Bold SEC Predictions for National Signing Day
National signing day is less than a week away, which means shenanigans are right around the corner.
Who will flip? Who will stick? What random, bizarre story will pop up on national signing day that will dominate headlines?
It's time to go on the record with some SEC-related bold predictions for national signing day.
Florida Will Finish with a Top 25 Class
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A look at the 247Sports team recruiting rankings will certainly give Florida fans heartburn.
There the Gators are, ranked 78th in the country, behind UCF, South Florida, Florida Atlantic and many, many others. It won't stay that way for long.
The Gators are in the mix for three top-10 players from the Sunshine State—5-star offensive tackle Martez Ivey, 5-star defensive end Byron Cowart and 5-star defensive end CeCe Jefferson. They will land all three, calming the fears of Gator Nation, and vault the class back into respectability.
Just those three players would give the Gators 202.82 points, according to 247Sports' class calculator, which would place them in the top 30 with several other open spots available to help them slide into the Top 25.
Even if they don't land Jefferson, who is the most likely of the trio to sign elsewhere, as 247Sports' JC Shurburtt noted, there's still a decent shot of Florida landing in the Top 25.
Nobody Will Come Close to Dethroning Alabama
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When it comes to recruiting, there's Alabama and then everybody else.
Head coach Nick Saban has reeled in the top recruiting class in the country in each of the last four years, and a fifth straight recruiting national championship is as likely as the sunrise.
Alabama's class is loaded with six 5-star players, 14 4-star players and holds a commanding lead over Florida State, which is currently ranked second, according to the 247Sports team rankings. Florida State is closer to falling from second to ninth than it is to overtaking the Crimson Tide based on 247Sports' calculations.
It would take a massive wave of decommitments from Alabama's class coupled with a surge from Florida State, Tennessee or USC for Alabama's pedestal to become unstable, much less it actually falling off.
Etch it in stone—Alabama is your 2015 recruiting national champion.
5-Star Athlete Terry Godwin Will Flip to Auburn
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Terry Godwin, a 5-star athlete/wide receiver from Hogansville, Georgia, has been committed to his home-state Bulldogs for more than a year.
How long will it last, though?
Godwin has made official visits to Alabama and Auburn in January, and he could be considering signing elsewhere on national signing day, according to Michael Carver of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
He'll find his way to Auburn and head coach Gus Malzahn.
The Tigers are going to go with a more pass-happy attack in 2014 with quarterback Jeremy Johnson and stud wide receiver D'haquille "Duke" Williams, and Godwin, a 6'0", 168-pounder, would be a fantastic complement either as a deep threat or in the slot.
Auburn's offense is more geared toward finding ways for him to be used both as a receiver and as a runner, and that will be too much for Godwin to pass up.
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There Will Be at Least 2 Family-Related Signing-Day Delays
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Remember two years ago? When Arkansas running back Alex Collins' mother reportedly stole her son's national letter of intent and wouldn't let him sign with the Hogs because she wanted him closer to home? Collins later denied the part about the letter, but there was clearly a family battle between Collins and his mother, who wanted him to stay closer to home.
Or how about last year, when Michigan State defensive end Malik McDowell waited nearly two months to sign due to an ongoing family squabble?
Get ready, because there will be at least two of those this season.
Where they will come from won't be known until next Wednesday, but based on recent history, they will be high on the college football weirdness scale, which gets plenty of use this time of year.
5-Star DT Daylon Mack Will Be an Aggie
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Texas A&M will miss out on the Kyler Murray sweepstakes, but it'll be the big winner for 5-star defensive tackle Daylon Mack.
Mack, a 6'0", 330-pound monster defensive tackle, was initially an Aggie commit. He backed out of his pledge in December and named TCU and LSU finalists. But when former Tiger defensive coordinator John Chavis made the jump to College Station, Texas A&M got back in the mix for the Gladewater, Texas, native along with intrastate rival Texas.
It's been a long, strange roller-coaster ride for Mack and the Aggies. In the end, though, it will come to an end exactly where it started—with Mack signing with head coach Kevin Sumlin and Texas A&M.
He would be the centerpiece of a new-look Aggie defense for a coach, Chavis, who has become synonymous with top-tier defensive linemen.
Damarkus Lodge Won't Play in the SEC
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Damarkus Lodge is a hotshot 4-star wide receiver prospect from Cedar Hill, Texas, who is considering several schools, including Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
He won't sign with either.
Lodge, a 6'2", 190-pounder with tremendous hands and fantastic ball skills, visited Texas last week with 5-star quarterback Kyler Murray, and he will find his way to Austin as part of head coach Charlie Strong's late-season recruiting surge.
Texas A&M and Ole Miss are both loaded with wide receiver talent, and Lodge will jump-start a Texas offense that's in desperate need of a boost.
5-Star DT Terry Beckner Jr. Will Stay in-State
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Missouri just saw one of its former targets—Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott—become a star, when Elliott led the Buckeyes to the 2014 national title.
It won't see another superstar prospect head to Columbus
Terry Beckner Jr., a 5-star defensive tackle from East St. Louis, Illinois—just over the Mississippi River from Missouri—will sign with head coach Gary Pinkel and the Tigers after weighing offers from other favorites, including Ohio State, Auburn, Florida State and LSU.
Beckner will be the next in line at Missouri, which is rapidly becoming "DL Zou." The Tigers have produced several top-tier defensive linemen over the last few years, including Aldon Smith, Michael Sam, Kony Ealy, Shane Ray and Markus Golden.
The possibility of continuing the legacy will be too much for Beckner to pass up.
4-Star LB Roquan Smith Will Stay in the Peach State
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It's no secret that new Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh wants 4-star linebacker Roquan Smith out of the state of Georgia and a part of his first class in Ann Arbor.
He won't get him, though.
Smith will stay in state and sign with the Georgia Bulldogs, continuing a trend of fast, physical outside linebackers playing for head coach Mark Richt's crew.
Jordan Jenkins and Leonard Floyd will return outside for Georgia after flirting with the NFL. They won't be around for long, though, which will make Smith and Lorenzo Carter the next dynamic duo of linebackers at Georgia.
South Carolina Will Fall out of the Top 20
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South Carolina was dancing around the Top Five of the Class of 2015 class rankings a few months ago, but that was more due to quantity than quality.
Cornerback Mark Fields, a 4-star prospect from North Carolina, and Arden Key, a 4-star defensive end, were two of the most prominent decommitments from head coach Steve Spurrier's class. Fields later committed to Clemson, while Key remains undecided.
Those losses coupled with other classes filling up have dropped the Gamecocks down to 17th in the most recent 247Sports team recruiting rankings, and that isn't the floor.
Miami, UCLA, Arizona State and Arkansas are just a few of the programs just behind the Gamecocks that have room in their classes to make big jumps late in the process. They will, and South Carolina will fall out of the final Top 20.
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' composite rankings. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.
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