The 2017 recruiting cycle was light on the drama from a national perspective. The same team remained at the top of the mountain and in general there wasn’t a bunch of hype surrounding National Signing Day commits to shuffle the rankings at the last minute.

Here are some of the top story lines from 2017.

Bama Domination

You may have heard this was the 7th straight No. 1 Composite class for Alabama. Just because I was curious they are also on a 10-year run with at least a Top 5 class. This streak has taken place ever since Nick Saban’s first full collection of recruit stepped on campus.

The way Alabama has arrived at the top of the heap is absurd, too. They sneaked past Florida State in 2011 by 2 points to start the streak–and were nearly overtaken by USC in 2015 by 1 point–but have edged out the second-best class by an average of almost 16 points! At one point, Ohio State was in the discussion to challenge the Tide this year and ultimately they passed the Buckeyes by 11 points.

The Squeeze at the Top

If you’re wondering why Notre Dame’s 11th ranked class didn’t really feel quite like it was that high there’s a good reason for that. Not only has Alabama upped their game but so have other blue-bloods. From 2008 to 2016 an average of 2.3 teams per cycle gained at least 290 Composite points–and never more than 3 teams in any single year.

There were 6 teams who scored at least 290 points for the 2017 cycle: Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, USC, Michigan, and Florida State. These teams also gobbled up 21 out of the 32 available 5-stars, as well. Further evidence of the compression of talent into a few programs, we saw 7 out of the remaining 11 5-stars signed by Stanford, UCLA, and Clemson.

No, I want to build relationships over a long period of time. I don’t want to change that from what our classes look like. Since I’ve been here, if you look at the average rankings, we’re anywhere from 5 to 15. We’re going to fall somewhere in that range because there’s a line there we can’t get over based upon what our distinctions are here. That line is going to keep us between 5 and 15.

That quote is from Brian Kelly on National Signing Day and you have to wonder if they’re sensing a small shift in the recruiting game. Kelly’s only Top 5 class from 2013 (which featured a couple 5-stars in Jaylon and Redfield) would’ve finished just 8th overall this past year. Perhaps even more interesting, you could drop Notre Dame’s two lowest rated recruits from 2017, add a pair of the 5-stars Stanford signed, and the Irish would’ve only jumped up to the 9th overall class this year.

Harbaugh Games

Michigan had a small and lightly regarded class in the Harbaugh transition class of 2015 but have since put together the No. 6 and No. 5 ranked classes over the last two cycles. From shady roster management, an abundance of early enrollees, and a do-whatever-it-takes attitude on the recruiting trail, Jim Harbaugh is carving out his own little SEC empire in Ann Arbor.

The Wolverines signed a nation-high 30 recruits in 2017 bringing their two-year total to 58. They have at least 26 players running out of eligibility or headed to the NFL and that number could rise to over 30 depending on who gets invited back for 5th-years. Their last two classes–the bulk of whom will lead the way when Michigan faces Notre Dame to begin 2018–have featured 19 players who were rated in the top 10 at their respective positions.

Oh, Hello

I wouldn’t bet a single dollar that D.J. Durkin moves the needle much in the Big Ten East on the football field but Maryland made a nice move in recruiting this year. They jumped from 42nd last year to an admirable 18th overall this past cycle–and that’s with Notre Dame snagging a couple of their commits very late in the process. The Terps ended up signing just 2 blue-chippers last year and increased that total to 8 in 2017.

I was going to include South Carolina here, as well. However, did you know their last 3 recruiting classes have finished 25th, 19th, and 21st? Did anyone know the Gamecocks recruited this well? Should they be better on the field soon? If not for Muschamp, that is.

Ouch, Dawg

Washington won the Pac-12 for the first time in 16 years, made the playoffs, and notched 12 wins for the first time since their undefeated 1991 campaign. And…they couldn’t come up with a Top 20 recruiting class.

Perhaps worse, the Huskies saw their would-be top and 5th best signees decommit after their season finished. That has to be one tough pill to swallow for Chris Petersen. You’re always welcome in South Bend, Chris.

Funny Farm

Due to limited scholarships (my research has Stanford able to bring back 10 players for a 5th year) the Cardinal took a small class of 14 players but made up for the lack of quantity with quality. Their three 5-stars all came from outside of California which is impressive, plus they also added the nation’s top tight end among 9 overall blue-chips.

Their average rating allowed Stanford to finish 4th overall (just ahead of Clemson who also grabbed just 14 commits, bid of an odd circumstance coming off a championship) and the Cardinal became just the third program over the last 5 cycles to finish in the Top 15 team rankings with fewer than 20 commits.

The other two were also Pac-12 programs: UCLA’s 19 commits in 2015 finished 12th overall and USC’s 12 commits in 2013 finished 13th overall.

Tough Time in Texas

Many expected Tom Herman to hit the recruiting trail hard after being hired in Austin a month before Christmas but it didn’t exactly work out that way. Whether it was Herman’s excuse (not force-feeding relationships in such a short period of time) or a general mismanagement down the stretch the only late pick-up was former Notre Dame commit Jordan Pouncey.

It resulted in the worst recruiting class at Texas in the modern era of recruiting, 26th overall.

You have to figure Herman will bounce back in a big way for 2018 and the good news is that the Big 12 remains so weak in recruiting that Texas still finished 2nd in the conference. Just imagine another recruiting cycle like 2016 except Texas adding a 7th team with at least 290 points in the Composite rankings. It’s pretty amazing that we got to 6 this past year and one of those teams wasn’t the Longhorns.