2008 Recruiting Analysis.

[The Ancient Enemy]

It's like Alice Cooper said: "I'm hungry for recruiting analysis and it's feeding time."

I have a very, very tough life. I sleep about 16 hours, and then I wake up and read about recruiting, read Revolutionary War books, watch movies, play Age of Empires 3, and then make a cup of tea. That's pretty much it. I don't start work until March 17th, and my obstacles for the day are pretty much whether or not I win eBay auctions on GI Joes or He-Man toys, and when I should get up to return DVD's to Family Video. Other than that i go eat or to the movies with the lady, or I call people and tell them about eBay or recruiting.

"He's just a common man, workin' hard with his hands. He's the American Dream."

Me and Dusty Rhodes are living la vida loca, dude.

When reading this, it is important to note that these star-rankings assigned by recruiting sites are not end-all ratings for these kids. They are, at the end of the day, just percentages on potential. They go from 1-star to 5-star, 5 being the highest. If a kid is a 4-star recruit, his projected potential is probably pretty high. A 2-star player, on the other hand, probably doesn't have a lot of potential... RIGHT NOW. Whereas lower-starred recruits have done very well (Paul Pozlusny, Adam Carriker, Antonio Bryant, Steve Slaton, Taquan Underwood and Ray Rice, etc.), just as many 5-star players have dropped off the face of the map (Jason Gwaltney, Willie Williams, Xavier Lee). So I don't want to hear in 4 years how I said that some kid was awesome in HS and now he's terrible in college.

I used the Rivals.com rankings to fill this out, because Scout.com is harder to see. Neither of these sites are perfect, and keep in mind that all this recruiting business is subjective. What you and me may perceive to be a 5-star player may well be in reality a kid who is a 2-star player, or vice-versa. The only thing that separates the people at Rivals and Scout from observers like me and you is the fact that they have access to player's tapes and information. It is not perfect. They don't know much more than my own staff of myself, Megaload, and Professor Pickles.






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ACC:
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BOSTON COLLEGE: For a team that did as well as BC did this year (don't ask me how, other than weakness in the conference) this recruiting class is not very stellar. They picked up 3 4-star commits, a RB, OL, and a DB from Maryland named Okoroha. Nothing impressive, and I'm not convinced this coach or team has any worth. Still, 29 commits is alot of kids.

CLEMSON: Despite the erratic and inconsistency of Tommy Bowden's win-loss column, Clemson had a massive recruiting year. They landed 5-star DE DaQuan Bowers (top rated defensive prospect in the nation) and 13 4-star players in a class of 26. The nation is waiting for Clemson to finally achieve it's potential, and maybe this class will have the talent to outweigh poor coaching decisions.

DUKE: New coach David Cutcliffe has a long history of developing top-notch QB's: Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Casey Clausen, Brady Quinn, and even Erik Ainge. It was imperative that Cutcliffe landed a solid QB, and he landed one in Sean Renfree from Arizona. Although only a 3-star player on Rivals, other sites have him listed higher. Even if Duke sucks for the next few years, Renfree's path to the NFL is pretty much set for him. 17 total commits, nothing worth mentioning except Renfree.

FLORIDA STATE: Another huge recruiting class for FSU despite another terrible season. 30 total commits, including 2 5-star players, DE Markus White and LB Nigel Bradham. 13 4-stars to compliment, making FSU's class the second best in the ACC. One of the kids committed was a RB named British Footman, but he unfortunately had to go to junior college. I really wanted to root for British Footman.

GEORGIA TECH: They paid a ton of money to get Paul Johnson from Navy and all they ended up with was a 4-star OL. This class is awful.

MARYLAND: Pretty strong class for the Terps this year, as they try to climb up the ACC, slowly. 18 commits and 6 4-star players, notably WR Kenny Tate.

MIAMI: Randy Shannon has brought in a massive recruiting class for the Canes this year. 33 total commits is an insane amount, 2 5-star players in DT Marcus Forston and LB Arthur Brown. 15 4-star players are also coming in, and Miami is making no bones about wanting to get back on top as quickly as possible, with the best class in the ACC and one of the nation's overall best. Although the class is LB heavy, they brought in a lot of WR's as well.

