College Football Recruiting Rankings 2015: Projecting Top Classes and Programs

It's officially national signing day for the 2015 college football class, which means powerhouse programs fighting all year for top recruits will find out how well they did.

While recruiting rankings only matter so much in the broad picture and there are sure to be hits and misses, schools that finish high atop the team rankings become too loaded with star power for it not to weigh in considerably. With a handful of schools getting at least three or four 5-star players along with more than a dozen 4-star standouts, that's the case again this season.

Schools like Auburn, Texas A&M, Texas or LSU have a real shot to climb on national signing day, but elsewhere, the top couple of teams seem pretty close to concrete. As Wednesday's announcements loom, let's look at the early morning rankings and a prediction for the final top three.

Rank	Team	Total	5*	4*	3*
1	Alabama	23	3	15	5
2	USC	21	2	11	8
3	Tennessee	28	4	10	12
4	Florida State	19	3	9	7
5	Ohio State	25	1	13	10
6	LSU	21	3	10	6
7	Georgia	25	1	12	12
8	Clemson	25	3	8	11
9	Texas	26	1	15	9
10	Penn State	25	0	13	12
11	Notre Dame	22	0	12	10
12	Auburn	21	1	12	8
13	Texas A&M	24	1	12	10
14	Oregon	22	1	7	14
15	South Carolina	29	0	7	20

Above information courtesy of the 247Sports team rankings.

Projected Top Three

1. Alabama

More quietly than any year in recent memory, Alabama has compiled yet another top-ranked recruiting class to restock Nick Saban's Crimson Tide once again.

Alabama has landed a whopping 18 players at 4-star or better, with six of them already on campus as early enrollees. That includes No. 2 pro-style quarterback Blake Barnett and No. 2 safety Deionte Thompson. The Tide have bolstered their playmaking as well, nabbing the top wide receiver recruit in the nation in Calvin Ridley. 

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The scary thing? The best may be yet to come for Alabama entering Wednesday's heap of announcements.

It isn't in for as many signing-day holdouts as in years past but could make a splash with CeCe Jefferson, which would send shock waves through the SEC. While perhaps trailing Ole Miss and Florida for his services, it wouldn't be the first time the Tide forced a late flip.

Either way, blue-chip pearls like No. 4 cornerback Kendall Sheffield, No. 7 defensive tackle Daron Payne and No. 5 cornerback Minkah Fitzpatrick guarantee the Tide's class won't be rivaled by anyone.

2. USC

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The first year of Steve Sarkisian's reign at USC brought considerable improvement on the gridiron, and it's no surprise to see that translate into an elite recruiting class.

In Sarkisian's first full recruiting cycle, he assembled a class for the ages. The first win, however, has already come with the players he's gotten on campus. Perhaps the two most important players in the class—No. 1 guard Chuma Edoga and No. 6 pro-style quarterback Ricky Town—are already enrolled at the school.

It's the consistency from top to bottom in the class that stands out most. Including the enrollees, the Trojans boast 15 players among their 21 commits that rank in the top 10 at their position, per the 247Sports composite rankings.

Plus with their names squarely in the hat for top-notch players like John Houston, Iman Marshall and Equanimeous St. Brown on signing day, it could end up even better, per ESPN college football:

Whether Sarkisian and the Trojans hit a home run with any of the marquee recruits set to announce on Wednesday or not, it will be a big-time class for USC.

3. Tennessee

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For the second straight year, Butch Jones has put together a star-studded class at Tennessee loaded with both quantity and quality.

Want quality? The Volunteers have seven of their 10 early enrollees on campus as 4-stars, per the 247Sports composite, and also claim more 5-stars (four) than anyone else in the nation. 

Want quantity, too? Don't ask how, but the Vols have loaded 28 players—more than anyone else in the top 10—into the class one year removed from a 32-man class.

It may be somewhat expected given the upward trajectory of the program and the funds thrown into it, as per Knoxville News Sentinel's Dustin Dopirak, but Jones' rebuild from the ground up is nonetheless impressive:

Tennessee isn't done, either. No. 3 offensive tackle and 4-star Drew Richmond decommitted from Ole Miss after his weekend visit to Knoxville. The exhilarating tone of the visit—including crowd chants at a hoops game—indicates he should soon be a Vol, per 247Sports' Wes Rucker:

Jones has the Vols in position for a top-three recruiting class even without the commitment of Richmond. And if it weren't for the likes of USC and Alabama possibly adding more in front of them on Wednesday, they'd have the chance to jump even higher.

All recruiting rankings and info courtesy of 247Sports unless otherwise noted.