Dr. Saturday's observations and awards from 2017's National Signing Day

National Signing Day can be an overwhelming day. We’re here for you.

Hopefully you kept up with the day’s major news here at Dr. Saturday. If you didn’t we’re not hurt, it’s OK. But outside of the big stories we covered throughout the day, there was a lot of other noteworthy happenings, comments and fun throughout the day. Consider this your one-stop post for everything else that occurred Wednesday.

• Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze’s team hasn’t been officially penalized by the NCAA. Yet. But he feels his team has already been penalized in the 2017 recruiting cycle.

Freeze’s program is currently being investigated by the NCAA and Ole Miss’ recruiting ranking appears to have suffered as a result. The Rebels’ rank just 41st in Rivals’ team rankings and signed just three four-star recruits.

He started his press conference by saying he felt “great” about his recruiting class multiple times. But he also had this to say about recruiting with possible NCAA sanctions looming.

“We’ve suffered penalties,” Freeze said via RebelGrove.com. “This recruiting class, it was a penalty to be under the cloud we’re under.”

Ole Miss ranked No. 8 in 2016 (with 12 four-star and above recruits) and No. 22 in 2015 (6), so it’s quite a precipitous drop in the rankings. Freeze also said his team had been negatively recruited against heavily by other teams. And while we understand his frustration with that tactic, it’s also what happens with potential sanctions on the horizon.

Freeze said he could tell recruits information that was “already public” about the NCAA investigation and that he had “no idea” what the end of the NCAA investigation would bring.

“Unfortunately there’s, whether the information is right or wrong I don’t really know, there’s a lot of people that chose to certainly talk about us a lot throughout the process,” Freeze said.

• Wide receiver James Robinson was able to sign with a powerhouse program despite his citation for pot possession while at an official visit to Ohio State.

That program was Ohio State coach Urban Meyer’s former school, too. Robinson signed with Florida on Wednesday.

Robinson is a four-star wide receiver and helped Florida leap into the top 10 of Rivals’ rankings. While the Gators didn’t sign any five-star recruits, Florida got 15 four-star recruits to commit.

Coach Jim McElwain’s team entered the day outside the top 30 in Rivals’ team rankings. So much for any belief that the Gators were having a hard time recruiting, right?

• What Stanford’s 2017 recruiting class doesn’t have in quantity it makes up for in quality.

The Cardinal signed just 14 recruits, tied for fewest among anyone in the top 20 with Clemson. But Stanford signed three five-star recruits — the same as the defending national champions — and seven four-star recruits (one more than the Tigers). Not bad.

Two of the five-star recruits are along the offensive line, where 6-foot-8 Walker Little and 6-6 Foster Sarell honored their months-long verbal commitments to the school. They’re joined by QB Davis Mills, the No. 1 pro-style quarterback in the country and a player who could challenge for the starting job sooner rather than later.

• USC closed signing day with aplomb. The Trojans finished with the No. 5 class in the country including 15 four-star commitments.

Two of those recruits are WR Joseph Lewis and athlete Greg Johnson, teammates at Los Angeles’ Augustus Hawkins High School who both committed to the Trojans on Wednesday.

USC locked down California as well, signing 12 players from the state. All but two of the Trojans’ signees came from east of Utah.

• You know you’re a great program when you can get the No. 118 recruit in the country to commit to your school without a scholarship available and wait until January to enroll.

That’s what happened with Alabama and four-star defensive end Jarez Parks, who eventually committed to the Tide after initially delaying his signing ceremony because Alabama may not have a scholarship for him.

It turned out that the Tide didn’t, at the moment anyway. That didn’t stop Parks, who would be a prized recruit at almost any other school in the country. Instead, he chose to be waitlisted at a school that’s been to consecutive national title games.

Alabama, once again, finished at the top of Rivals’ team recruiting rankings.

• UAB added nine players in its 2017 recruiting class. Not bad for a football team that didn’t play at all in 2016, right?

“Today is a really exciting because this is our first big high school class since the return and this is our future,” UAB coach Bill Clark said in a statement. “We know how important football is to the state of Alabama. Those are the guys we are going to target. When you talk about the Birmingham metro area, that is a big deal for us. They now see the football commitment at UAB. To get local guys who want to stay home and who see where we’re headed is really exciting.”

Eight of UAB’s nine signees hail from the state of Alabama. The school previously signed 11 players on junior college signing day in December.

UAB makes its triumphant return from its hiatus vs. Alabama A&M on Sep. 2.

