Tracking the progress of the SEC West’s 2018 recruiting classes – ESPN (blog)

Xavier Williams, the No. 27-ranked recruit nationally, is among three ESPN 300 prospects in an Alabama class that's just getting started.

Spring football is over, the offseason is hitting the dog days and media days are still months away. Recruiting, however, goes all year round. Coaches all over the country are on the trail looking for the next crop of talent.

As the spring evaluation period winds down (it ends May 31), let's take a look at where SEC teams stand in recruiting the 2018 class. On Wednesday, we broke down the SEC East classes; today we take a look at the SEC West (note, current ESPN class rankings are here):

ALABAMA

Commitments: Three.

Current class ranking: N/A

Top commits: ATH Xavier Williams, RB Dameon Pierce, DE Jordan Davis.

Breakdown: All three of the Crimson Tide's commits are ESPN 300 prospects: Williams is No. 27 overall, Pierce is 100th and Davis is 125th. Even though it's currently a small group, Nick Saban's track record tells us that it won't be long before the Tide begin piling up more high-level commits and start moving up the rankings.

ARKANSAS

Commitments: Four.

Current class ranking: N/A

Top commits: CB Byron Hanspard, TE Luke Ford, QB Connor Noland.

Breakdown: The Razorbacks are off to a pretty good start with three ESPN 300 prospects (Hanspard, Ford and Noland) in the fold. (Arkansas signed three ESPN 300 players in the entire 2017 cycle.) Two of their four commits (Hanspard and linebacker Bumper Pool) hail from the Dallas-Fort Worth area in Texas, a favorite recruiting ground for the Razorbacks.

AUBURN

Commitments: Six.

Current class ranking: N/A

Top commits: ATH Joey Gatewood, RB Shaun Shivers, OC Jalil Irvin.

Breakdown: The Tigers are stocking up on offensive prospects so far (five of the six commits come from that side of the football). Gatewood, a quarterback who is No. 24 in the ESPN 300, has been committed since December 2015, and Auburn has hung onto him even with an offensive coordinator change. He and Shivers are the two ESPN 300 prospects in the class.

LSU

Commitments: 16

Current class ranking: 3

Top commits: CB Kelvin Joseph, DE Adam Anderson, OC Cole Smith.

Breakdown: This is already one of the nation's best classes. Ed Orgeron and his staff have been stellar on the trail in his first full cycle as permanent head coach (just one of these commitments came before Orgeron got the gig). Only Miami -- which currently has the No. 1 class -- has more commits (17). The Tigers have nine ESPN 300 prospects and have gone heavy on defense: Only four players are offensive prospects. Nine of them are front-seven players.

MISSISSIPPI STATE

Commitments: Nine.

Current class ranking: N/A

Top commits: WR Malik Heath, ATH Marcus Murphy, CB Esaias Furdge.

Breakdown: The Bulldogs have a good-sized class for this point in the cycle and have been focused mostly on in-state talent (eight of the nine commits hail from Mississippi). Heath is the lone ESPN 300 prospect, the No. 151 player overall nationally. The Bulldogs are still looking for a quarterback in the class.

OLE MISS

Commitments: Two.

Current class ranking: N/A

Top commits: OG Blaine Scott, DT Quentin Bivens.

Breakdown: Only Missouri has a smaller class at this point in the process (one commit), after an underwhelming 2017 haul thanks to the cloud hanging over the program (coach Hugh Freeze himself called the class a "penalty"). It's worth wondering if Ole Miss self-imposing sanctions in February is still impacting recruiting. With no top-300 prospects in the fold yet, it'll be interesting to see how things develop in the summer.

TEXAS A&M

Commitments: Seven.

Current class ranking: 18

Top commits: ATH Jordan Moore, OT Colten Blanton, OG Luke Matthews.

Breakdown: Recruiting has never been much of an issue for Kevin Sumlin, and this year is no different. The Aggies are doing well on the trail, with four ESPN 300 prospects in the fold (Moore, Blanton, Matthews and quarterback Cade Fortin from Georgia). The Aggies haven't made quite as much noise as of late (six of the commits came in 2016), but overall, they have a solid group as it stands currently.

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Tracking the progress of the SEC West's 2018 recruiting classes - ESPN (blog)