National Signing Day is a special day for everyone across college football. For the coaches, it's the culmination of an 18-to-24 month process, the payoff after hundreds of thousands of hours of hard work, the reward after lots of sacrifice, the light at the end of a long tunnel. For those of us on the outside, it's the one day a year when all 126 FBS head coaches take the microphone, and they're all happy. It's their chance to brag on their recruits and thank all the coaches and staff member that played a part in signing those recruits. None of these kids have skipped a class, missed a block or dropped a pass yet, so there's really no reason for anything but unbridled optimism.
And everyone of them had it in abundance on Wednesday.
Every recruiting class is different. But the way coaches these coaches talk about their very unique recruiting classes is all the same.
We parsed through the quotes of all 65 coaches from Power Five programs (plus Notre Dame) and, stunningly, found that all 65 were pleased with their recruiting class. Or if they weren't pleased, they managed to meet their needs. Or sign really strong, exciting players. You get the point.
Nine coaches were pleased with their recruiting class:
Kirk Ferentz:
"Obviously, you know we're very pleased and enthused with what we expect to be 19 players signed."
Kyle Flood:
"When you talk this class, about this group of 26 players, I'm really excited about how much better they can get in our system and really excited about how good they are right now on film."
James Franklin:
"Very pleased with our results. The coaching staff did a great job."
Butch Jones:
"We're very pleased with this recruiting class."
Will Muschamp:
"Really pleased with these guys and what we were able to do roster-wise."
Gary Pinkel:
"We're really pleased with this class, it's a very talented group of athletes who we feel fit very well with our system and how we do things at Mizzou."
Paul Rhoads:
"I am very pleased with how the whole process worked out."
Nick Saban:
"We're very pleased with the character and quality of people that we're able to attract here."
Kevin Wilson:
"We are pleased with the way our class came together."
Three coaches described themselves as "thrilled":
Hugh Freeze:
“I’m thrilled with our class, like every coach would stand and say today."
Chris Petersen:
"We're thrilled...Every one of these guys we liked, we think they really bring something to the table."
Mark Richt:
"We feel like we did a great job evaluating, and we're just really thrilled about the guys we brought in."
Thirteen coaches were excited about their incoming recruits:
Paul Chryst:
"I'm really excited about the 23 guys that we signed."
Darrell Hazell:
"We are extremely excited about this class right now."
Brady Hoke:
"We hold these guys to high standards, their character, their integrity, and the guys that we want in this program, we are excited about the guys that are here."
Paul Johnson:
"We're extremely excited about the young men we signed this year."
Brian Kelly:
"We're very excited to announce the 2014 class."
Kliff Kingsbury:
"Excited about the class."
Mike London:
"It's a really good recruiting day for University of Virginia football. Seventeen young men that are pledged to play for this university... it's really, really quality players. We're very excited about who they are and what they represent."
Derek Mason:
"I'm excited about where we are and what's happening today."
Mike MacIntyre:
"I feel excited about these young men. I feel like we're getting the athlete and the caliber of character that we want."
Gary Patterson:
"It's a group that compliments itself. We're excited about them."
Bobby Petrino:
"We're excited about the class."
Mike Riley:
"We're excited, obviously, about this group."
Mark Stoops:
"Very excited about this group."
Seven coaches stepped into superlatives or outright bragging to describe their class.
Art Briles:
"I think at the end of the day we brought in the top receiver class. This group of receivers is unmatched; there aren't four better guys in America, without question and without controversy."
Mark Dantonio:
"This one in particular I feel like is maybe our most solid that we've had in seven or eight years here."
Al Golden:
“We have a lot of guys in this group that everybody wants. We haven’t been in that business to the extent we were this year.”
Gus Malzahn:
"We've got one of the best classes in college football, not only talent-wise, but all the things that go with it."
David Shaw:
"All that Cardinal head coach David Shaw would say along those lines is that the 20-man class was 'really close' to being the best that Stanford has landed since he arrived with former head coach Jim Harbaugh in 2007."
