Vandy landed its best recruiting class in history Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/andy_staples/02/01/vanderbilt-signing-day/

Franklin must work harder than his fellow SEC coaches to lure recruits who can not only handle the prestigious school's rigorous curriculum but also play well enough to lift Vanderbilt -- which won four games in two seasons before Franklin won six in 2011 -- from its usual spot as the SEC's Signing Day cellar-dweller.

Franklin seems to be succeeding. Vanderbilt doesn't get players Ohio State wants. It got one this year. Vanderbilt rarely beats Tennessee for players. It did this year. "It's the best class I've ever been associated with," Franklin said.

Tuesday night, Franklin's phones delivered the best and the worst news a coach can get on the eve of National Signing Day. Those episodes would provide the final bit of intrigue for a class that every major recruiting service considers the best Vanderbilt has signed in the Internet era. For Franklin and his staff, the letters-of-intent rolling off the fax machine Wednesday represented more than a year of work.

The collection of letters didn't include one player who was committed to Vanderbilt for eight months, but it did include the following:

• A quarterback who signed after a Vanderbilt assistant out-recruited his own brother.

• An offensive lineman who had to turn his back on decades of family tradition to become a Commodore.

• A linebacker who helped seal his late scholarship offer by holding his own personal slam dunk contest and sending the video to Vanderbilt's coaches.

• A tailback who turned down various powers (Alabama, Ohio State and others) because, to use a phrase Vandy coaches borrowed from Commodores baseball coach Tim Corbin, he would rather build a tradition than rent one.

These are only a few of the stories from a class that could make history at a school aching for football success.