NORTH CAROLINA: After a very strong 2007 class for Davis, this year's class was a bit less than that. UNC had a season where a lot of young kids looked like they were running around aimlessly, and that'll only make them a lot better in 2008. This incoming class has 19 commits total, with 7 4-star players in total. One being the now-infamous Dwight Jones who apparently still is not eligible academically, for the second straight year.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE: Tom O'Brien is doing a better job recruiting than I figured he would, with this being his second class at NC State. 25 commits, 6 4-star players, notably ATH Brandon Barnes and QB Mike Glennon. I have an unfortunate suspicion that NC State is about to make an upswing, not anything major, but this team is better than I figured under O'Brien.

VIRGINIA: Last preseason, one of the idiots at ESPN.com said that UVA would be the most improved team in the nation. For the first time in his life, Mark Schlabach was moderately correct about something. I guess if you throw enough feces against the wall, something will stick a little, right? Virginia had a pretty solid season while the continue to get back on track after losing both coordinators a few years ago. This past year, they had a nice winning streak and looked tough as hell, then dropped the ball like usual. This recruiting class is pretty bad. 18 commits and 1 4-star player. This coach is on the clock.

VIRGINIA TECH: They've pretty much got Virginia on lockdown at this point, with a class of 31 and 6 4-star players. I'm sure they'll be pretty decent like usual, but then end up losing to someone terrible, also like usual. Another day in the life of minimal progress.

WAKE FOREST: For the talk of how great Jim Grobe is and now Wake is advancing, they brought in 17 commits and not one of them is worth mentioning at this point. They're still Wake Forest, people.


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BIG 12:
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BAYLOR: With a new coaching staff in Waco and a long history of terrible football, Baylor's clas this year is surprising. They landed 4-star QB from nearby Copperas Cove in Robert Griffin, a kid who picked Baylor over Tennessee and Stanford. New coach Art Briles is no stranger to putting up points, as his last job in Houston made them one of those non-BCS schools you really don't want to play. That mentality is hoped to carry over to Baylor, where Briles will bring his high-powered, fast offense. This class, although not steeped in touted recruits, reflects his needs for the system. This is a 'disrupter' offense that will give people problems in the same sense that Texas Tech does. Two fast 3-star ATH's and 2 fast 3-star WR's, along with Griffin, make this class deceptively interesting.

COLORADO: Dan Hawkins' rebuilding job in Boulder is really starting to come together. After inheriting virtually nothing (except Terrance Wheatley) from the now-infamous Gary Barnett tenure, Hawkins has really put the fire back into the Buffalo program. That is nowhere more evident than in this recruiting class, where the Buffs were able to lure the nation's top rated RB, 5-star Darrell Scott from CA, to Boulder over every other program in the nation. With a class of 21, besides Scott, 7 kids are 4-star prospects, including 2 gigantic OL, and very good LB depth. At some point we all kind-of knew that the Big 12 north was going to head through Boulder every season, and that theory is coming to fruition.

IOWA STATE: Iowa State seems to still be Iowa State, but the big news here is that they somehow managed to get 4-star WR Sedrick Johnson from Texas to decommit from Texas A&M and sign with the Cyclones. What's even more baffling, is that this kid had offers from LSU, UF, Nebraska, ASU, A&M and Oklahoma State. Why you pick Ames over any of those other locations is beyond me. Other than Johnson, this is a class of 23 others who aren't worth mentioning.

KANSAS: Kansas had a great season, a dream season even, and virtually came out of nowhere. The thing that gets me is how well this staff is doing at sucking talent out of Texas. They aren't getting 5-star players, but this class is very stout. 20 commits total, 2 4-stars in a RB (from Texas) and an OL (California). All of the rest are all 3-star prospects, and Kansas might be one of those schools that has the magic eye for 3-star potential. One of them is a 3-star K from Miami, and a K rated that highly is actually a big deal. What sticks out is that the staff is able to go to homes in Kentucky, Miami, Ohio, Texas, and Illinois and talk mid-range recruits into signing with them over teams like TCU, Northwestern, and South Florida. That might not seem like a big deal, but it really is.

KANSAS STATE: Is Ron Prince on the hotseat and grasping for straws? This guy is a very good coach who has had an up and down tenure at K-State, however did beat Texas twice. This recruiting class is full of mercenaries. Of 32 total commitments, 20 of them are junior college players. Well, that's one fast way to get your players in place, I guess. 4 4-star prospects in a class that is very California heavy, and pretty much covers every position on the field. Did they hire a whole new team?

