ESPNU 150 2012: ACC Poised to Land Surprisingly Strong Class on Signing Day

It’s been a rough couple of years for football programs in the ACC, but it looks like things are beginning to change.

Despite getting absolutely embarrassed in two BCS Bowl games, the ACC currently has 21 of the Top 150 ESPNU recruits committed to sign on Wednesday’s big day.

That ranks them third behind the SEC (41) and the Big 12 (25), and puts them ahead of the Pac 12 (17), Big Ten (12) and Big East (2).

The ACC actually leads all conferences in 3-star commits (146), officially making this one of the strongest classes of the last five to 10 years.

One of the big factors for this sudden resurgence is a new rule that was implemented last season by SEC presidents and chancellors. The legislation prohibits teams in the conference from signing more than 25 players per recruiting cycle.

With so many recruits preferring to play in the warm weather, the ACC is the natural second choice for most of these guys. ESPN recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill estimates that up to 30 players will be forced to look elsewhere besides the SEC because of the new rule:

"

If they no longer have room to be signed, that player is going to go somewhere. Where do you think he’s going to go? If he’s in the South, he’s going to go to the ACC. That could really aid and enhance a lot of teams that are considered to be at the forefront in the ACC, a Florida State, a Clemson, Miami and North Carolina. 

"

Florida State has already landed the top ESPNU recruit in the nation in defensive end Mario Edwards and QB Jameis Winston, who is currently ranked No. 14.

The first player to be affected by the new rule could be Alabama commitment Justin Taylor. Alabama currently has 26 commitments in Tuscaloosa, and Nick Saban told the running back there won’t be a scholarship available for him until 2013.

So is he going to either essentially give up his freshman year, or find another team that would love to scoop him up?

It’s a tough choice, and one that the ACC can certainly take advantage of. They can cater to the stars that are borderline SEC scholarship players who feel slighted by the juggernauts who have won the last six championships.

Things are looking up for the first time in a while.

Here is the up-to-the-second list, courtesy of ESPNU: 

ESPNU 150 commits 
SEC: 41 
Big 12: 25 
ACC: 21 
Pac-12: 17 
Big Ten: 12 
Big East: 2 

Five-star commits 
SEC: 4 
ACC: 1 
Big 12: 1 
Big Ten: 1 
Big East: 0 
Pac-12: 0 

Four-star commits 
SEC: 83 
Big 12: 53 
Pac-12: 48 
ACC: 47 
Big Ten: 43 
Big East: 21 

Three-star commits 
ACC: 146 
SEC: 121 
Pac-12: 121 
Big Ten: 109 
Big East: 97 
Big 12: 86