The SEC's 4 Most Surprising Recruiting Classes of 2015

Death, taxes and recruiting national championships.

Barring a wild close to the recruiting season, Alabama will finish with the nation's best recruiting class for the fifth straight season. News that head coach Nick Saban is winning inside the living rooms of America's top prospects is akin to national networks breaking into prime-time reality shows to inform viewers that the sun did, indeed, set.

Other SEC programs, however, are a bit more surprising.

With only a week and change left before prospects can sign on the dotted line, which SEC programs are the most surprising?

Tennessee Volunteers

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It's been a long time since Tennessee was a destination program for blue chip prospects, but head coach Butch Jones—now in his third year as the man on Rocky Top—is doing his best to change that.

Despite a slow building process and the first bowl game since 2010, the Vols rank fourth in the updated 247Sports team recruiting rankings, and that class is a product of both quantity and quality. 

The headliner is Kahlil McKenzie, a 5-star, 6'3", 354-pound monster from Concord, California, who quick off the ball, insanely strong and quick enough to play just about anywhere along the defensive line.

"When I talked to McKenzie, he said he felt like he was good enough to play anywhere on the defensive line, from a 0-technique to a 7-technique," said B/R national college football video analyst Michael Felder. "The kid isn't wrong. Seven might be a stretch, but he certainly is athletic enough to be a 5-technique in a 3-4 but then turn around and play zero or one on the next snap. His speed is going to give centers and guards problems, and his strength will help him no matter where he lines up for the Volunteers."

The class isn't top-heavy, though. 

Preston Williams, a 5-star wide receiver prospect from Hampton, Georgia, will join McKenzie this summer, and 12 4-star players are included in the class, including 4-star early enrollee defensive end Kyle Phillips and defensive tackle Shy Tuttle.

What's more, the Vols have two offensive linemen already enrolled in the class of 2015, and two more coming in this summer. That should add depth to the team's primary question mark this summer, offensive line, which returns four of five starters.

Jones has been building the program "brick by brick" since taking over prior to the 2013 season, and the bricks that he's laying with this recurring class have the program closer to being a skyscraper than a shack.

Ole Miss Rebels

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Seeing Ole Miss up in the middle or the top of the team recruiting rankings shouldn't be a shock anymore. After all, head coach Hugh Freeze and his staff have proven over the last three recruiting cycles that they consistently win the living room, even when the tradition of winning didn't exist in Oxford.

This class, though, is loaded with prospects, immediate contributors and has plenty of room to grow.

The offensive line was a problem for Ole Miss last year and will get a boost from 4-star offensive guard Javon Patterson and 4-star offensive tackle Drew Richmond. They should help running backs Jordan Wilkins and Akeem Judd solve the Rebels' between-the-tackles woes.

Van Jefferson, a 4-star wide receiver prospect and former Georgia commit, will join Laquon Treadwell, Cody Core, Quincy Adeboyejo and the rest of the talented receiving corps in Oxford. They brought in 3-star dual-threat quarterback Chad Kelly to push for the starting quarterback job along with incumbents DeVante Kincade and Ryan Buchanan. Leo Lewis, a 4-star linebacker from the Magnolia State, will also add some pop to the middle of the stout Rebel defense.

The Rebels are currently ranked 13th in the nation according to 247Sports' team rankings and only have 18 prospects so far. With stud defensive end CeCe Jefferson, wide receiver Demarkus Lodge and several other top-tier prospects still on the board, it could get even better when all is said and done.

How are they doing it? Well, creative cakes are one way, as Lodge pointed out over the weekend.

With a week and change before national signing day, it's already a stellar class and has the chance to make a late push and make waves in the SEC.

Mississippi State Bulldogs

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Mississippi State earned the No. 1 ranking for the first time in program history in 2014, earned its first Orange Bowl berth since 1941 and won 10 or more games for just the third time ever.

A recruiting boost should be expected, but typically, it's the first full cycle after major success that gets the biggest bump, not the one two months after the fact.

Mississippi State currently ranks 19th in the nation in recruiting according to 247Sports, which may not seem like a big deal. Make no mistake, though—it's a departure from the norm. This is a program that's averaged the 30th-best class in the country over the last five years.

It has six early enrollees who could step in and fill immediate needs, including 4-star slot receiver Donald Gray and 4-star offensive lineman Martinas Rankin. Plus, there are potential stars on defense in safety Jamal Peters and Fletcher Adams coming later in the year.

The goal for head coach Dan Mullen is to keep building the program, and this is the perfect class to help him do it. The real bump will come in the class of 2016, but the class of 2015 keeps momentum going in the right direction in Starkville.

Florida Gators

It's not surprising that Florida has been having issues getting players to commit. After all, former head coach Will Muschamp had been on the hot seat for quite some time, and that uncertainty led to several top prospects holding off on their commitments.

What is surprising, though, is that, with a little over a week to go before national signing day, new head coach Jim McElwain hasn't made a ton of headway.

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The Gators were ranked 81st in the nation on Monday morning according to 247Sports, well behind Sunshine State "rivals" UCF and South Florida. McElwain had only notched two commitments since taking the job, 3-star tight end early enrollee Daniel Imatorbhebhe and 3-star linebacker Rayshad Jackson. 

Two more did join the fray on Monday, when 3-star defensive end Jabari Zuniga flipped from N.C. State to Florida.

It could get better, though.

The Gators are squarely in the mix for 5-star offensive tackle Martez Ivey, 5-star defensive end Byron Cowart, 5-star defensive end CeCe Jefferson, 4-star linebacker Jeffery Holland and several other elite prospects.

McElwain better get on it, though. The Gators only have nine prospects, and if the class doesn't fill up, the lasting effects of a small class could have a similar impact as schools that have scholarships taken away due to NCAA probation. 

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a co-host of the CFB Hangover on Bleacher Report Radio (Sundays, 9-11 a.m. ET) on Sirius 93, XM 208.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and all recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.