MISSOURI: 24 total commits for the Tigers this year on the heels of a BCS season. The big story in this class was the retainment of in-stare 5-star QB product Blaine Gabbert, one of the kids who committed to Nebraska and then high-tailed it out of there in The Great 2008 Nebraska Recruiting Exodus. Only 2 4-stars compliment Gabbert, and there's not much here to really mention.

NEBRASKA: A big class of 28 for new head coach Bo Pelini, who comes back to Nebraska from the defensive coordinator's job at LSU, upon Bill Callahan's exit. Pelini is the new guy in charge of restoring the Nebraska tradition, and they can have a good time with that. When a program as prestigious as Nebraska hires a new coach and the recruiting class is this non-stellar, that's a bad sign. Of those 28 signees, 2 of them are 4-star players, and they did retain in-state 5-star OL Blake Steinkuhler, the first ever 5-star player in the state of Nebraska. The rest are mostly 3-star players, which is great for younglings like Kansas, but a downer for Nebraska. I think this thing in Lincoln is going to take awhile, and hopefully for Pelini, the powers that be will have the patience to wait. Never should have fired Frank Solich.

OKLAHOMA: Very strong class for Stoops this year. 21 commits and 3 5-star players, all from Texas. That's great for OU and very bad for UT. Of those 5-stars is RB Jermie Calhoun, DE R.J. Washington, and OL Stephen Good. 12 4-stars go along with them, including a QB from New Mexico. New Mexico? Who finds quarterbacks in New Mexican high schools? OU is no stranger to the JUCO ranks either, with 3 this year.

OKLAHOMA STATE: Pretty nice class this year for the now infamous Mike Gundy, who just signed a contract extension. 6 of those kids are 4-star recruits, which makes this a very exciting class for Oklahoma State. Another team here with a lot of JUCO's, landing 8 of them. What's with the Big 12 and junior colleges?

TEXAS: It happens for another year, where this coaching staff fails to leave the confines of it's own state. Yes, Texas produces an enormous amount of players, but is it really a good policy to recruit in Texas only? Of the 20 commits this year, 1 is from out of state, 4-star DB from Colorado. Last year, all kids but one was from Texas. In '06 they branched out: 2 kids were from out of state. I know it's all fun to have a whole team of good, strong Texas stock, but come on now. This program's success versus their potential is lopsided. They should win the national title every season, or be in the top 3, and outside the state of Texas, UT is looked at as underachievers. I realize you can't get them all, but UT lost the top 3 players in the state to OU this year. 20 total signess, 12 are 4-star players. That's a very solid class, nonetheless.

TEXAS A&M: 24 commits for new head coach Mike Sherman, who comes back to A&M after being an assistant there years ago. 7 4-star commits is decent for Sherman's first class, but like UT, this program still underachieves in their recruiting and field success. Sherman will get this thing right. He's nothing like Francione, and he'll soothe the aching souls down there in College Station. Sherman has a well documented relationship with Brett Favre, and that'll only help when he lands his own QB project down there next season.

TEXAS TECH: Leach has had some heartache in his life this offseason, having to replace 2 coaches and losing a commit to Arkansas on Letter of Intent Day. Only 16 commits for the Red Raiders this season, including 3 4-star players. Curiously absent from this class is a WR, but they did sign 3 ATH's. The big news here is that they landed a QB who fits the exact Texas Tech system, 3-star Seth Doege who flew under everyone's radar, probably because he's a typical Texas Tech quarterback. Anyone who loves this system and has followed the beauty from Kingsbury to Harrell will be happy when Doege becomes the new signal-caller in a few years.


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BIG EAST:
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CINCINNATI: Brian Kelly's second class at Cincinnati is chock full of 2-star players. Probably a little disappointing coming off what was a pretty good season by Cincinnati standards. The major news here is the attainment of the very elusive DJ Woods, who is flakier than a teenage cheerleader. This 3-star WR was committed to about 8 different schools before settling on Cincinnati, and may have ended up there because he burned every other bridge. This addition of Woods is making people say that this is the best recruit Cincinnati ever recieved. We'll see about that. 24 total commits, all their 3-stars (6 of them) are at speed positions.

