Duke Coach Ted Roof says it best: "Signing Day is the day of greatest
optimism in college football."

Roof believes he has a legitimate reason to be optimistic. The Blue Devils recruiting class, ranked ahead of NC State and Wake Forest in some scouting services, follows a solid class from a year
ago. Roof notes the Blue Devils signed seven players from programs where they recruited players in previous years-an indicator those high schools still believe in Duke.

Much about recruiting classes is speculation until we see how the players develop. Here's what we know about this class: that Ted Roof personally flew to two-dozen cities in one week to make it happen. Duke will bring in players from eleven states and three foreign countries.

North Carolina focused its recruiting efforts in state. Coach John Bunting believes this is the best class in his five years at North Carolina.

"There was just one in-state player that we really wanted that left North Carolina," Bunting noted.

Carolina signed a whopping 26 players -- 17 of them from the Old North State. At his signing day press conference, the Tar Heel coach attributed much of his school's success to early contact with players.

Bunting says he and his staff have tried to build relationships with coaches at every high school in the state. They try to identify recruiting targets during their sophomore and junior years. Many are invited to UNC's summer camp for evaluation. Carolina was able to get early ommittments from most of this year's class and make those committments stick.