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Football fans to hear about signs of optimism

Thousands of players across the country will sign to play college football on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, joining some players like Hope defensive end and Arkansas signee McTelvin Agim, who signed during the early signing period.

Once a year, the college world of perspiring arts almost comes to a halt.

That day is today, national signing day for college football. A day when careers can be made or broken.

This is a day of stress, joy and sadness, but do no expect to hear one coach at any school say he had a disappointing recruiting class.

All will say they are pleased with the latest recruits who are going to lead their institutions to unheard-of glory.

Expect to hear people say recruiting is an inexact science, which is partially correct.

There will be unknowns who become all-conference, even All-Americans, and play in the NFL.

Brandon Burlsworth was a walk-on who became an All-American for Arkansas and was a third-round draft pick by the Indianapolis Colts.

Jamaal Anderson was a two-star recruit for the Razorbacks who switched from receiver to defensive end and went on to play in the NFL.

Tight end Charles Clay was lightly recruited, getting an offer from the Hogs the night before national signing day, but he stuck with his commitment to Tulsa and was drafted in 2011 by the Miami Dolphins. Last year, he signed a five-year, $38 million contract with the Buffalo Bills.

So there are fairy tales that come true, but the bottom line is the teams that recruit the best players win the most.

Alabama jumps off the page with that statement. The Crimson Tide have won three of the past five national championships, and four of the past seven.

Since 2008, Nick Saban has had six No. 1 recruiting classes, a No. 2 and a No. 5 (guess that was a rebuilding year). At the time of this writing, Bama was No. 9 in the latest recruiting battles, but more on that in a minute.

Ohio State and Florida State have won national championships in the past three seasons, and their average recruiting classes the past five years were No. 6 for the Buckeyes and No. 5 for the Seminoles.

Clemson was not an overnight success; the Tigers' past five recruiting classes were ranked 8, 14, 14, 13 and 4.

Those schools, and a few others such as Notre Dame, can recruit nationally, but they also have good recruiting bases in their home states.

Yet, if you look at some of the major programs -- such as Southern Cal, Georgia and even Texas A&M -- and their recruiting classes, you have to wonder why they aren't having more success.

As of Tuesday, and there will be late developments, nine SEC schools were ranked in the top 25 in one of the main national recruiting rankings.

LSU at No. 2, Ole Miss at No. 4 (Hugh Freeze must be the best recruiter in the history of the game), Florida at No. 7 and Bama at No. 9 make up SEC teams in the top 10.

The Razorbacks are ranked No. 27, which is pretty good, but that's 10th in the SEC and that's not so good.

This was not a banner year for Division I recruits in Arkansas. The Hogs are expected to sign at least four homegrown players, and Arkansas State will ink at least one. A few Division I Arkansans are going out of state.

Recruiting has become a sport of its own: Some fans love it; some fans don't.

But it's football news when there woudn't be any, which makes today one of the biggest days of the year.

Coaches' futures are being decided today by hundreds of 18-year-olds who probably never have washed their own laundry, and some haven't even shaved yet.

Recruiting may not be an exact science, but the numbers don't lie: The rich are getting richer and the idea of parity because of scholarship limits never happened.

Sports on 02/03/2016