1. The nine biggest headlines

• Georgia’s now got the sixth highest-rated class ever.
• Alabama’s reign of No. 1 classes is likely over! The Tide plummeted all the way to ... No. 5, with plenty of room to grow.
• Clemson signed four of the country’s top nine recruits.
• Clemson stole Ohio’s No. 1 recruit from Ohio State, with drama afoot.
• The two biggest flips: QB Emory Jones from Ohio State to Florida and DB Jaiden Woodbey from Ohio State to FSU. (This all makes it sound like Ohio State had a horrific week! The Buckeyes are fine and could still finish No. 2.)
• Texas might’ve assembled the best class of defensive backs ever.
• 2019’s No. 1 QB, JT Daniels, reclassified to 2018, giving USC a big boost.
• A bunch of teams who aren’t typically top-tier recruiters took advantage of the shortened calendar by locking down quality classes. Examples: Washington, Minnesota, Virginia Tech, Maryland, and NC State.
• And of the following top 101 recruits, roughly a third remain unsigned heading toward February’s National Signing Day.

2. The status of the 247Sports Composite’s top 100 2018 recruits

We updated this section as signatures rolled in, with expected announcement dates in parentheses — though players won’t be able to actually sign next until Feb. 7 — and signees in bold.

1. QB Trevor Lawrence, Clemson signee
2. QB Justin Fields, Georgia signee
3. DE Xavier Thomas, Clemson signee
4. DE Micah Parsons, Penn State signee
5. CB Patrick Surtain Jr., favored to LSU, per 247Sports Crystal Ball, but don’t be so sure (February)
6. RB Zamir White, Georgia signee
7. DE Eyabi Anoma, Alabama signee
8. DE K.J. Henry, Clemson signee
9. OT Jackson Carman, Clemson signee
10. OG Jamaree Salyer, Georgia signee
11. WR Terrace Marshall, LSU signee
12. WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, predicted to USC (February)
13. DT Taron Vincent, Ohio State signee
14. LB Palaie Gaoteote, USC signee
15. WR Justin Shorter, Penn State signee
16. OT Cade Mays, Georgia signee
17. OT Nicholas Petit-Frere, with Notre Dame and SEC schools in the mix
18. LB Adam Anderson, Georgia signee
19. S BJ Foster, Texas signee
20. RB Lorenzo Lingard, Miami signee
21. QB JT Daniels, a 2018 USC signee who was part of the 2019 class but is skipping his senior year of high school
22. WR Devon Williams, predicted to Oregon
23. DE Brenton Cox, Georgia signee
24. RB Jaelen Gill, Ohio State signee
25. RB Ricky Slade, Penn State signee
26. CB Isaac Taylor-Stuart, predicted to USC (February 7)
27. CB Tyson Campbell, favored to Miami (February)
28. S Jaiden Woodbey, Florida State signee
29. OT Brey Walker, Oklahoma signee
30. TE Jeremy Ruckert, Ohio State signee
31. CB Olaijah Griffin, UCLA commit (February)
32. RB James Cook (Dalvin’s little brother), Georgia signee
33. QB Tanner McKee, favored to Stanford (February 7)
34. CB Anthony Cook, Texas signee
35. QB Justin Rogers, TCU signee
36. S Caden Sterns, Texas signee
37. S Kelvin Joseph, favored to LSU (February)
38. QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA commit (After ESP)
39. OG Trey Hill, Georgia signee
40. LB Teradja Mitchell, Ohio State signee
41. QB Emory Jones, Florida signee
42. S Tyreke Johnson, Ohio State signee
43. WR Derion Kendrick, Clemson signee
44. LB JJ Peterson, favored to Tennessee or Alabama (February 7)
45. OG Penei Sewell, favored to Oregon (February)
46. OT William Barnes, favored to Florida (February 7)
47. CB Jalen Green, Texas signee
48. CB Brendan Radley-Hiles, favored to Oklahoma (January 6)
49. WR Brennan Eagles, Texas signee
50. TE Luke Ford, Georgia signee
51. WR Jaylen Waddle, favored to Alabama or Texas A&M (February)
52. WR Marquis Spiker, Washington signee
53. CB Anthony Lytton, Florida State signee
54. WR Jacob Copeland, favored to Alabama or Florida
55. DT Michael Thompson, favored to Missouri (February)
56. OL Matthew Jones, Ohio State signee
57. CB Asante Samuel Jr., Florida State signee
58. CB Al Blades Jr., Miami signee
59. WR Justyn Ross, favored to Clemson over Alabama and Auburn (February 7)
60. DE Tyreke Smith, favored to Ohio State (January 4)
61. QB Matt Corral, Ole Miss signee
62. WR Mark Pope, Miami signee
63. TE Brevin Jordan, Miami signee
64. CB Houston Griffith, Notre Dame signee
65. LB Quay Walker, Alabama commit
66. WR Kamryn Babb, Ohio State signee
67. QB Phil Jurkovec, Notre Dame signee
68. LB Payton Wilson, NC State signee
69. S DeMarvion Overshown, Texas signee
70. S Derrik Allen, Notre Dame signee
71. DE Stephon Wynn, Alabama signee
72. CB Kyler McMichael, Clemson signee
73. WR Jalen Hall, favored to Oregon or USC
74. WR Kevin Austin, Notre Dame signee
75. WR JaMarr Chase, favored to TCU or LSU (February)
76. WR Jordyn Adams, North Carolina signee
77. S Josh Proctor, Ohio State signee
78. QB Colson Yankoff, Washington signee
79. S Leon O’Neal Jr., favored to Texas A&M despite being a recent A&M decommit
80. ATH Bryan Addison, UCLA signee
81. OT Rasheed Walker, favored to Penn State
82. QB Jacob Sirmon, Washington signee
83. RB Brian Snead, Ohio State signee
84. RB T.J. Pledger, Oklahoma signee
85. DT Tyler Friday, favored to Michigan (February 7)
86. WR Joshua Moore, favored to Texas A&M
87. OT Richard Gouraige, Florida commit
88. ATH Talanoa Hufanga, favored to USC or Oregon
89. LB Solomon Tuliaupupu, favored to USC (January or later)
90. DE Jordan Davis, Alabama signee
91. Al’vonte Woodard, Texas signee
92. LB Channing Tindall, Georgia signee
93. LB Otis Reese, Michigan commit
94. WR Jalen Preston, Texas A&M commit (February)
95. DT Robert Cooper, Florida State signee
96. CB Josh Jobe, Alabama signee
97. DE Ronnie Perkins, Oklahoma signee
98. OT Nana Asiedu, Penn State signee
99. WR Matthew Hill, Auburn commit (January)
100. DT Tuli Letuligasenoa, USC commit
101. C Emil Ekiyor, Alabama signee

