By Andrew Ivins
247SportsWhile much of the conversation these days might be centered around the College Football Playoff after a wild Week 10, it's time to remind everyone that Signing Day (Dec. 21) is right around the corner.
While some fans might be ready to check out on the 2022 season because of their team's disappointing records, the time is now to shift your focus to the lifeline of your program: recruiting.
Below, we set the stage for what could be one of the wildest Signing Days ever.
CAN ANYBODY CATCH ALABAMA?Can anyone catch Alabama? That's the big question between now and Signing Day. The Crimson Tide's 310.01 points in the 247Sports Composite Team Recruiting Rankings would be good enough for a fourth-place finish in 2022 or even a third-place finish in 2021. Not bad, but what's crazy about Alabama's recruiting efforts right now is the fact that Nick Saban and his staff still have plenty of targets left on the board to keep rising in the rankings and possibly even challenge the group that Texas A&M assembled last cycle, which broke records as it crossed just north of 333 points.
Just because Alabama has a significant lead heading into the final turn, doesn't mean that there aren't some challengers. Georgia, which currently sits No. 2 in the rankings, is hovering right around 294 points with just over six weeks to go. The Bulldogs – like the Crimson Tide – continue to communicate with blue-chippers around the country as Kirby Smart and his assistants try to ensure that they will sign their seventh-straight top five-ranked recruiting class.
And while adding Top247 pass rushers like
Samuel M'Pemba,
Damon Wilson and
Daevin Hobbs would certainly shrink the gap between Georgia and Alabama, the only real way to ensure that the Bulldogs leapfrog the Crimson Tide might be by flipping two of Alabama's highest-ranked commits: five-star safety
Caleb Downs and Top247 running back
Justice Haynes. That's a pretty tall task, even for the defending national champions, but it should be noted that both Downs and Haynes (UGA legacy) were spotted in Athens this past weekend on unofficial visits.
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