re: 2018 Football Recruiting Thread -- Final OP Update Edition

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Calvin Ashley smiled as he sported a purple mortarboard with a matching gown draped over his 6-foot-7, 330-pound frame last week. At last, his winding high school path came to a completion; the five-star Auburn offensive tackle signee was a high school graduate.

That journey covered six stops at five different schools between Florida and Washington, D.C. It was, by no means, a typical four years of high school for Ashley, whose unconventional journey was fueled in part by his desire to escape the spotlight of his own recruitment.

"It's been very different," Ashley said. "I mean, it's been tough. Not every kid moves around a lot like that, especially when you're in high school, so it was pretty tough. You got to deal with it, you know? It's life."

Ashley's high school career began at Orlando's Dr. Phillips before a detour to Bradenton's famed IMG Academy. After a return to Dr. Phillips, Ashley transferred to The First Academy -- where he was introduced to his mentor, Curtis Cramer -- before moving to St. John's College High School in Washington, D.C. for his senior season. This spring, he moved back home to Orlando and finished the rest of his coursework via online classes with Agape Christian Academy.

"That is unusual, and generally speaking, it's not good," said Cramer, who is an assistant coach at The First Academy.

Stability in Ashley's academic life was hard to come by, but one constant remained: Ashley's commitment to Auburn. The five-star lineman, who was rated as the No. 27 prospect in the 2017 class, was the first member of Auburn's 2017 recruiting class after committing on May 30, 2015.

Through the numerous school changes and courtships from other programs -- notably Florida, Florida State and Maryland -- Ashley remained committed to Auburn and signed with the Tigers on National Signing Day on Feb. 1. He was the only 247Composite five-star player to sign with Auburn this cycle, making him arguably the biggest recruit in the Tigers' class.

"I knew that Calvin wasn't going anywhere but Auburn," Cramer said. "It was never, ever an option to leave Auburn, in his mind. No. 1, he verbally committed there and he was a man of his word. No. 2, that place is like home...You're out of all the hustle and bustle of society and you're just kind of in your own little world when you get there. That's what he wanted."

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The optics of going to five separate schools in a four-year span are not great. Ashley will be the first to admit that.

He had his reasons for the constant changes, which began during the spring of his sophomore year.

"It was pressure and also family reasons," Ashley said.

The pressure wasn't regarding where to go to high school. It was all about Ashley's recruitment. The constant outside noise became too much, especially once he gave his verbal pledge to Auburn.

Prior to committing to Auburn, Ashley had been to two schools. He spent his freshman year and the first half of his sophomore year at Dr. Phillips before a brief stint at IMG Academy in the spring of 2015. By that May, Ashley was back at Dr. Phillips, and later that month he committed to Auburn.

The pressure began to mount for the massive five-star prospect, with many believing it was only a matter of time before Florida, Florida State or Maryland changed his mind. At times, he admits, it "definitely" became too much. He just wanted to escape.

"It was stressful," Ashley said. "You have a lot of people in your ear telling you different things about schools and stuff."

He moved from Dr. Phillips to the First Academy, where he was introduced to Cramer and spent his junior year. That change still didn't stop the constant barrage from coaches and the attention that came with being a high-profile recruit.

The process became overwhelming and wore on Ashley, whom Cramer said would get quietly frustrated at times and shut down before being encouraged to vent about his feelings instead of letting them fester.

"I think he was trying to get away from the spotlight," Cramer said. "I don't think he enjoys the spotlight. I think it grows old to him."

He transferred to St. John's for his senior season, partially to get away from the pressure locally in Orlando but also to seek more competition in his final season. The move still didn't slow the speculation of his recruitment, especially with Maryland in close proximity to his new campus.

Ashley changed his cell phone number multiple times, but it didn't help. His social media was constantly flooded with messages from coaches at other schools who were trying to pry him away from Auburn.

He took multiple unofficial trips to Florida and Florida State during his high school career, but his two official visits went to Auburn in late January and to Maryland in December. The Maryland visit was nearly perfect, and rumors swirled as teammates and others in the D.C. community tried to sway him to play for the Terrapins as National Signing Day approached.

"Up in D.C., it's all Maryland," Ashley said. "There's a lot of Maryland people up there, so it was stressful."

But Ashley just wanted programs to respect his choice, which was always Auburn.

"He just got tired of telling everybody constantly that he wasn't changing his mind and he was going to Auburn," Cramer said. "It was such a constant barrage of calling and not letting him alone."

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Ashley understands how peculiar his path was, but he appreciates the lessons he learned during his admittedly long journey.