CONNECTICUT: Randy Edsall's tenure as Huskies football coach has, in my opinion, really plateaued. When the Big East lost BC and Miami and Virginia Tech, they were hoping that UCONN's recent leap from 1-AA to 1-A would be a lot more successful. UCONN is doing decent, but not really. This year's class is pretty uneventful. 22 commits and only 3 of which are even 3-star players. But there is good news here for UCONN fans, because this stat is more important than you think: Randy Edsall has the ability to recruit nationally. This class is from all over the East coast, even one kid from Texas. That's very good that he can pull that texas kid away from someplace like UTEP. Now, all you have to do is win some games.

LOUISVILLE: Steve Kragthorpe's jump from Tulsa to Louisville has been a rough one, and this, his second class at UL, is not real strong. 22 total commits, and only 1 4-star player, a DB from Mississippi.

PITTSBURGH: This is one of the very few bright spots for the whole conference. Somehow, Dave Wannstedt was able to bring in a very solid class to Pitt, despite continuing on-field problems. The exit of defensive coordinator Paul Rhodes will help immensely, and have the opposite affect on Auburn, where he is now doing the same job. 19 commits, and they pretty much put the state of Pennsylvania on lockdown. 5-star WR Jonathan Baldwin selected Pitt over Florida, Michigan, Notre Dame, USC, and Miami. 5 4-star players add to this great class as well, and Pitt is really in a position right now where they can take over this whole conference. UL is maybe on a downswing, and WVU's future success is up in the air with their coach going to Michigan.

RUTGERS: The Garden State was looking like a Rutgers staple for all the in-state talent, but they are starting to lose kids already. This class is decent. 20 commits and 3 4-star players, and they continue to pull kids from the whole East coast. Like Pitt, Rutgers is in a position right now to really make a leap upwards. But replacing offensive linemen and all-world RB Ray Rice, who left early, is going to be a problem. Still, Rice came in as an under-the-radar talent, and was developed on-site very well.

SOUTH FLORIDA: Everyone's favorite disappointment, USF, brings in 24 commits, mostly from their home state. Only 2 4-star players in this whole class makes USF's strong season (mostly) pretty disappointing. It would be nice if this program would decide whether or not they are worth a crap.

SYRACUSE: A surprisingly decent class for Coach Robinson, who is on the hot seat. 26 commits, 4 4-star players, which is great considering it is Syracuse and how poorly they have performed at times. They really have got to fix that turf and fix those uniforms. They've become the East coast Wyoming.

WEST VIRGINIA: WVU lost their head coach to Michigan in a very well-documented battle over money and other supposed scandalous behavior. The new coach has done a surprisingly decent job at putting together a coaching staff that was decimated upon Rodriguez's exit for Ann Arbor. The big news is that WVU lost RB Steve Slaton to an early NFL entry, but last year's 5-star RB Noel Devine should jump straight in there nicely. 24 total commits, 3 of which are 4-star players. OL Josh Jenkins, among them, had a lot of bigtime schools chasing him to the very end. WVU's ability to keep him in-state is a good sign... they can't afford to lose those few precious WV recruits to other programs.

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BIG TEN:
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ILLINOIS: Ron Zook does it again, this time with his 3rd class at Illinois. No stranger to recruiting accolades, Zook has brought in another great class, this time 28 commits, 6 of which are 4-star players, as his Illini continue to swing upwards both in the Big Ten and in the nation. They've already been to a BCS game (albeit a bad performance) but with Michigan having a whole new staff, there's no reason the Big Ten won't come down to Ohio State and Illinois.

INDIANA: Indiana had one of the best seasons in recent memory and it did virtually nothing for their recruiting. This class of 19 has only 5 3-star players, and work continues to look slow-going after the unfortunate death of their coach.

IOWA: The buzz around Kirk Ferentz is really starting to dissipate as the Hawkeyes have found themselves in a slump in the Big Ten recently, both on the field and also in recruiting. This class has 24 signees but not one of them is anything better than a 3-star prospect. Recruiting to the state of Iowa isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to begin with, and when you add on-field woes to that mix, it is near impossible. Iowa desperately needs a strong season, because this conference is feeling a resurgence of the middle-tier teams, and Iowa seems to be lost in that shuffle. They also need for a lot of kids to develop, because their recruiting seems to have gone downhill a good bit.

