Commentary
Alabama earns top honors
A pair of national titles prove Tide's worth, while Miami's class falls flat
Originally Published: January 18, 2012
By RecruitingNation | ESPN.com
While experience, knowledge, and intensive research, including countless hours of film study, can help predict how good a player may be, only time can truly tell who is the real deal and who is not.
The same can be said for recruiting classes.
Rewinding four years ago, the Miami Hurricanes landed the top class and while that was a very talented group, collectively they underachieved. Individual players from that 2008 Miami class did perform well -- linebacker Sean Spence, for example -- but as a group they were not worthy of the No. 1 slot. They ended up being more like a top 20 class than the nation's best class.
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2012 National Signing Day

Florida State looked to be the big winner on signing day, but Alabama is still ranked No. 1.
Class rankings | Team-by-team grades ![]()
REGIONAL BLOGS 
STORIES
- Recruiting the recruiters
- Harvey-Clemons sticking with Georgia
- CB Ronald Darby picks FSU
- No. 1 WR Green-Beckham picks Mizzou
- Agholor to USC | WeAreSC: Big pickup

- Ricardo Louis finds the perfect fit
- OT Andrus Peat picks Stanford
- Five-star DT Eddie Goldman to FSU
- Nation's top CB Tracy Howard picks Miami
- Tennessee lands juco WR Patterson
- Wojciechowski: Signing day is best day ever
- Sherman: Texans more likely to succeed?
- Social media changes recruiting
- Mapping out top states (pdf)
- Looking ahead: Top prospects in 2013
