Signing Day’s around the corner, and you look, and your school isn’t where you’d like it to be in the team rankings.

If you’re a fan of an elite recruiting school, it might not be time to panic yet because, above all else, sometimes the numbers game can be in your favor in terms of a strong finish. Alabama’s going to most likely get the No. 1 class (spoiler alert), but that doesn’t mean there’s not room for other classes to fight beneath the Tide in the pecking order.

We need to talk about first what makes teams rise dramatically in the rankings late in the cycle.

It’s late January, so teams to look for are ones that fall into two categories: ones with room to sign a fair amount of players; and most importantly ones that stand to sign a fair amount of good players.

Let’s take Clemson as an example. The Tigers are ranked No. 13 in the 247Sports Composite. Having 13 commits in the class is good news theoretically because Clemson could add a boatload of high-quality talent. But here’s the thing with the Tigers. Here’s why they won’t:

The Tigers did just win a national title. It’s generally believed, however, that teams get more of a recruiting bump from the class that signs 13 months after winning, than they do with the class signing a month after a team takes home the trophy. This is because coaches only have a month to sell the national title to the current class, but a full year to do it to the next class.

Note that we already have covered Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Florida State, Michigan, LSU, and Oklahoma in our article on the seven most important classes of 2017.

So who will close hard this cycle?

We’ve got a few worthy challengers for that throne.

Clay Helton & Co. could finish about as strong on the recruiting trail as they did on the field in 2016. They were No. 14 in the 247Sports Composite, but they kicked off the week by flipping four-star defensive tackle Marlon Tuipulotu from Washington.

They’re currently No. 10 in the 247Composite, and the Trojans have a few targets in play who could get their class rocketing up, which would make them contenders for a top-five class. The biggest get would be Joseph Lewis, a five-star receiver from Los Angeles and the No. 5 receiver prospect in the nation.

5-star WR Joseph Lewis is a nightmare in space Blink and you might five-star USC Trojans target Joseph Lewis. Posted by SB Nation College Football on Friday, July 15, 2016

USC is also in play for Phoenix (Ariz.) four-star tackle Austin Jackson, four-star Salt Lake City (Utah) defensive tackle Jay Tufele, four-star Austin (Texas) linebacker Levi Jones and four-star athlete Greg Johnson (a teammate of Lewis), four-star safety Isaiah Pola-Mao , and four-star tight end Josh Falo.

Update: This article was published on the 26th. Pola-Mao has since committed to USC.

Lewis is a pretty good bet to go to USC, but SB Nation recruiting analyst Bud Elliott says the Cornhuskers are indeed in the mix here. But they need to land an 11th-hour visit.

The Trojans get Lewis’ last visit. But watch out for Nebraska if the Cornhuskers are able to get Lewis and four-star teammate Greg Johnson back to Lincoln before National Signing Day.

If the Huskers are indeed going to miss out on the visit, receiver Jamire Calvin, athlete Deommodore Lenoir, and cornerback Elijah Blades are other four-star prospects Nebraska has on its radar. The Huskers are also in it for defensive tackle Damon Daniels.

Nebraska’s recruiting class sits at No. 24 with 17 commitments in it. If Big Red can continue to make inroads in California under Mike Riley with any of those players, it would be a huge deal.

Miami Hurricanes

Miami sits at No. 13 in the composite rankings with 21 players in the class, after adding four-star tackle Kai-Leon Herbert. That doesn’t leave a ton of room for quantity, but the Canes look like they’re coming strong down the home stretch with quality.

Our Miami site sees Herbert as the most game-ready lineman Miami could bring in on Signing Day.

Four-star St. Louis wide receiver Jeff Thomas is very much in play as is three-star Ft. Lauderdale receiver Mike Harley and four-star Miami cornerback Chris Henderson. Herbert and Henderson are two players who many had penciled into Florida’s class until recent days.

Mike Harley steady breaking ankles Local 4-star receiver Mike Harley may be visiting Miami this weekend. His speed and moves are ridiculous. Posted by The State of the U on Friday, January 13, 2017

And the Hurricanes are the likely spot for four-star JUCO defensive back Jhavonte Dean, with whom Alabama cut commitment ties after he was unable to enroll early.

The Gators need to close well probably more than anyone else. The natives in Gainesville are restless because Jim McElwain has not recruited to the standard of Will Muschamp. Muschamp pulled in three top-5 recruiting classes with the Gators, despite his trouble on the field. McElwain understandably struggled on his first Signing Day at the helm, falling outside the top 20 in 2015. His 2016 class ranked 12th, but the 2017 class is currently 31st.

That’s not exactly an endearing prospect to Florida fans, and new AD Scott Stricklin didn’t exactly make things any better by going on a radio station and downplaying the importance of stars.

Florida currently has 14 commitments in its 2017 class, but a quartet that came on campus last weekend is intriguing. There’s an outside chance that defensive tackle Elijah Conliffe, C.J. Henderson, linebacker Nick Smith, and lineman Tedarrell Slaton could all come to Florida. Plus, Florida is probably the leader for four-star receiver James Robinson. All except Smith are rated four-stars. A clean sweep of those guys on Signing Day and the Gators’ class could jump into the top 15, with still more work to do.