Twelve On-air Announcements from Top Recruits; Interview with No. 1 Overall Trey Smith

Former LSU Head Coach Les Miles Will Share Insight on Recruiting Process as Guest Analyst

Five-hour Special on ESPN2

Reporters Live from 16 Schools Across the Country

ESPN.com to Provide Live News, Analysis and Updates; Hourly Recruiting Nation Class Rankings Updates

ESPN’s extensive multi-platform coverage of college football’s National Signing Day returns Wednesday, Feb. 1 with the ESPNU Signing Day Special Presented by Nissan on ESPNU and ESPN2, and specialized programming across Longhorn Network, SEC Network, ESPN3, SEC Network +, ACC Network Extra and ESPN.com. The 12th annual event provides the latest news and information on college team’s recruiting classes as top recruits make their official commitments. The ESPNU special gets underway at 8 a.m. ET before jumping to ESPN2 at noon. The final two hours (5 p.m. – 7 p.m.) wrap up on ESPNU. Coverage will include contributions from reporters at 16 different campuses across the country, more than 25 Coaches interviews and 12 on-air announcements.

Hosts Matt Schick and Joe Tessitore will keep fans up to date on all the news surrounding the day, led by national recruiting analyst Tom Luginbill, recruiting analyst Craig Haubert, and college football analysts Mike Bellotti, Mack Brown, Joey Galloway and David Pollack. The crew will be joined by former LSU head coach Les Miles, who will contribute to coverage throughout the day as a guest analyst, sharing his insight and experiences on the recruiting process.

Highlights of 2017 National Signing Day Coverage

Signing Day Eve: ESPNU will air a two-hour Signing Day Preview Special on Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. Bellotti, Haubert and Schick will give fans their predictions on where they think top recruits will land, and preview storylines and trends as the big day approaches.

Live with No. 1 prospect & Tennessee Volunteer: The No. 1 overall recruit Trey Smith, who recently enrolled at the University of Tennessee, will be interviewed live from Knoxville at 2 p.m. Smith made his announcement in early December during College Football Daily on ESPNU.

Top recruits in-studio: Four of the nation’s top recruits will appear in-studio throughout the day, with No. 136 Tommy Devito (Syracuse), No. 143 Fred Hansard (Penn State) and A.J. Dillon (Boston College) live from ESPN’s Bristol campus, and No. 38 Wyatt Davis (Ohio State) live from Los Angeles.

Twelve of the top student-athletes in the class of 2017 are expected to make their college commitments live during the special. A complete list and information will be released later this week.

Party in the USA: Reporters will be live from 16 schools across the country, including nine of the top 10 according to ESPN Recruiting Nation rankings.

School (RN Ranking) Reporter No. 1 Alabama Laura Rutledge No. 2 Ohio State Quint Kessenich No. 3 Georgia Maria Taylor No. 4 Michigan Jen Lada No. 5 Florida State Ryan McGee No. 6 Oklahoma Paul Carcaterra No. 7 LSU Allison Williams No. 8 Texas A&M Marcus Spears No. 9 Auburn Cole Cubelic No. 11 Clemson Marty Smith No. 15 Penn State Coley Harvey No. 16 South Carolina Tony Barnhart No. 22 Arkansas Clint Stoerner No. 23 Colorado Kris Budden No. 27 Kentucky Matt Stinchcomb No. 35 Texas Alex Loeb



SEC Network

Live interviews and updates from every Southeastern Conference team begin at 10 a.m. on SEC Network. The SEC Now: Signing Day Special is hosted by Dari Nowkhah alongside college football analyst Greg McElroy and recruiting analyst Craig Haubert. Developing stories and updates on class signings will continue throughout The Paul Finebaum Show, from 3 to 7 p.m. SEC Now will recap national signing day following a double-header of SEC basketball.

Longhorn Network

LHN’s Texas Football Signing Day Presented by Cavanders will begin at 8 a.m. (7 a.m. CT). LHN will report live from the Players’ Lounge inside the Moncrief-Neuhas Athletic Center with Lowell Galindo, Emmanuel Acho and Ahmad Brooks on set. Alex Loeb and Max Olson will provide additional coverage from the Players’ Lounge. The network will also carry Texas head coach Tom Herman’s press conference live, followed by a one-hour recap show, Longhorn Extra: Signing Day Special at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. CT).

ESPN.com

ESPN.com will provide live news, analysis and highlights of the best moments from signing day. Recruiting Nation will update its class rankings hourly beginning at 9 a.m. ET., culminating in the final class rankings and reveal of the top 75 recruiting classes in the nation. Reporter Tom VanHaaren will be in Bristol as part of the ESPN’s live coverage, and national senior writer Jeremy Crabtree will be a part of the day. The website’s coverage will also see reports and stories from 15 college football reporters who will be on site across the country, including Sam Kahn, who will be attending No. 4 Marvin Wilson’s announcement.

Exclusive social content will be shared throughout the day on ESPN’s Instagram and Snapchat accounts.

Streaming

In addition to ESPN’s linear television coverage of the day, 19 school-produced signing day shows will be available on SEC Network +, ACC Network Extra and ESPN3.

SEC Network +: Kentucky (8 a.m.), Georgia (9 a.m.), Arkansas (10 a.m. CT), Alabama (10 a.m.), LSU (4 p.m.),

ACC Network Extra: Georgia Tech (8:30 a.m.), Miami (9 a.m.), Duke (10:30 a.m.), Florida State (6:30 p.m.)

ESPN3: Ball State (9 a.m.), UMass (noon), Monmouth (noon), Grand Valley State (noon), Kansas (noon), Bowling Green (1 p.m.), Miami-Ohio (3 p.m.), Toledo (4 p.m.), Northern Illinois (4 p.m.), Appalachian State (5:30 p.m.),

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ESPN Contact: [email protected]