MICHIGAN: For all the turmoil and the bad-mouthing of Rich Rodriquez, this class is just as great as all Michigan classes end up being. The only problem is that there is no QB standout in this class, and as of yet, QB Terrelle Pryor, the number 1 player in the nation, has not committed to anyone. He could still end up in Ann Arbor. Of 24 commits, a massive 17 are 4-star caliber. But that'll be all for naught if they can't find a quarterback, since heir-apparent QB Ryan Mallet has transferred to Arkansas. This year could be a rocky one as they go through a major transition of offense, defense, and coaching staff.

MICHIGAN STATE: Mark D'antonio has a lot of work to do at Michigan State, and this recruiting class may provide some much needed depth. But with 19 signees, only 1 is a 4-star prospect. Still, MSU has shown flashes of greatness, and last year's class was a lot more star-studded.

MINNESOTA: One of the great success stories of this recruiting season is Minnesota, and how they've been able to persuade quality recruits to commit to the Gophers. This class might be the best recruiting class ever at the university, with a whopping 30 commits, 7 of which are 4-star players. This new coach's recruiting reach is pretty solid, getting kids from all over. A lot of these kids have been recruited to speed positions, which is a place the Big Ten seems to lack, but there is a big push by a number of Big Ten schools to move to a faster format. Minnesota is apparently one of them. The jewel of this class is QB MarQueis Gray, who had offers from Iowa and Oregon, to name a few.

NORTHWESTERN: Another below average class makes Northwestern in the running with Indiana for the chump of the Big Ten. 20 commits, nothing over 3-star status. They are losing tons of in-state kids to Ron Zook, and since he is one of the best recruiters of his generation, how do you combat that?

OHIO STATE: Tressel brings in another class of stars. 19 signees on board, 3 of which are 5-star players: OL Mike Adams, OL Mike Brewster, and WR DeVier Posey. 9 4-star players join them as well, as OSU continues to steal talent from the state of Florida. This program does not rebuild, they reload, and they have become an NFL factory, despite their terrible performances in the last two national title games. There's no reason they can't contend again this year.

PENN STATE: Small class this year for Joe Paterno, with only 14 overall commits. Of those 14 are 4 4-star prospects, making this class below average for the Nittany Lions. What this class needed more than anything else was RB depth, and they were not able to sign any of them. RB Michael Shaw, a longtime PSU commit, sent his Letter of Intent to Michigan on signing day, really putting a damper on this class for Penn State.

PURDUE: Joe Tiller found himself swimming upstream with Joe Paterno this recruiting season, as Purdue also felt the lashing of a major conference rival hiring a snake-oil head coach. WR Ray Roundtree, a longtime Purdue commit, sent his letter to Michigan on signing day. Tiller made his opinions felt, calling for an earlier signing day. Unfortunately, at the end of the night, Tiller has to realize who he is dealing with: 18 yr. old kids. 25 commits for the Boilermakers, and only 1 was a 4-star player.

WISCONSIN: This class for Wisconsin has 24 commitments and only 3 of which are 4-star caliber. You would expect more from a team who is, for some unknown reason, expected to finish at the top of their conference each season. Maybe losing games really does hurt recruiting, who would have thunk it? Wisconsin will probably enter 2008 ranked in the top 10 nationally and end up ranked about 40th.


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PAC-10:
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ARIZONA: There's a bit of a sense of urgency out in Tucson now, as Mike Stoops is still failing to live up to his hiring hype. 23 signees for this class, all from the southwest, and 5 are 4-star prospects. Arizona needs to get more QB production and find a way to get some W's on Stoops' resume, because the battle over recruits against cross-state ASU and Dennis Erickson is only going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.

ARIZONA STATE: After a resurging season under new head coach Dennis Erickson, ASU has brought in 27 commits to this class, 6 of which are 4-star prospects. This is the best class ASU has seen in awhile, and with there being room for upward mobility in the middle of the Pac-10, there's no reason ASU won't end up the second-best program in the conference, both in recruiting as well as wins, with Erickson at the helm.

CALIFORNIA: Probably the biggest disappointment in 2007 was the falling-off of Cal, who at one point was ranked 2nd in the nation. Head Coach Jeff Tedford continues to prove his naysayers correct about him being an average coach who was winning games in a terrible conference. With Pac-10 resurgence in ASU and UCLA, Cal will find themselves quickly the number 4 team or lower. This incoming class of 21 had 5 4-star prospects.

