Downloadable ESPN Images

The 2017 ESPNU Signing Day Special presented by Nissan, in its 12th year, provided coverage for 11 consecutive hours on ESPNU and ESPN2, and featured 11 player announcements, reports from 16 different campuses, interview with the No. 1 overall recruit Trey Smith (Tennessee), in-studio interviews with No. 136 Tommy DeVito (Syracuse), No. 143 Fred Hansard (Penn State), A.J. Dillon (Boston College), and more than 30 interviews with coaches.

Hosts Matt Schick and Joe Tessitore provided up to the minute news and updates, alongside analysts Mack Brown, Mike Bellotti, Joey Galloway, Gerry Hamilton, Craig Haubert, Tom Luginbill, Les Miles and David Pollack.

Signing Day Recap includes:

• Final Recruiting Nation Class Rankings
• Player Announcements (Videos and quotes)
• Head Coaches Interviews/Quotes
• ESPN Analysts Quotes
• SEC Network Signing Day Coverage
  

Recruiting Nation Final 2017 Class Rankings (Top 25)

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Georgia
4. Florida State
5. USC
6. Michigan
7. LSU
8. Oklahoma
9. Auburn
10. Clemson
11. Texas A&M
12. Miami
13. Florida
14. Stanford
15. Tennessee
16. Notre Dame
17. Penn State
18. UCLA
19. South Carolina
20. Maryland
21. Nebraska
22. Washington
23. Oregon
24. Mississippi State
25. Virginia Tech

Player Announcements/Interviews
(Player rankings according to ESPN 300, in order of announcement)

No. 207 Stephan Zabie (OT) commits to UCLA (video)

Luginbill: “This is a sneaky good class. It’s good in areas where they’ve been deficient. An offensive tackle that you can bring along, and he has length and good feet.”

No. 65 Levi Jones (OLB) commits to USC (video)

Jones: “The comfortability, the relationships I built [at USC], the opportunity… just overall a great place to be at. [I had] been going back and forth [on my decision].  Last night about midnight was when it was a done deal.”

Luginbill: “Those folks in Texas are not use to a player of this caliber leave the state.”
No. 83 Todd Harris (S) commits to LSU (video)
ESPN Recruiting Nation: Scout’s Take

Harris: “I grew up wanting to be an LSU tiger and I am living my dream.”

Luginbill: “[He is] so smooth and fluid… a safety-corner ‘tweener’. He can flat out run [and] has a lot of good natural athletic ability.”
No. 63 Aubrey Solomon commits to Michigan (video)
ESPN Recruiting Nation: Scout’s Take

Solomon: “[Michigan] talked to me like I was truly family. He told me if I was worked hard and dedicated to it, like I have been in high school, I have a starting spot or good rotation.”

Luginbill: “You see the power, explosiveness off the football; the ability to penetrate gaps. He is really active, really disruptive and has the ability to collapse the pocket.”

No. 55 Jeff Thomas commits to Miami (video)
ESPN Recruiting Nation: Scout’s Take

Thomas: “They showed great love; it is going to be a blessing when I get there.”

Luginbill: “He had a terrific week, a tremendous performance [at the Under Armor game]. [After dealing with some issues], a light went off. He has some things to be grateful for. Going to an offensive system that is wide receiver friendly and [Miami] has a need at the position.”

No. 120 Chevin Calloway commits to Arkansas (video)

Luginbill: “He interacts so well with people. He’s an outgoing guy, a confident guy and it’s very calculated. He’s a very thoughtful young man.”

Damion Daniels commits to Nebraska (video)

No. 140 A.J. Davis commits to Pittsburgh (photo)

Luginbill: “He’s really dynamic in the passing game; that’s something that stands out… it’s all the things that come on top of that… the versatility that he brings to Pitt’s offense is huge.”

No. 116 Greg Johnson commits to USC (video)

Johnson: “I am going to go there and compete, fight early… It means the world.”