Chief among those was learning to stay focused and remain on track, not letting changes to his environment impact his goal of graduating and making it to Auburn. With graduation behind him as of May 4, Ashley is set for that next step at Auburn, where he will move in on Tuesday in time for the start of summer classes next Thursday.

"Everybody goes through things in life that you just have to deal with," Ashley said of his journey. "I'm a great person and I have a great personality. I'm a great player, so I'm just -- I just want people to know that me moving around high schools is not because I'm bad; I'm not bad at all, but it's just because of personal things."

That's something Auburn's coaches understood throughout the recruiting process. While some schools may have had concerns about Ashley's ever-changing academic environment, Auburn's coaching staff never wavered with the five-star offensive tackle.

"I just want people to know that me moving around high schools is not because I'm bad." -- Calvin Ashley
Ashley, in turn, remained true to Auburn. Despite his flirtations with Maryland late in the process, Ashley reassured Auburn's coaching staff that he was 100 percent committed to the program.

"He would tell us all the time, 'Hey, you may hear this and you may hear that but trust me, I'm gonna be at Auburn,'" Auburn offensive line coach Herb Hand said. "And ultimately, because as a coach you always worry about that stuff...but if you have a strong enough relationship with them, you don't wind up losing those guys."

That was the case with Ashley, who shut down his recruitment for good a couple of weeks before his official visit in late January and then became the first member of the 2017 class to fax in his National Letter of Intent at 7:04 a.m. CT on National Signing Day.

Since then, his focus has been on his online courses and his workout regimen to prepare him for Auburn. Gus Malzahn believes Ashley can have an immediate impact and compared him to former Auburn left tackle -- and former No. 2 overall NFL Draft pick -- Greg Robinson. While their frames and skillsets are similar, Ashley is hoping to do something Robinson didn't: start at left tackle as a freshman.

He'll have ample competition with incumbent starter Darius James and redshirt sophomore Prince Tega Wanogho, but Ashley is confident he can wrest the starting job -- or at the very least, a contributing role as a freshman.

"When I get down there all I want to do is learn," Ashley said. "I got a pretty good feel for the offense, so I just want to learn and keep progressing, just compete a lot and try to earn that starting position because that's what I want to do."

Regardless of how fall camp plays out and where Ashley lands on the offensive line depth chart, he is appreciative of both the path that led him to this point, as well as the constant that Auburn remained throughout it all.

"I know I've been through a lot of stuff and a lot of schools, but they stayed with me throughout the whole way," Ashley said. "It's just unbelievable. That's one of the reasons I love Auburn the most. Since my sophomore year, it's been a long journey, man. It's been a long journey."

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It took taking a page out of a classic political strategy to get a football early signing period finally passed.

For years, college football couldn't find consensus on when an early signing period should be implemented. In 2014, Susan Peal, the director of the National Letter of Intent, said there was "more momentum than ever" to get it passed yet here we were more than three years later with no new rules. Peal wasn't wrong -- there was momentum, at least on a conceptual basis for an early signing period -- but the specifics held everything up.

The Atlantic Coast Conference wanted an August early signing period before the season started. The Southeastern Conference didn't want one at all, but if it had no choice, it wanted it in November. College football's most influential figures were all working in their self-interests making it difficult to move it closer to approval.

What finally got it over the top could best be described as a "chicken in every pot." In Washington, D.C., legislation often gets passed when there are enough extra measures thrown in to make everyone happy. That's essentially what happened with this legislation as college football officials realized it was always going to be difficult to pass an early signing period as a standalone measure. Instead, multiple other changes were rolled into a single package -- everything from satellite camp changes to new rules concerning hiring high school coaches -- to ameliorate those lukewarm about an early signing period.

"Change is hard, and that's why this took a while," Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said. "On big topics, when there is connection between issues, I think it is wise to try to put together a package rather than doing one-offs. There is always compromise in any of these political processes; it's just the nature of it. By packaging it together hopefully, you can build in some wins for everybody, in some form or fashion."

The result was a Dec. 20-22 signing period officially approved by the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) this week. The major conferences didn't publicly campaign for that date, but it had long been the preferred period for the various groups that studied the topic over the last half-decade. When Steinbrecher chaired a working group studying a possible early signing period, that was the recommendation after interviewing coaches, players and administrators at every level. The Division I football oversight committee came to a similar conclusion. Peal told AL.com this week that the CCA purposefully waited to do anything for the oversight committee to complete its work on the football recruiting model.