OREGON: A disappointing end to the Ducks season, as Heisman candidate quarterback Dennis Dixon went out with a bad injury. In his stead, briefly, was Brady Leaf, brother of All-Jackass QB Ryan Leaf, but thankfully Brady was benched pretty quickly. This class for the Ducks is decent. Out of 20 signees, 8 are 4-star prospects. Among them is Aldine, TX QB Darron Thomas, who has purchased every Quiji Board between Aldine and Eugene, Oregon in an attempt to harness the power of the spirit world and keep number-one QB prospect Terrelle Pryor from coming to Oregon, which is still a slight possibility.

OREGON STATE: 18 signees this year for the Beavers, and nothing worth mentioning except the strange attainment of the nation's num. 1 ranked JUCO player, 5-star DE Simi Kuli, who picked Oregon State over LSU, Nebraska, Kansas State, and a ton of others.

STANFORD: Jim Harbaugh pulled off the biggest upset in recent college football history (yes, bigger than App. State over UM) last season when they let untested QB Tavita Pritchard throw a fade route in the endzone to beat juggernaut USC. Harbaugh's rebuilding at Stanford is coming along, and for the 2nd straight year, he has pulled in a 4-star QB project. This class of 17 has 2 4-star prospects, which is decent for a team as down-in-the-dumps as Stanford has been recently.

UCLA: For all the flack Karl Dorrell received at UCLA, his recruiting classes were never the problem as to why UCLA was not winning enough games. This year, Dorrell put together what is probably the best class in UCLA history, before he was replaced by the much maligned Rick Neuheisel. This class of 23 has 12 4-star commitments, mainly all from California. Neuheisel inherits an absolute ton of potential with this program.

USC: Another gigantic class for Pete Carroll in terms of potential. 19 signees in total, with 2 5-star offensive linemen: Tyron Smith and Matt Kalil. 13 4-stars compliment what will assuredly be an NFL-soaked recruiting class a few years from now.



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SEC:
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ALABAMA: What isn't there to say about this class? For all the slander and complaining about Nick Saban, there are not a whole lot of kids who are avoiding committing to the Tide if they are wanted. An unbelievable class this year for Saban, the best overall class in the nation, with an enormous 32 commitments. 3 5-stars were brought in: WR Julio Jones, ATH Burton Scott, and OL Tyler Love. With those three come 19 4-star prospects from mainly the southeast region. There is little doubt that the road to the national title won't soon be headed through Tuscaloosa on a regular basis, but for this upcoming season, the Tide need Jones and the rest to produce immediately.

ARKANSAS: Not nearly as star-studded as the Alabama class, but Bobby Petrino's reputation is comperable to his colleague's in Alabama. For all the bad-mouthing, justified as it all really was, Petrino has brought in a nice little class for his first recruiting stint at Arkansas. 25 signees, 6 of which are 4-star caliber, but the best news for Arkansas fans and players is that Ryan Mallet chose to transfer to Arkansas over other schools when he left Michigan. Although he cannot play this season, it is still great news for this program.

AUBURN: Pretty solid class this year for the Tigers, as usual. 2 5-star prospects: DE Raven Gray and OL Jermaine Johnson, go along with 4 4-star players. The look of the Auburn program will be different now, as they move in a new direction offensively as well as defensively. Both 5-star prospects should see early time.

FLORIDA: Urban Meyer continues to pull top recruits to Gainesville, and this class is loaded with more of what we expect from Meyer's teams: speed. Of 22 commits, 4 are 5-star prospects: ATH Will Hill, DT Omar Hunter, JUCO WR Carl Moore (already enrolled), and OL Matt Patchan. With them are 12 4-star players. With Moody able to play this season (RB transfer from USC) and Hill and Moore on board, hopefully Meyer will realize now that he does not need to rely on Tebow for everything. There really ARE other people on this team, ya know.

GEORGIA: The SEC is so loaded with recruiting talent that it is almost not even fair to the rest of the country. Georgia has brought in an immense amount of potential this year to go along with the tide they are riding into the 2008 season that will probably see them ranked number 1 to start the year. 2 5-star players sit atop this class of 24: WR AJ Green, and ATH Richard Samuel. 13 4-star commits add to the 5-stars who make the loss of in-state WR Brice Butler to USC all that less relevant.

