T H E C L A S S O F 2 0 2 0 >>
E
ven though it only added a pair of
three-star prospects on signing day –
defensive end Cameron Kinnie of Suwa-
nee, Ga., and defensive back Daran
Branch of Amite, La. – Georgia retained
its lead in the Rivals.com team rankings,
pulling in the No. 1 class in the 2020 re-
cruiting cycle.
The Bulldogs' success, cou-
pled with the performance of
the other six Southeastern
Conference schools that
ended up in Rivals' top 10,
clearly illustrates why many
college football analysts be-
lieve the SEC will be the dom-
inant Power Five conference
for the foreseeable future.
For the second year in a row,
Georgia was named by Rivals
as having the top class in the
country. The other SEC
schools in the top 10 were Al-
abama (third), LSU (fourth),
Texas A&M (sixth), Ten-
nessee (seventh), Florida
(eighth) and Auburn (10th).
Kirby Smart and his sta>
had gone into the early sign-
ing period on the heels of a
37-10 drubbing by LSU in the
SEC title game, but their re-
cruiting haul deensive tackles Broderick
Jones of Lithonia, Ga., and Tate Ratledge
of Rome, Ga.; running back Kendall Mil-
ton of Clovis, Calif.; cornerback Kelee
Ringo of Scottsdale, Ariz.; and tight end
Darnell Washington of Las Vegas. Jones is
the top-rated o>ensive tackle in the na-
tion, while Ratledge is just behind him at
No. 2 in Rivals' position rankings.
As expected, Smart and his assistant
coaches dominated their home state,
landing eight Georgia players. But the
main reason why the Bulldogs ended up
with Rivals' top-ranked class was because
their national recruiting e>orts just might
have been the best in the country. Georgia
ended up signing players from
California, Florida, Louis-
iana, Texas and Washington,
D.C. Those areas yielded
three of the Bulldogs' of its
impressive College Football
Playo> victory over Clemson,
landed Rivals' fourth-rated
class. Ed Orgeron's class
numbered 22 players, includ-
ing two ensive lineman Paris Johnson Jr.
of Cincinnati and receivers Jaxon Smith-
Njigba of Rockwall, Texas, and Julian
Fleming of Catawissa, Pa. Maryland pulled
o> a major coup by signing receiver Rakim
Jarrett of Washington, D.C., who had pre-
viously been committed to LSU.
Oregon signed two of the Pac-12's three
ort was head-
lined, as usual, by Clemson, but it had two
other teams in the top 20: Miami (12th)
and North Carolina (16th).
Oregon (ninth), Stanford (19th) and
Washington (20th) were the only Pac-12
schools to make Rivals' top 20, while the
Big 12 had two: Texas (13th) and Okla-
homa (15th).
College football has always been a rich-
get-richer world. The SEC proved that
again this year, and the handful of schools
from other Power Five conferences that
managed to break into the top 10 were ex-
actly the schools you would expect, the
ones that have been dominating their
conferences for the past few seasons or
longer. It seems as though Georgia,
Clemson, Alabama, LSU and Ohio State
will be leading contenders to play in the
CFP for the next three or four years.
■
|
SEC schools continue to monopolize recruiting rankings
RIVALS
NATIONAL
1.
Georgia
2. Clemson
3. Alabama
4. LSU
5. Ohio State
6. Texas A&M
7. Tennessee
8. Florida
9. Oregon
10. Auburn
11. Michigan
12. Miami (Fla.)
13. Texas
14. Penn State
15. Oklahoma
16. North Carolina
17. South Carolina
18. Nebraska
19. Stanford
20. Washington
N A T I O N A L R O U N D U P
