Today was the "draft" of college football, so how did your schools signing class do? Obviously the elite programs in the country were at the top, Florida, LSU, Tennessee, USC, ect.

I am thrilled to death with LSU's signing class. I feel as good as this class as I felt in 2001 when LSU recruited Michael Clayton, Marcus Spears, Marquis Hill, ect. That class ended up leading the Tigers to a NC in 2003, and I feel this years class has the same potential to be great.
Our biggest signees were Chad Jones, Terrence Toliver, and Stephon Francois. Chad Jones is just a monster and can play safety or linebacker. Toliver is a blue chip ***** WR from Texas. At 6'4, and after a year with our S&C training staff, he will be another Dwayne Bowe. Francois is another big safety that can step right in and play DB or safety. Sidell Corely was a huge pickup at DE from Alabama. Also we got the top center in the country, Bobby Heberts son T-Bob Hebert, and the top prospect out of the state of Michigan, DT Joseph Barksdale. Les Miles got alot of criticism coming in from Oklahoma State, but we learned one thing the past two years, the guy is a hell of a recruiter.
Really the only one that got away from us was Joe Mcknight to USC. While it would have been nice to keep him in state, We brought in two five star RB's in last years recruiting class, so, if we ended up losing one of our targets, I'm glad it was him because he was the one we needed the least. He was already a USC fan to begin with, so it really wasn't a surprise.

I'm pretty happy about this year's recruiting class for Texas, another top-5 class (#5 on Rivals, #3 on ESPN). We invited 28 players to visit our campus, and signed 24 of them.

We lost a good QB, Brantley, to Florida though. He decommitted to us and committed to Florida back in December. We signed Chiles though, so I'm happy.

2 5-star commits, 16 4-star commits, and 5 3-star commits. We averaged 3.52.

USC's class was insane! They signed 18 players, including 6 5-star recruits, and had a 4.22 average. The top 3 players according to ESPN all went to USC.

Cannot complain, especially considering about 5 weeks ago, Saban was still the HC of the Miami Dolphins.
Bama is ranked #10 @ Rivals, #10 @ Emfinger, #17 @ ESPN, and #19 @ Scout.
I expect an improvement on these rankings next year.

I also noted Rivals and Emfinger's top 10 had 7 teams from the SEC.
Looks like the intensity of the SEC will only continue.

To the victor goes the spoils.

Penn State lost a pretty good RB prospect to USC (Broderick Green), and overall, did not have a huge day. Only 1 of the Rivals 100 signed, and they were only on the list of 3 others. Still, they've got a good group of young talent and I think they'll be okay, for the most part. The key for them will be getting their lines in order quickly.

FSU didnt have the greatest signing day, but that was expected with the poor play last season, and the coaching changeover. But we may get a boost if #5 RB Noel Devine decides to sign here, as he's coming for another visit this weekend.

ND is still on the upswing, with classes improving each year. Defense was not addressed enough and losing Greg Little to NORTH CAROLINA (fck you Butch and whatever deal you offered him) was very bizarre.

I give it a 'B' overall, but more like a 'C' when you look at what other NATL title hopefuls are raking in.

Puh leaze.

You wanna trade recruiting classes w/ Penn State? They're doing quite well.

Haha...I'll put away the tissues. I know this is a very good class.

I'll put it this way, there are very few schools that I would trade places with. My "C" comment was mainly aimed at the obscene classes UF, LSU and USC landed. A class like ours will reload that offense real quick, but the defense will still be another weakness. The talent gap between ND and other top tier schools is still pretty significant. And I'm not sure we gained that much ground.

It's a solid top 10 class I'd say, but when the same schools are getting the top 5 spots each year, it doesn't bode well. I know that these classes don't shake out exactly like they are rated on signing day, but eventually you are gonna have to get up there and nab a couple 5 Star guys. We are on the edge, and I anticipate that things will continue to get better. But I'm not going to go crazy for this class....yet.

heres a big laugh at DT mark Austin for picking UNC over FSU. Someone neesd to tell him he's playing football, not basketball. Kiss a bunch of millions away with that decision, jackass.

I don't think there's enough room in the poor house for two big ol' DL from North Carolina. He'll have to wait until Julius Peppers leaves and creates an occupancy.

Then again, Peppers had to wait out that Lawrence Taylor guy before, so...

The Trojans continue to get it done with the same modus operandi that has been their hallmark since Pete Carroll took over: Lock down 100% of the talent in California, and then take stabs at the best at their position from throughout the rest of the country.

Carroll himself continues to take the reigns in all recruiting, instead of passing the job off to an assistant or 'recruiting coordinator.' The old saying was that a pro coach struggled in college because of the toll that recruiting takes on time, energy, travel, etc. But so far, Carroll has said he loves it. And with the talent he's bringing in, it's got to be hard not to love it.