KENTUCKY: A very disappointing class this year for Rich Brooks and the Wildcats, who are coming off a great season by Kentucky standards. Even with the production of Andre Woodson, the Wildcats still failed to attract a top QB recruit. 20 total signees, only 1 4-star player. For the team with the best home uniforms in the SEC, it was nice while it lasted.

LSU: A class of 26 comes in this year for the national champion Tigers. 2 5-star commits highlight this class: WR Deangelo Benton, and DB Patrick Turner, who was stolen from Miami on Letter of Intent Day. 11 4-star players compliment this class, and of all the total commitments, none may end up being more important in the short-term than QB Jordan Jefferson, who may need to play right away if Ryan Perillouix can't stay out of trouble.

MISSISSIPPI: New head coach Houston Nutt takes over for Ed Orgeron and now gets his shot at making Ole Miss relevant. Good luck. No matter who these programs hire, only one team can ultimately win the conference, and when you start to think about Tennessee and Auburn being the 4th or 5th best SEC team, how can programs like Ole Miss even hope to compete? Nutt stole 5-star RB Enrique Davis from Auburn, and that's as good a start as any. 31 players come in this year total, Davis and 2 4-stars at the top of the heap.

MISSISSIPPI STATE: There is quite a bit of back-patting going on for Sylvester Croom and the job he is doing at MSU. That's all well and good that they are over .500. But how much upward mobility can they actually attain? 4 4-star players come in this year fro Croom, who pulled a total of 27 players for 2008.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Not a bad job recruiting this year for Spurrier, who brought in 22 commits and 6 4-star prospects. A lot of corner work needs to be shored up for the Cocks and they seemed to make this priority numer one for this recruiting class. Like the others, how much room does SC have to grow?

TENNESSEE: A very disappointing class this year for the Volunteers, who had an excellent class a year ago. Only 4 4-star players this year in a class of 18, which is terrible by Tennessee standards.

VANDERBILT: Pretty barebones class for the Commodores this year, 21 total signees and nothing over 3-star status. Vanderbilt lost a good bit this season to the NFL, and if Bobby Johnson wants to keep up his growing reputation as one of the most underappreciated coaches in the whole country, he is going to have to coach these kids above their potential, yet again.


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NON BCS / INDEPENDENT NOTES:
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MARSHALL: A surprising class for the Thundering Herd this year, who have been down as of late. 8 3-star players out of 21 commits, from all over the East coast and even some kids from California and Texas. That's big news for a program like Marshall.

SOUTHERN METHODIST: What June Jones was able to do in so short a time span is ridiculous. This class has a massive 28 commits, a few 3-star prospects in there, which is great for how bad SMU has been. But the big news is that Jones decimated Hawaii when he left, and sent Hawaii's recruiting class scattering. One of the kids who fled was Bo Mitchell, a Hawaii QB commit from Rockwall, TX who followed Jones to SMU.

SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI: The Golden Eagles are one of the biggest success stories of the 2008 recruiting season. 1st year coach Larry Fedora has put toegther what is probably the greatest recruiting class in Southern Miss history. The big coup was the signing of a 5-star WR, DeAndre Brown, who had offers to play on Mars if he wanted to. This huge class of 27 also has 2 4-star players, another WR and an OL.

NOTRE DAME: After one of the worst seasons in Notre Dame's entire history, Charlie Weis was able to bring in what is maybe the best class in Notre Dame's entire history. This class of 23 signees has 3 5-star prospects: QB Dayne Crist, WR Michael Floyd, and TE Kyle Rudolph. 16 4-star players also join the ranks. Maybe Weis will live up to his hype now and stop losing games to Navy. What's the bowl-loss streak up to now? 80?

NORTH TEXAS: Like Notre Dame, Todd Dodge is coming off a miserable season and yet has wrangled what is probably the best class in his school's history. This 27-signee class has 6 3-star players and 21 2-stars. Depth for Dodge's system is what UNT needs and that's exactly what they achieved.

[deliverance]

Texas has finally started to go after more out of state recruits for 2009. The addition of Muschamp and Applewhite to the coaching staff is more than likely the major reason for that. The 2008 recruiting class was a disappointment when they lost out on the star running back they needed. 2009 is developing into maybe a #1 recruiting class. They already have 11 commits.