Signing day loses some suspense

There’s a strange sense of calm that has replaced the tumult typically associated with college football recruiting this time of year.

The arrival of a December signing period has removed much of the suspense from the traditional national signing day that takes place on the first Wednesday of February.

About three-quarters of the top 250 high school football prospects have signed, according to a composite ranking of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports.

Though coaching staffs around the country have spent the past few days making final sales pitches as they attempt to complete their recruiting classes, the atmosphere isn’t nearly as hectic as before.

“It does feel a little less frantic,” said Barton Simmons, the director of scouting for 247Sports.

“I think there’s still plenty of drama surrounding some of the bigger names and more elite prospects in this class, but the general frenetic pace that we’re used to — the chaos of the final weekend — is definitely taken down a notch or two.”

There’s something else different about this recruiting season: For the first time in several years, Alabama might not land the nation’s top class.

Alabama has posted the nation’s No. 1 class, according to the 247Sports composite, each of the past seven years but currently ranks sixth in the team standings. Simmons said the reigning national champion still has a remote chance at finishing first in the recruiting standings but added it would “be a pretty big upset” if anyone other than Ohio State or Georgia ended up No. 1.

Georgia has signed seven players rated as five-star prospects by Rivals and remains one of the top contenders for Tyson Campbell, a five-star cornerback from American Heritage in Plantation, Fla. Rivals director of recruiting Mike Farrell said if Georgia signs eight Rivals five-star prospects, it would match the record set by USC’s 2004 class.

Still, Alabama remains one of the main stories heading into the final days of the recruiting season because it remains in play for many of the top uncommitted recruits. Ring, ring: Two other members of the Eagles have Bay Area connections. Justin Peelle (Dublin) is the team’s tight ends coach and Darrell Greene (Freedom-Oakley) is a guard who spent the season on the practice squad. Recruiting central: As first reported Monday by 247Sports and confirmed by De La Salle coach Justin Alumbaugh, the Bay Area’s top football recruit, Spartans defensive lineman Tuli Letuligasenoa, has changed his mind and will attend Washington. The 6foot-2, 295-pound senior committed to USC on April 23, but on Monday, two days before official signing day, he flipped to the Huskies.

Three other prominent recruits announced their commitments Fast times at Menlo High: