GC releases 2013 composite ranking

National Signing Day is now a week in the past, and while Florida fans are waiting (not so) patiently on the announcement of star wide receiver Stefon Diggs later this evening, GatorCountry.com has at least partially turned its focus to the 2013 recruiting class.

We’re only 362 days away from National Signing Day 2013, so it’s time to unveil our first round of rankings for the 2013 football recruits.

Two of the four major recruiting services have put out their initial rankings, while the other two have published Top 100 watch lists. That’s more than enough for GatorCountry.com to put together our first composite recruiting ranking for the 2013 class.

Today, we unveil that ranking. It features all four current Florida Gators commitments.

Alabama has gotten off to a terrific start to the 2013 recruiting class after signing a great class in 2012. The Crimson Tide currently leads the nation in commitments ranked in the composite ranking with seven.

A surprise early contender for the best class has also emerged, and it’s a program that finished the 2012 recruiting class on an extremely high note. That’s new SEC member Texas A&M. The Aggies boast four commitments in the composite, second in the nation. All four are currently ranked in the Top 100 of the composite, leading the country.

Florida fields four commitments in the composite ranking, with one currently ranked in the Top 100. Linebacker Daniel McMillian debuts at No. 52, defensive tackle Caleb Brantley checks in at No. 117, linebacker James Hearns ranks at No. 178 and running back Adam Lane starts off at No. 213.

As far as the Gators’ needs are concerned, the 2013-class appears to set up nicely for Florida to attack the positions it needs the most talented recruits at.

While the numbers are tough to completely evaluate on a position-by-position basis, since there are far more players listed as “athletes” at the beginning of the recruiting process than the end, it appears, at least for this recruiting cycle, there is a lot more elite talent available on the offensive side of the ball.

In our final ranking from the 2012 class, 48.1 percent of the players ranked on our composite ranking were on the defensive side of the ball. In our initial 2013 ranking, only 38.2 percent are on the defensive side.

It’s worth noting that only 1.8 percent of the players in our final 2012 ranking were designated as athletes, while 8.1 percent are designated as athletes in the initial 2013 ranking. Some of those athletes will ultimately end up on the defensive side.

Meanwhile, there hasn’t been a huge percentage increase in offensive players. In our final 2012 ranking, 50.1 percent of the players ranked played offense, while in our initial 2013 ranking 53.7 percent play offense.

In any case, with Florida signing a defense-heavy class in 2012 and the Gators needing a host of skill-position players in the 2013 class, the board sets up quite nicely.

In addition, the Gators have already met a couple needs with high-caliber players at the linebacker position. This position appears to be weaker in 2013 than it was last year and Florida has already picked up two players ranked in the composite ranking.

The linebacker position has 4.1 percentage points less players in this year’s ranking compared to last; the biggest drop in any one position.

You can find our initial 2013 composite ranking at the link below. We’ve also included tables breaking down the composite ranking below.

Link: GatorCountry.com Composite Rankings

Below is a complete table detailing the amount of players in the composite ranking by position. It also provides the percentage each position accounted for in the complete composite ranking, for comparison of position strength.

Below you can find a table that shows the schools currently with the most commitments in the initial 2013 composite ranking. The second table shows the schools with the most commitments in the Top 100 of the 2013 composite ranking.