It helps that college coaches are accustomed to signing players in December because those dates coincide with the junior college midyear signing period. There was also support for it because it would be after most head coaching hires had been made, according to Steinbrecher. In theory, that would limit the possible issues of a player signing a binding letter of intent only for that school's head coach to leave. There are already compelling arguments that an out-clause should be added to NLI in case of coaching changes, and Steinbrecher said it's been discussed.

Further debate and discussion - both positive and negative - was to be expected after such a comprehensive recruiting package. The early signing period is the grabbiest measure of the bunch, especially given all the years of talk about it, but the other rules within it have generated headlines. In Alabama alone, Auburn can't recruit local Opelika High School for the next two years because the school hired Brian Blackmon in February as an analyst. There have been college coaches and administrators at every level of FBS football that have already come out with gripes about a piece of the legislation. Even Steinbrecher would like to see an early signing period even earlier than December but admits "the political will isn't there for that and maybe it will never be there for it."

Still, the approval this week was a long time coming for the MAC commissioner who in some ways was the face of early signing period legislation. For nearly four years he's been involved in some capacity on the hot button issue. He worked with former Auburn coach Gene Chizik and Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity, among many others, as part of a working group trying to put together an early signing period solution palatable enough to a diverse group with many different wants and needs.

"This was in many ways one of the most collaborative pieces of legislation I've ever been a part of," he told AL.com. "I thought there was a lot of good discussion. A lot of good work done to listen, to absorb and then try to craft a package that hopefully advances the needs of our student-athletes, is respectful of the coaches time and is ultimately in the best interest of college football."

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby told reporters recently that "there were disagreements, there were compromises, but at the end of the day, I think we've come up with the most comprehensive and impactful package we've had in football in 25 or 30 years."

All it took was realizing as long as everyone gets a chicken in their pot, they'll leave full and content.

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The talent

Propst said that the linebacker position has evolved and Peterson's ability to rush the passer and run with faster receivers has given him an edge.

His speed is evident just one minute into his junior highlights, when he returns a kickoff for a touchdown. Before that, Peterson is easily shedding blocks and crunching ball-carriers.

"You've got to have athletes who can run with these guys, these four and five-receiver offenses, that's the key to it," Propst said. "JJ fits that mode. He can run and he can rush the passer. You don't have to get him off the field. He's a first-down backer and a third-down backer.

"If you look at his ability to rush the passer and his ability to play every down, that's what puts him way above."

And that speed. It helped him earn an invitation to Nike's The Opening Finals at the end of June. It'll help Propst's Packers be a state championship contender again.

"He has the speed of any linebacker that's ever played at Alabama," Propst said. "He can flat close and run. He has great tackling ability and he can run with anybody.

"He could probably play receiver for 10 of the 14 schools in the SEC. He knows he can make his money on defense. That's what the game has turned to."

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The talent

AL.com took a trip to Phenix City in the fall of 2015 for Broussard's Under Armour All-America jersey presentation.

Ross was then a sophomore, but had already picked up offers from Alabama, Auburn and Michigan.

"Justyn Ross is a hot prospect because Justyn Ross is a player," DuBose said at the time. "I don't know how to sum that up any better. Justyn Ross is probably one of the best football players I've had a chance to be around."

DuBose also said that Ross was a future NFL player, but we didn't print that at the time. After all, the kid was just 15 years old.

But now? Why not. DuBose speaks with the same confidence about Ross as he has gotten older and developed. Ross carries the same humbleness as he did when he was a sophomore, received a major offer and asked DuBose if he thought he was really good enough to play at the next level.

"What I tell people now, college recruiters now, I've been in this game now 24 years," DuBose said. "I've seen good ones. A lot of people want to compare him and the first one you throw out there is Julio Jones. He's comparable. He may be better at some places at that time in his career and he may not be. He's comparable to him."

The 6-foot-5 Jones starred at Foley, was a top 3 national prospect, dominated at Alabama from 2008-10 and is now one of the NFL's best receivers for the Atlanta Falcons.

"I told a recruiter the other day and they all seem to agree, Ross is going to be a three-year guy at some program and probably be a first round draft choice," DuBose said. "He's just a special guy that does special things and understands the game and gets better every day.

Ross, who will play in the Under Armour All-America game, is now ranked as the country's No. 27 prospect. He rebounded from a torn ACL as a sophomore to catch 38 passes for 663 yards in 2016 while often being double-teamed. He scored eight touchdowns last season.

"At times, I don't know if Justyn realizes how good he is," DuBose said. "He's still a humble guy who knows how hard he has to work every day."

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