3. The updated top 10 classes

(If that’s not loading for you, the full rankings are here.)

4. Does all this even matter all that much?

Oh, absolutely. At this point, there’s little doubt that recruiting rankings are worthwhile at the big-picture level, despite those (wonderful!) success stories that always spring to mind about two-stars overcoming the odds and getting drafted in the first round.

1. They matter at the player level. Blue chips are almost 1,000 percent more likely to be drafted in the first round. You can see the star ratings drop throughout the NFL draft. And five-stars are about 33 times as likely to be All-Americans as two-stars are.
2. They matter at the team level. Matt Hinton broke the country into five tiers of recruiting might, finding the higher-recruiting schools to consistently beat their lessers virtually across the board.
3. They matter at the championship level. Every national champion of the ratings era has passed a specific recruiting benchmark, as Bud Elliott’s Blue-Chip Ratio annually demonstrates.
4. There are major exceptions, duh, like CMU’s Eric Fisher, who went from being a 240-pound two-star to a 306-pound No. 1 pick — hard to expect national rankings to predict a player to gain 66 quality pounds in college. Bill Connelly, who's way smarter than me, still finds them highly valuable, despite obvious flaws.
5. Perfection shouldn't be the standard, though. Especially since the four big services get better during the course of a year and more accurate from year to year. Just Rate The Bama Croots Highly has been a winning strategy, for one.
6. At the anecdotal level, let's take a look at how all of college football would've changed if one recruit, five-star Tim Tebow, had chosen differently. See how much one commit mattered?