Recap: Pac-12 Recruiting Rankings After Early Signing Day
Although the 2021 season has yet to conclude, programs across the country are already gearing up for their 2022 classes to arrive.
Wednesday marked the first of three days in the early signing period for recruits to sign their national letters of intent and turn their verbal commitment into official signee status.
National headlines dominated the football world on early signing day, as Texas A&M climbed to the top spot in recruiting rankings, leapfrogging teams such as Alabama and Georgia in 247 Sports' composite standings.
Much of the story lines surrounding the first day of action were geared towards Florida State, which lost the commitment of cornerback Travis Hunter, the country's top or second overall ranked recruit depending on your source, when he flipped his commitment from to Jackson State to play for head coach Deion Sanders.
Prior to Wednesday, a lot of the focus was fixated on the Pac-12 conference. Whether it be Lincoln Riley's arrival at USC, Mario Cristobal's departure from Oregon or Utah's first conference championship (and upcoming Rose Bowl appearance), the Pac-12 maintained itself heavily in headlines leading into mid-December.
However, the Pac-12 quickly took a back seat to other programs, as the conference's top program (Stanford) finished at No. 15 in national class rankings after Day 1 of the early signing period.
It's important to remember that these rankings have plenty of time to change throughout the course of the next few weeks before the traditional signing day of Feb. 2, as plenty of talent either remains uncommitted or may flip their schools when the time comes.
However, let's take a look at Pac-12 recruiting rankings for the time being:
Pac-12 Recruiting Rankings After Early Signing Day
1. Stanford Cardinal (22 commits, 7 four-star players)
2. Oregon Ducks (12 commits, 6 four-star players)
3. Arizona Wildcats (20 commits, 3 four-star players)
4. Utah Utes (18 commits, 2 four-star players)
5. UCLA Bruins (12 commits, 6 four-star players)
6. Colorado Buffaloes (19 commits)
7. Oregon State Beavers (16 commits)
8. California Golden Bears (13 commits, 1 four-star player)
9. Washington State Cougars (11 commits)
10. USC Trojans (6 commits, 1 five-star, 2 four-star players)
11. Arizona State Sun Devils (8 commits, 1 four-star)
12. Washington Huskies (6 commits, 3 four-star)
Time to panic? Absolutely not, as teams will gain more recruits over the coming weeks and will likely see their numbers (and rankings) shoot up as a result. Coaches (such as Riley at USC) will certainly have some pull in recruits determining their final destination as the clock continues to tick.
However, the Pac-12 certainly can't be pleased with the initial output. Out of 12 schools, only one houses a five-star recruit (USC committed running back Raleek Brown).
Stanford is the only Pac-12 team at this time to have a top-25 recruiting class, with seven ranking in the top 50. The Pac-12 was joined by the ACC as the only Power Five conferences to have only two teams that have signed 20 recruits, with all others having four or more (the SEC has nine schools at that number).
Not exactly sparkling reviews for two-thirds of "The Alliance" formed just months ago as a counter to Oklahoma and Texas moving to the SEC.
Time will ultimately tell if the Pac-12 is able to surge back into short-term prominence on the recruiting trail.
Yet as of now, the self-dubbed "conference of champions" still has their work cut out moving forward.