• A down year at Georgia didn’t hurt the Bulldogs’ recruiting efforts. Georgia finished the recruiting cycle No. 3 in Rivals’ rankings ahead of Michigan, Florida Sate and others.

The Bulldogs got two five-star recruits in a class of 26 players. One of the five-star recruits is quarterback Jake Fromm, who could compete with Jacob Eason for the starting job. Seven of the four-star recruits head coach Kirby Smart signed are defensive players and three are listed as athletes.

With a great recruiting class, the pressure is on Smart’s team to produce immediately in an SEC East that features Florida and little else.

• Even though division foe Penn State won the Big Ten in 2016, Ohio State and Michigan are in a class of their own in the conference when it comes to recruiting. As it currently stands, the Buckeyes rank No. 2 in the Rivals team rankings, with Michigan right behind its rival at No. 4. Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes put together a fantastic class, including a ridiculous six five-star signees. Of OSU’s 21 signees, 10 are in the Rivals 100.

Michigan is bringing in a class of 30, which features three five-star recruits, including Donovan Peoples-Jones, the nation’s No. 1 wide receiver, and Jordan Anthony, the top inside linebacker in the class of 2017. That fourth-ranked finish (as it currently stands) is Michigan’s best ever in the Rivals era (dating back to 2002). Jim Harbaugh and company kept the best players in Michigan home, landing seven of the top 11 players from the state of Michigan.

Penn State put together a really nice class, coming in at No. 12, but it just isn’t quite in the same echelon as its East division counterparts.

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• Penn State had the third-best class in the Big Ten, but a surprising team is next in the conference’s recruiting rankings: Maryland. The Terps finished just 6-7 in D.J. Durkin’s first season, but it didn’t show on the recruiting trail. Highlighted by late commitments from four-star prospects Anthony McFarland, Cordarrian Richardson and Tahj Capehart (a flip from Virginia Tech), the Terps boast the No. 16 overall class in the country.

“It’s hard to wipe the smile off of my face right now today,” Durkin said to open his National Signing Day press conference. “It’s a great day for our program. It’s a great day for our team. I can’t tell you how excited we are. What a tremendous day for all of us in the direction that we’re heading in toward improving.

• A new head coach always brings excitement to a program, and that was on display Wednesday. Behind the efforts of Willie Taggart and staff, Oregon has the No. 21 class in the country. In the past month, the Ducks’ class grew from 12 to 24. The top-rated prospect in the class is Deommodore Lenoir, the No. 1 rated athlete in the country (No. 54 overall).

At Baylor, Matt Rhule headed an extremely impressive effort to salvage the 2017 class. When he arrived on campus in the aftermath of Art Briles’ exit, the Bears had one commit. On Wednesday, Baylor signed 27 prospects, including a whopping 20 from Texas. Rhule, who came to Baylor from Temple, also used his east coast connections to bring in three New Jersey recruits to the No. 34 class.

At No. 54, Minnesota’s class might not be ranked quite as high as Oregon, but P.J. Fleck has brought an entirely new brand of energy to Minneapolis. Of the Gophers’ 26 signees, 20 picked Minnesota after Fleck was hired. The Gophers coaches were fired up in the war room, too:

SIGNING DAY AWARDS

Best preferred walk-on

Joe Spivak, a defensive tackle from Lombard, Illinois, received a late offer from Michigan State, but he couldn’t pass up the chance to walk-on at Northwestern. Spivak had a slew of MAC offers to go with his MSU offer, but stuck with his commitment to play for Pat Fitzgerald.

He also has some of the best recruiting photos around. Look at this guy!

We’re in love.

Honorable mention goes to whoever runs the Duke walk-ons account:

Well played.

Best team Twitter account

Cincinnati had a great time during signing day and in addition to highlights for each of its signees, also did GIFs like the one below. If Luke Fickell’s team is as good as UC’s social media, watch out AAC.

Best GIF

Ole Miss signee Tae-kion Reed had a good way to fake out Mississippi State fans. But the look on the face of the woman to his left was better than his hat throw.

Best quote

Javon Kinlaw, a three-star defensive end from Goose Creek, South Carolina, had a hilarious reason for sticking with the in-state Gamecocks.

Honorable mention goes to Syracuse coach Dino Babers for this movie reference about three-star quarterback signee Tommy Devito:

Best excuse

Remember Florida Atlantic’s sad Lane Kiffin video? Kiffin now apparently says it was intended to be sad to get it more attention.

OK then.

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