list other than FSU Football are not a surprise, it is interesting to see Duke within the top 50 while bowl teams like N.C. State, Boston College and Wake Forest are looking up at the Blue Devils. Also interesting is that only two teams the ‘Noles will see next season got a five star recruit – both the Crimson Tide and Tigers.
In most cases, the Seminoles will not see a good amount of these signings during the 2017 season – but it’s good to know that FSU football has a leg up on most of the competition when it comes to bring in the top talent each year.
(And no, there is no ranking for the FCS level – so we have no idea how Delaware State did…but we can’t imagine it was all that good after last year’s 0-11 season).