Bob Stoops:
"I believe it's one of our better recruiting classes that we've had through the years. It's hard to compare when you're looking at 15 years of doing it but I feel this ranks out there probably with any of them."
Dabo Swinney:
"We're recruiting at the highest level, we're competing at the highest level."
Two coaches were happy with their hauls:
Mark Helfrich:
"All in all I think we got one more guy than we all thought we were going to get about a week ago and all things considered are really happy."
Dan Mullen:
"Couldn't be happier with what happened and who we got."
Three coaches thought their class was strong:
Steve Addazio:
"This really is a strong class."
Frank Beamer:
“We’re extremely proud of this class, both athletically as well as academic- and character-wise. It’s an extremely strong class and I like our overall speed, both in the skill positions and in the offensive and defensive lines."
"Work ethic allowed us to make up ground and sign a very strong class."
While five coaches thought their classes were good, fine or solid:
Gary Andersen:
"A fine class of young men."
David Cutcliffe:
"I'm in a good mood because we've signed good football players."
Sonny Dykes:
"I think this was a solid recruiting class on the heels of a tough season."
Jerry Kill:
"This is, we feel like, a very, very good class for us."
Bill Snyder:
"I think it is a good class. How will it rank? Who knows. A bunch of those guys are ranked extremely high by ESPN."
Two coaches dared to describe their class as great:
Mike Leach:
"We didn't settle on any of them. They're all great players."
Bo Pelini:
"I feel great about this signing class and about what it will bring to the table."
And three coaches used adjectives such as terrific or outstanding:
Mike Gundy:
"I think that this is a terrific recruiting class."
Steve Spurrier:
"We really believe we have an outstanding group of players that have signed with us today."
Charlie Strong:
"It's been a very intense couple of weeks and what we were able to do, as a staff was we wanted to keep this class together and it was an outstanding class."
Seventeen coaches managed to meet their needs:
Tim Beckman:
"The 2014 recruiting class addresses all of our needs in a big way."
Bret Bielema:
"We wanted kids that believe in the family atmosphere, family dynamic, believing in the things that we think once we can get them here, we can work with.”
Dave Doeren:
"We had some major deficits at certain spots and we answered them at every single one."
Randy Edsall:
"We really zeroed in on exactly how many we really wanted to get at each position and really got the guys we wanted."
Larry Fedora:
"Exceptional class, to start off with, really an exceptional class. One that really met a lot of the needs we were looking for in this class."
Jimbo Fisher:
“We’re really happy with our class. They say coaches always say they’re happy with their class, but we hit needs all across the board.”
Pat Fitzgerald:
"We hard targeted the young men that fit our program."
Todd Graham:
"The key is evaluating and getting the right guys, I think this is the best recruting class in the internet era and that's all well and good, but we know we've got our needs met in terms of the character, the discipline and the toughness it takes to play here at Arizona State."
Dana Holgorsen:
"We did meet most our needs. We got a little bit of everything."
Urban Meyer:
"Whenever you lose a good group of players you have to replace them. And I like our last year's recruiting class, and I really like this year's as well."
Jim Mora:
"We're excited about the young men we were able to sign today. We addressed areas of concern. Really pleased with our class."
Rich Rodriguez:
"We're so much faster today than we were yesterday. I think we met a lot of our needs and some of our wants."
Steve Sarkisian:
"I think that we signed a really balanced class. One that's got competitive individuals but of high character and guys that are going to fit in great."
Scott Shafer:
"I thought our coaches did a nice job putting together a board that was deep and a board that adhered to what we were focused on."
Kevin Sumlin:
"This is a class that addresses our needs across the board."
Charlie Weis:
"I'm very pleased with this recruiting class. Our staff had to show a lot of patience and through hard work we filled almost every pressing need."
Kyle Whittingham:
"Our first recruiting priority is always to get the best available players in Utah and we feel as though we accomplished that."
But there was only one Les Miles:
Les Miles:
"It's the style of day that fuels our future."