National Signing Day 2012: Programs Ready to Celebrate Big Recruiting Classes

The most magical time of year in college football is almost here: National Signing Day. It is when programs load up rosters with elite high school talent to build hope and anticipation for what is to come. And as we know, there are some schools that will be smiling wider than others at the end of the day. 

Instead of just feeding you a bunch of information that you already know—Alabama is having a really good recruiting season—we wanted to give you a look at some of the programs that are expecting to have banner days when February 1 rolls around. 

One program that is not having any issues recruiting, despite all the turmoil that surrounded the school last year, is Miami. 

The Hurricanes have the sixth-ranked recruiting class in the country right now, according to Rivals.com. They aren't getting 5-star recruits, but they are building a solid foundation with players like Reggie North, Deon Bush and Angelo Jean-Louis.

You don't have to sign all of the best players to put together a potentially dominant team for the future. Hope is not completely lost for the Hurricanes yet.

Here are some other programs getting ready to celebrate big things on National Signing Day.

California Golden Bears

While USC and Oregon are going to get all the headlines from the Pac-12, Cal has come out of nowhere to put together one of the best recruiting classes in the country.

Jeff Tedford and his staff have done a great job in recent weeks. They have landed two 5-star recruits so far in defensive tackle Ellis McCarthy and defensive back Shaq Thompson. In addition to that, they have commitments from 15 other players who rate at least 3 stars.

The Bears are going to be a strong Pac-12 team in the next two years if they can build on this recruiting class in the future.

Ohio State Buckeyes

Who knew that Urban Meyer was good at recruiting players?

The Buckeyes might not be eligible for postseason play next year, but Meyer and his staff are doing everything they can to convince young men that if they stick with him they will get to where they want to go.

Considering that Tim Tebow is actually starting NFL games without any actual ability at quarterback, it would be hard to argue with what Meyer can do for a player's career and reputation.

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