Yes to all of this. Our star average for this class is 3.39 and there are almost 20 schools with an average higher than that. But it's substantially better than last year (3.19) and on par with Dooley's first two classes. More importantly, getting this many early commits means you can be more selective as a number of high caliber players announce between now and February, rather than scrambling to fill schollies at the end.
Of course the biggest thing that Butch needs to do with this class is coach them up and keep them in school. We signed three 5* players in the Kiffin/Dooley years and not one of them played three years.
Actually I think I should add a little something to this based on Rivals Ratings rather than stars . . . as BDV mentioned, most of these guys in the 3* range are just short of 4* and several 4* are just short of 5*. If you look at the average Rivals Rating of the class (and exclude the JUCO player who doesn't yet have a RR), here's what you get as an average for the last several classes:
Year RR Avg # Coach
2014 5.75 13 Jones
2013 5.67 21 Dooley/Jones
2012 5.70 22 Dooley
2011 5.71 27 Dooley
2010 5.69 27 Kiffin/Dooley
2009 5.80 22 Fulmer/Kiffin
2008 5.64 18 Fulmer
2007 5.78 32 Fulmer
For perspective, that 2007 Fulmer class was #3 overall and the 2009 Fulmer/Kiffin class was #10 overall.
For even more perspective, last year's #1 class-- Alabama, which had 26 signees and 17 4/5* players-- had an average RR of 5.83. So Jones has this class in position to be Top 10 as long as the remaining signees are on par with those signed so far.