He also plays his best 11 and says that every day in practice, your job is on the line. Blue-chip high schoolers are not used to sitting out, and they want to know that if they go in and perform, they will be on the field. Carroll promises that they will get that chance. I know there are plenty of other schools that present that opportunity, but there are also plenty who don't (or at least didn't until recently.)

MICHIGAN WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!! Signed the Best QB comming out of HS in the last 20 years!! Remember this name folks!!! : Ryan Mallett
Mallett

6-6" 240 lbs..Michigan has a BRIGHT future!!!

Typical Michigan fan....

You make some great proclamation about getting the best high school QB in a generation, and then provide a link that puts him as only the 2nd best QB in THIS CURRENT YEAR.

I wonder who got the best?

Ryan Mallett's SO good, my Horns went after Brantley instead of him (who ended up signing with Florida).

sour grapes thats all...

he'd get much more national attention here at FSU, and i'm not sure a DT can stand alone among a bad defense.

Well ive seen lots of footage on this kid..and it's just my prediction that he will be one of the best to wear Maze and Blue in years. Definite upgrade to Henne, who will be decent this year thanks to Hart!! Go Blue!! That Jimmy Claussen kid ND signed looks like a big goober if you ask me!

Have you taken a look @ the recruiting class Butch Davis is putting together? They won't be a bad team for long. Like Mack Brown before him, Butch is a solid recruiter. Not a great Xs and Os coach (like Mack Brown before him), but a very good recruiter.

He did put together a nice class, but he's got a long way to go with UNC. They're bottom feeders. They've got a ways to go before they get up into the maryland-NC State-Clemson level. Maybe Butch CAN do it.

How about Ron Zook? He recruited all of the talent for Florida's national championship, and now has a top-20 class coming in to Illinois. He did the right thing, locking down the talent in Chicago-metro, which traditionally had been raided by the other Big Ten schools, Michigan in particular.

After a poor season on the field, for Zook to be able to recruit a top-20 class to the football anti-hotbed of Champaign is very impressive. He must have the gift of the gab....

Now, if he can just learn the name of the school he's coaching ("Illinoise").

Wanny has had a second good recruiting class in a row @ Pittsburgh also.

Jimmy Clausen is going to win 3 Heisman Trophies as ND wins back-to-back-to-back NATL titles from 2008-10. That's pretty much already decided.

He's the next Ron Pawlus, huh?

I think he's got way better skills than Pawlus. Whether or not they'll translate to major college football is to be determined.

I'm not surprised about Zook or Davis' recruiting classes. Zook was an amazing recruiter at UF and his players were fiercely loyal to him. Wasn't there a story about some of his players getting into a fight with some frat boys and Zook personally went down to the house and joined in the argument and threatened to get them kicked off campus? He was a miserable coach, however, and unless he catches some breaks early, or the other Big Ten teams fall off a bit, his job will be in jeopardy again in 4 years. Of course, he will leave the next coach with an Illinois team stocked with talent that far exceeds anything Champaign has seen in years.

Butch Davis also was an amazing recruiter. He built the Miami dynasty which Coker could not control. The NFL-caliber talent he brought to that school was obscene. It's not like UNC is some sht school with no history and no appeal. It wasn't too long ago that Mack Brown was leading them to 10 win seasons. I don't anticipate it taking Davis more than 2-3 years to get that program back into ACC title contention.

Yeah, who knows? I was still kind of young when Powlus was recruited so I don't remember the hype being as ridiculous as I later found out it was. I just remember watching his first game and seeing him shred Northwestern. Almost sports commentator anointed him the next great one after that game, but there was one guy (I forget who) who said "Relax, it's just Northwestern."

Truer words were never spoken.


Sadly, the best thing to come of Ron Powlus' career was when he broke his collarbone and Kevin McDougal got to start the season and led us to what should have been a NATL championship in 93-94.

I agree. I think the 'Noles will definitely surprise people this year and they'll have a pretty good class next year.

Even though I'm not in college until this fall I have to say USC had the best day.

I am really happy with the Illinois class. Zook has done a great job of pulling in talent for us here. What really floored me though was the BS article in the NYT. The followup pieces in the Trib and the Times actually do a credible job of going over the situation.

That's OK. When Zook gets fired for going 4-8, whomever the new coach is will have a stevestojan worth of talent.

Even though I haven't attended college in 15 years, I'd have to agree.

I have to say we all need to bow down to Rutgers. After all, with their 1 big bowl win in what, 100 years, they are now the standard by which all college teams are measured

If Ed was still around, we'd dogfight for supremacy between the number of rutgers bowl wins, and the number of times ed's gotten laid.

my school didn't sign anyone.

Should have never went to Niagara