National Signing Day 2015: College Football Teams Who Could Win Big
We're less than 48 hours away from national signing day, and while several programs are sitting in great places, others have the opportunity to sit even better by Wednesday.
According to the 247Sports composite ratings, there are eight 5-star athletes still uncommitted, including four of the top 10 players. Additionally, there are 11 4-star uncommitted athletes ranked in the top 100.
Alabama is the team to catch, according to the 247Sports team rankings. It'll be tough for a team to overtake the Crimson Tide's No. 1 spot, but it isn't impossible.
By early Wednesday evening, most of the questions concerning the future of the nation's top athletes will be answered. Here are five teams to watch as signing day approaches. These five teams, with a commitment or two, can significantly boost their recruiting.
USC Trojans
1 of 5
USC has 20 commitments and has a solid pledge at almost every position. Adding depth obviously is the objective for the next two days, and the Trojans can walk away with a couple of key prospects by signing day.
Among the names the Trojans are hoping to land are 5-star cornerback Iman Marshall, 5-star defensive tackle Rasheem Green, and 4-star linebackers Porter Gustin and John Houston.
Marshall's decision will be interesting. While 247Sports predicts the Trojans as his landing spot, he never took an official visit there. Marshall visited Notre Dame in December, and he visited Florida State, Michigan and LSU in January.
Green and Houston both appear to have the Trojans as the team to beat in their recruiting processes, and predictions are all but a go for both to be college teammates at USC. As for Gustin, USC is the front-runner, but he had an in-home visit with Ohio State last week, per Mark Givler of BuckeyeGrove.com, and then went on an official visit to Ohio State this past weekend. Urban Meyer has built a reputation for being a closer, but the Trojans are still confident in ultimately landing Gustin come Wednesday.
Auburn Tigers
2 of 5
The Auburn Tigers feel as though they are in good shape for a couple of marquee athletes. Defensive ends Byron Cowart and CeCe Jefferson and offensive tackle Martez Ivey are three 5-star talents Gus Malzahn hopes to receive letters of intent from on Wednesday. Those three athletes alone would give an already talented Auburn class a major spike in the recruiting rankings.
Imagine having Cowart and Jefferson on the ends of a defensive front. Both athletes have game-changing ability, and both will be welcomed as immediate potential starters wherever they land. Cowart and Jefferson visited Auburn the weekend of Jan. 16.
Jefferson on Monday trimmed his list to four schools—Auburn, Florida, Ole Miss and Alabama—and Florida could be Auburn's primary competition, as the Florida 5-star lives less than an hour away from Gainesville.
Ivey and Cowart are two other Florida athletes who will determine whether they will play college football in their home state or for Malzahn, according to The Associated Press (via USA Today). Gainesville is less than two hours away from Ivey's home in Apopka, as well as less than two hours away from Cowart's hometown of Seffner, but proximity may play a secondary role in their decisions—particularly with Florida breaking in a new head coach in Jim McElwain and the Gators' old head coach, Will Muschamp, now a defensive coordinator at Auburn.
UCLA Bruins
3 of 5
USC has a shot of finishing strong, but its Los Angeles cross-town rival also has an opportunity to sit in a very strong seat for post-signing day rankings. The Bruins are in good position to land 5-star running back Soso Jamabo, 4-star tight end Chris Clark, 4-star offensive lineman Josh Wariboko, 4-star defensive end Joseph Wicker and 4-star wide receiver Cordell Broadus.
The Bruins only have 16 players committed so far, so any of these athletes committing would give the program a jolt. Jamabo would be considered the prize get of the class, as UCLA only has one running back committed in 3-star Bolu Olorunfunmi. Jamabo is the nation's No. 2 running back. He also is a cousin of Wariboko, and both have said they are interested in being college teammates.
Josh Rosen, the nation's top-ranked pro-style quarterback, is on campus as an early enrollee. Rosen would love to have Jamabo in the backfield, Clark as a receiving and blocking option, Wariboko keeping linemen off him and Broadus—the son of Snoop Dogg—as a receiving target.
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Florida Gators
4 of 5
The same things said about Auburn can be said about Florida. The Gators are hoping to close the deal on six in-state prospects, including the 5-star trio of offensive tackle Martez Ivey and defensive ends Byron Cowart and CeCe Jefferson.
Cowart's last official visit was to Florida the weekend of Jan. 23, but he left Gainesville early, according to ESPN's Derek Tyson. Jefferson never scheduled an official visit but has made unofficial trips to Gainesville. Ivey took his official visit in October, before the Gators made the head coaching change from Will Muschamp to Jim McElwain.
The Gators are hoping that the final days of recruiting are good to them, as they also have decent shots of landing Sunshine State 4-star standouts such as running back Jordan Scarlett, linebacker Jeffery Holland and wide receiver Ryan Davis.
Texas A&M Aggies
5 of 5
Texas A&M already scored a major win this past week when 5-star quarterback Kyler Murray officially shut down his recruiting process. For a week, Murray's commitment was questioned after a mid-week visit to Texas, but the quarterback, a Texas A&M legacy, remained true to his pledge, according to Fox Sports' Bruce Feldman.
Two former Texas A&M commits could be coming back by Wednesday. Daylon Mack, a 5-star defensive tackle, has the Aggies in his top three with TCU and Texas, and DaMarkus Lodge, a 4-star wide receiver who took the visit to Texas with Murray, has the Aggies and Ole Miss high on his list. Lodge decommitted from Texas A&M in September, and Mack decommitted from Texas A&M last month to explore other options, but the Aggies are very much alive as Wednesday approaches.
One player to keep an eye on is Kendall Sheffield. The 5-star cornerback committed to Alabama during the Under Armour All-American Game, but Texas A&M has kept Sheffield a priority in the overall process, per Taylor Hamm of 247Sports. There's no guarantee Sheffield will flip, but he would be a huge get for an Aggies squad looking to bulk up its play in the secondary.
Damon Sayles is a National Recruiting Analyst with Bleacher Report. All recruiting rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports unless otherwise noted. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow Damon on Twitter: @DamonSayles.
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