12 Pac Review: National Signing Day Edition

Another Christmas recruiting day comes and goes, and all the Pac 12 fans get to open their shiny "Letter of Intent" presents and see what their coaching staff has gotten for them.  Of course most of the presents weren't really a big surprise, you'd seen your mom putting them away in the closet months before.  And sure some of the presents you thought you were going to get, ended up being for someone else, and then just when you are about exhausted from all the tearing and unwrapping, your coach surprises you with the biggest present of them all!!  It's the one he flew all the way to Southern Cal to pick up.  Best part is, not only was it the last one on the shelf, that everyone wanted, but he took it out of the shopping cart of your annoying neighbor when the guy wasn't looking.

So let's take a look at what all the kids in the Pac 12 ended up getting.

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
USC	4	29	1	14	12

So how do you get around a reduction of 10 recruits per year for 3 years by the NCAA?  You appeal, knowing that the NCAA will take 18 years to make a decision (unless your team is in the SEC Championship Game) and then quickly sign 29 recruits.  USC comes in with a monster class that fills some much needed areas for them on both sides of the line, but more importantly adds depth that they were really lacking last year, and if the NCAA sanctions hold, they won't be able to get in the near future.  George Farmer (WR) is the marquee signing of this class, and will be a serious weapon with Robert Woods for Matt Barkley to throw to.

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
Oregon	9	23	2	9	12

Oregon addressed their two biggest needs of WR and O-line and boy did they ever.  4 WR recruits and 5 o-linemen, and guys that can compete right away as well as guys that will be studs in the coming years.  Another thing Oregon has done consistently well lately is recruit the Athletes.  Oregon signed the #1, #2 and #5 Athletes in this year's class.  It should be interesting to see what position all these guys end up playing.  The marquee signing has to be De'Anthony Thomas (Ath), a 5 star Athlete out of Crenshaw high school in LA.  Thomas had been a lock for USC for a while, but once rumors of a surprise visit the weekend before signing day came out, it appeared that Thomas was going to be heading north to Eugene instead.

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
California	17	22	-	10	12

Strong class for Tedford coming in at #17 nationally, but the strength of this class comes on the defensive line.  Viliami Moala (DT) will be a beast at the nose tackle position in Cal's 3-4 defense.  Cal was also able to steal Kameron Jackson (DB) away from Washington at the eleventh hour, and added 4 running backs, with Brendon Bigelow leading that group.  With the coaching changes that have gone on recently at Cal, they were still able to fill some needed holes and put together one of the best defensive line recruiting classes in the Pac.

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
Stanford	22	19	-	7	11

I have to admit, I'm pretty disappointed in Stanford's recruiting class.  I know Harbaugh leaving has to have put some doubts in a number of recruits heads, especially anyone that may have been on the fence.  But with Stanford losing almost their entire o-line, the Tree ended up only bringing in 2 O-linemen.  Wayne Lyons (S) is probably their biggest get, and will help keep up the momentum of their improving defense.

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
Washington	23	23	-	5	15

The huskies were the 5^th team from the Pac to have a top 25 recruiting class.  While the huskies were able to snatch away Bishop Sankey (RB) from WSU and Derrick Brown (QB) from Utah in the last couple of weeks before signing day, they did end up losing out on Jackson to Cal and Paulay Asiata (OL) to Colorado.  All in all, Sark was able to beef up the depth of their front 7 with 4 LB and 4 D-line recruits.  Austin Seferian-Jenkins (TE) has to be the marquee signing for the huskies, although it will be interesting to see if he stays at the TE position.

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
Utah	37	19	-	2	14

Solid class for the Utes as they look forward to joining the Pac 12 next year.  Utah ended up missing out on a number of recruits that would have provided some much needed depth, but they were able to get Harvey Langi (RB) who should be able to provide some instant production for them.  They also ended up stealing Quinton Pedroza (Ath) from ASU. 

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
UCLA	44	16	-	3	10

Ucla decided to join the recruiting party pretty late in the day.  Kevin McReynolds is a stud LB out of Washington DC, and was a good start for the Bruins to the day.  Brett Hundley finally gives Ucla a decent athlete at QB, but it will be interesting to see how he develops with Chow gone and Neuheisel on notice.  Then there was a little back and forth with their friendly LA neighbors over Torian White (OL).  All in all, I'm not sure how (outside of Hundley and McReynolds) this class is rated #44, and I'm really surprised that with Slick Rick clinging for life why this class is so weak. 

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
Oregon State	-	24	-	1	15

Lunch Pail U lived up to their moniker with another Lunch Pail recruiting class.  24 recruits, 1 four star and a good balance of offensive and defensive players.  Brandin Cooks (WR) leads this recruiting class and should provide some impact regardless of James Rodger's situation next year.  Malcolm Agnew (RB) appears to be the heir apparent to Quizz, and it doesn't look like OSU was really expecting his early departure either.

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
Arizona	-	21	-	1	15

I'm guessing with only 21 recruits and 1 four star guy, the coaching carrousel at Arizona is starting to weigh on their ability to bring in talent.  Ka'Deem Carey (RB) gives them a nice speed back with Grigsby leaving.  Other than that, the only other area Arizona looked to be rebuilding is O-line, where they brought in 4 new recruits.

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
Arizona State	-	13	-	2	7

"Who needs recruiting when you can just go get JC transfers.  Now get me another daiquiri." - Dennis Erickson

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
Colorado	-	19	-	0	13

The Buffs and new head coach Jon Embree were able to steal Paulay Asiata (OL) away from Washington, and they also got Juda Parker (DE) out of Hawaii, but they're still going to struggle to get decent recruits as they fight against Big XII and now Pac 12 schools as they lost a couple of recruits to Ucla and USC.  It will be interesting to see if they can improve with a more stable coach and with more exposure in Southern Cal.

School	Recruiting Rank	# of Recruits	# of 5 Star	# of 4 Star	# of 3 Star
Washington State	-	25	-	1	12

I'm glad Wulff got another year at WSU to continue to build on their successes, and he didn't slow down on the recruiting trail either.  It had to suck to lose out on Sankey at the last minute to UW, but Wulff was still able to round out his class with 25 guys.  Alex Mitchell (OL) is a big boy out of Portland that should continue to progress their improved O-line play.  They also added 8 new guys to their front 7 which was in much need of some depth last year.