No. 16 Joseph Lewis commits to USC (video)
ESPN Recruiting Nation: Scout’s Take

Lewis: “It is close to home and I feel like I can make another place a home… I have big shoes to fill, and I am ready to come in and compete.”

No. 4 Marvin Wilson commits to Florida State (video)
ESPN Recruiting Nation: Scout’s Take

Wilson: “Me and my brother (have) watched National Signing Day since we were six years old. I’ve got something planned for y’all. It’s a surprise”

Ryan McGee on location at Florida State: “It was very easy going around here; it wasn’t tense. It was going to be a great class [regardless of Wilson’s choice], but this is the cherry on top of an outstanding day.”

Bellotti: “He is ready from a physical standpoint; it is whether he is mentally tough enough and can be handle the competition of everyone being a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger, a little bit faster.”

No. 1 Trey Smith talks about being early enrollee at Tennessee (video)

Smith: “Right now my expectation is to keep my head down and work.. to see what the results will be.. hopefully… I’ll have a great college career and a degree in my hand.”

Head Coach Interviews
Nick Saban (Alabama)
Bret Bielema (Arkansas)
Guz Malzahn (Auburn)
Matt Rhule (Baylor)
Steve Addazio (Boston College)
Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
Mike MacIntyre (Colorado)
Jim McElwain (Florida)
Jimbo Fisher (Florida State)
Kirby Smart (Georgia)
Mark Stoops (Kentucky)
Bobby Petrino (Louisville)
Ed Orgeron (LSU)
D.J. Durkin (Maryland)
Mark Richt (Miami)
Jim Harbaugh (Michigan)
PJ Fleck (Minnestota)
Dan Mullen (Mississippi State)
Mike Riley (Nebraska)
Brian Kelly (Notre Dame)
Urban Meyer (Ohio State)
Hugh Freeze (Ole Miss)
Bob Stoops (Oklahoma)
Willie Taggart (Oregon)
James Franklin (Penn State)
Will Muschamp (South Carolina)
David Shaw (Stanford)
Butch Jones (Tennessee)
Tom Herman (Texas)
Kevin Sumlin (Texas A&M)
Clay Helton (USC)
Charlie Strong (USF)
Jim Mora (UCLA)

