NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) James Franklin has been promising that he's just getting started at Vanderbilt. Now the coach has followed up the best season since 1915 by landing a recruiting class rated in the top 20 for the first time in the program's history.

Vanderbilt signed 26 players Wednesday, and a final commitment from linebacker Zach Cunningham helped push the Commodores to No. 19 in the ratings by Rivals.com. Even with that success, Vanderbilt still ranks seventh among Southeastern Conference teams and just ahead of Tennessee. Still, Franklin and his coaches are bringing in the type of talent that the Commodores hadn't seen in, well, ever to compete in the SEC.

"That's going to be very important for us to do consistently year in and year out," Franklin said. "We're excited about it. We still have a long way to go. This is two recruiting classes that we've been able to put together that we feel good about. There's teams in this league been doing this for 80 years. So we still have some progress that we have to make, and we're making it. All you can do is get better today."