Sample of Coaches’ Quotes

• Dabo Swinney: “We have a good group walking out the door, we want a good group to come in.”
• Bret Bielema on Chevin Calloway: “Chevin is a great kid. His demeanor, personality, professionalism, maturity, off the charts. On the field he’s very talented…It will obviously prove out in the pudding, but a kid that really stands for everything we want here at Arkansas”
• Charlie Strong: “You have to keep the recruits that you already have in place. You have an obligation because they have committed to South Florida… It’s all about lineman. When you build a program you have to build it up front.”
• Nick Saban on Alabama’s day: “I think we did a really good job of hitting all the spots. Other than cornerback, I thought we did a nice job all the way around.”
• Saban on why Alabama continues to have No. 1 recruiting class: “I can’t answer that; we work hard at it. It is important to have really good players, but it’s important to have guys with really great character too. This is a performance-based program. When guys commit here, I always say ‘I want you to commit to everything that we are going to do to help you be successful – personally, academically, and athletically. I don’t want you to commit to Alabama cause we win games. I want you to commit to those things so you can be more successful in life’. We try to create a lot of value for our players, so I think that’s why we get players.”
• Dan Mullen on Mississippi State getting four defensive linemen: “In this league you cannot have enough defensive linemen. I’d like to play 10-12 defensive linemen in every game so they can keep attacking offenses.”
• Jim Mora on UCLA: “We’re excited about the class… Tremendous young men; high quality achievers, they bring a standard of excellence to UCLA that we expect…It’s incredible how many people are involved. Think about our student-athletes and how much they invest in our recruiting weekend; travel, compliance, academic services and the meetings they have with recruits and their families.. It’s tough getting into UCLA… Our academic services and compliance people do an unbelievable job for us.”
• Mike Riley: “I think we took a step forward for sure. I think we got better with good football players in this class. And I think we also get a better feel all the time for what we need to do process-wise here. What really is our ultimate goal… where are the hotbeds for Nebraska? How do we do this with our best energy in the right classes? I really like this class. I think this is our best in a long time.”
• Jim McElwain: “We had some needs that obviously we had to hit on especially in that defensive secondary…we tried to stay balanced and get the right numbers in those position groups so it’s not a big overhaul each year.”
• Butch Jones: “We’re excited about [Trey Smith]. He’s already made our football program better. Not only is he a great football player but a great individual…”
• Urban Meyer on putting this top class together: “Hard work obviously, but relentless pursuit. We have a guy like Shaun Wade, who has been committed for almost two years, but he is also in the state of Florida. So, you have to constantly stay on these guys; [on top class overall] they are very long and athletic… nine guys are on campus as we speak. How often do you find the two 6’1 corners you wanted to go get, we got them… We had the back end of our defense as a focus, and we did a good job there.”
• Harbaugh on best moment of the day: “There have been so many good ones, it’s hard to pick just one. But if I had to, I would say the feeling of family.”
• Mark Richt on this recruiting experience vs. last year: “It was a lot better. The last staff, the staff prior to us, did a superb job evaluating a lot of the kids. A lot of the kids that were already committed to Miami, stuck to their commitment, and we agreed they were the right kind of kids and players, I give credit to them.”
• Hugh Freeze on recruiting class: “They choose to believe in who they got to know and what we are all about; [on NCAA investigation] it has made it very difficult. You are serving a time right now that everything is unknown, so it is difficult to give precise answers.”

Analyst Signing Day Quotes

• Luginbill on class of 2017: “No. 1 Trey Smith leads best overall top to bottom class.”
• Luginbill on Dylan Moses: “This is a young man that received a ton of earlier attention. Bigger, faster stronger than everyone else.”
• Pollack on caliber of players: “It’s plug-in and play for a lot of these talented players nowadays. They spent three years in college and then go straight to the league.”
• Luginbill on Clemson recruiting: “I can make the argument that this is the program in CBF that has done the best job of securing personnel from other people’s backyards that they have been right on.”
• Pollack on Clemson: “They are reloading, not rebuilding.”
• Galloway on Colorado’s recruiting class: “Can they sustain it? Now can they do it year after year? These are the kind of days that will help Colorado stay on that national scene.”
• Luginbill on USC: “What stood out to me today was their ability to things things around on the field, the have the remarkable season they did, have the win in the Rose Bowl and then the last four weeks in January leading up to this day, and have the type of player join this class—particularly in the defensive front, the offensive front and the two skill guys they added late.”
• Hamilton on class rankings: “What happens when you get six players from the ESPN 300? You shoot up the board.”
• Luginbill: “We could sit right here and throw a rock outside and hit a wide receiver. They are everywhere. But you aren’t hitting corners and lineman, you aren’t hitting defensive tackles. Those are the positions that change your program”
• Luginbill on Stanford class: “This is a stellar class for David Shaw”
• Brown on James Robinson: “It takes 15 seconds to ruin/change the direction of your life…17 years to build character and 15 seconds to ruin it.”
• Galloway on Oklahoma State: “They can go recruit guys that fit into their system and to me is much more impressive than just being in the top five.”
• Brown on Colorado: “In watching what Coach MacIntyre’s done, his first class had a lot of great players and those kids were determined to make this work.”
• Miles on recruiting as a coach: “Evaluation is the whole issue. We try to encourage kids to be with us at camps… We want to make sure they have character, because a guy that comes out and is a great player, he can take the wind, the momentum away from your program, by just who he is.”
• Bellotti on camps: “The great thing about camps is you can actually coach a young man and see how he accepts coaching. It goes a long way to see how he will be on campus.”

-30-