In the second part of our recruiting series we'll be focusing on the SEC, Big 12, Big East and Notre Dame. All in all the talent levels in the SEC and Big 12 were very high in this year's class along with a very highly regarded Notre Dame class. The Big East, however was rated the worst BCS conference for recruiting this season.
SEC
The SEC once again ranked out to be the #1 conference in America for recruiting this season according to Rivals.com. The conference as a whole had 5 schools in the top 20 rankings, and 10 schools in the top 45. Alabama under 1st year coach Nick Saban was able to obtain the #1 class in the nation, thanks largely in part to the signing day commitment from Julio Jones, the nation's #1 WR from nearby Foley, AL. Joining Jones are two other 5-star commitments OL Tyler Love and ATH Burton Scott. The biggest noise that was made by Saban was his ability to lock down the top talent in the state of Alabama. There was obviously a changing of the guard in state at least in terms of recruiting this season.
Joining Alabama in the top 10 were Florida and Georgia who respectively ranked #3 and #6 in the nation in recruiting according to Rivals.com. Florida surprisingly looked outside the state for the majority of their players as only 10 of their 22 commitments were from Florida this season. The biggest signing for Florida was Will Hill, the nation's #1 athlete who should see plenty of playing time this season. Georgia's outstanding class includes the nation's #2 wide receiver, AJ Green, and the #2 athlete in the country Richard Samuel. Both are expected to start immediately between the hedges next fall.
LSU, Auburn, and South Carolina round out the other teams in the top 25 this recruiting season. The Bayou Bengals were able to snag prep school standout Deangelo Benton to highlite next season's receiving corp. They also signed the nation's #1 cornerback Patrick Johnson from Gator country. This season will truly test the talent level at LSU after losing highly regarded Bo Pelini to Nebraska.
Auburn had to really look outside the state this season due to Alabama's renewed presence with the recruits. Only 10 of their 29 signings came from within the state. Of those committed, Tommy Tubberville dove into the JUCO and prep school ranks to pull his most talented players this season. The Old Ball Coach put a premium this off season on signing defensive stars as they were able to reel in five 4 star defensive recruits to bolster an already impressive unit.
Possibly the biggest acquisition however this off season was the transfer of Ryan Mallett from Michigan to Arkansas. He should be perfect for the Bobby Petrino pass happy system. The fit was too good to pass up for the kid from Texarkana. It will be interesting to see what impact Petrino can make in the coming years at a school who can recruit much greater than Louisville.
One school that stands out unfavorably in this recruiting class was Vanderbilt. It's incredibly tough for them to compete with the big boys in conference. They have one of the highest academic standards in the country and are forced to compete with some of the lowest standard schools in the nation, let alone the ones with the highest player talent, and deepest pockets. Vanderbilt was ranked #88 in the country, right below the likes of Eastern Michigan and North Texas.
Big 12
The Big 12 did very well for themselves this off season posting the #2 rank in the Rivals.com conference rankings. Oklahoma was the gem of the conference in this year's signing period, bringing in the nation's #5 class. The conference as a whole has 4 teams in the top 20 and much like the SEC, 10 teams in the top 45. The conference was strong throughout in recruiting this season with Iowa State ranked #62 as the conferences worst recruiting team this season. The majority of the talent was spread from the very talent rich state of Texas.
Colorado and Oklahoma were able to pick up the nation's #1 and #2 running back respectively this season. This seems to be a common occurrance for Oklahoma as of late with the signings of Adrian Peterson and Demarco Murray in recent years. This season the nation's #2 running back, Jermie Calhoun, joins that impressive list of running backs the Sooners have signed. Blocking for Calhoun in the coming years will be 5 star recruit Stephen Good, a prototypical Texas hog volley coming in at 6'6'' and 300 lbs. Oklahoma was also able to sign the nation's top DE in RJ Washington out of Keller, TX.
Texas as usual didn't have to look far for their #14 recruiting class. Only 1 of their 20 commitments is from outside the state. There are no 5 star commitments from that class (the first time since 05'), but there are a healthy amount of 4 star players in the class who should keep the talent levels high in Austin for years to come. Texas A &M was very much in the same recruiting mindset of Texas. They did however reach outside the state more than the Longhorns. This season TAMU was able to get 2 of their 24 recruits from outside of Texas! It wasn't, however, one of the better classes for Texas A&M.
Colorado was the big surprise of the Big 12 recruiting season, coming in with the nation's #15 recruiting class. Highlighting the class is the nation's #1 running back, Darrell Scott, who chose the Buffs over offers from just about everybody including nearby hometown teams USC and UCLA. It seems Dan Hawkins is finally starting to make his mark amongst West coast prospects.
With the success of Missouri last season and the spot lite being put on Chase Daniels, the Tigers were able to wrestle in the the nation's #1 pro style quarterback, Blaine Gabbert from nearby Ballwin, MO. The same however can not be said for the Fighting Mangino's of Kansas who never seem to bite off more than they can chew........in recruiting. This year's class is pretty similar to their past season's with a splattering of 3 star recruits and a couple of 4 star recruits. Look for a recruiting spike for Kansas this coming season as prospects now have the team on their radar after last season's overwhelming success.
Boone Pickens impact is starting to be felt on recruiting year-in and year-out at Oklahoma State as they've secured the nation's #26 recruiting class. Since the huge donation by Pickens, the recruiting classes have improved to compete with the big boys in the Big 12.
Meanwhile Nebraska has brought in the nation's #30 class on the heels of the coaching transition from Bill Callahan to Bo Pelini. Callahan was always a very successful recruiter for Nebraska, but his defense never was successful in Lincoln. It will be interesting to see how well the notorious X and O coach that Pelini is does on the recruiting circuit.
Elsewhere around the Big 12, Kansas State was able to put up a very nice recruiting class coming in at #27 in the nation. Surprisingly it seems K State has been able to establish a pipeline in California as they signed 12 kids from there this season. Rounding out the Big 12 were Texas Tech (#45), Bayor (#51), and Iowa State (#62). Top to bottom, there really was no dud recruiting class for the Big 12 this season, a lot of that is due to the on field success from last year as well as the impact of new coaches in the league.
Big East
Year-in and year-out the conference who does more with less is the Big East. Contrary to popular belief, even the powerhouse teams like West Virginia and Louisville have problems bringing in talent. Take a guess as to who's had the most talent brought in over a 3 year span in the Big East. West Virginia? Rutgers? Louisville? No. It's been Dave Wannstedt's Pittsburgh teams. Pitt is the equivalent of Nebraska in the Big East. A lot of talent has come through the program, but the team has struggled under the pro style system that Wanny has incorporated.
This season there were a total of 1- 5 star player and 18- 4 star players brought into the Big East. Alabama's recruiting class alone has 3- 5 star players and 19- 4 star players. It's really tough to gauge why the Big East has struggled so greatly over the years in recruiting. The conference has many things going for it including: Great coaches, the easist road to a BCS game and the National Championship, many games with exclusive Thursday night showcase coverage on ESPN, etc.
Pittsburgh leads the way this season in the Big East with the conferences sole 5 star player, Jonathon Baldwin. This 6'6'' monster heads the Panther's #28 recruiting class. It will be interesting to see how many more years of good recruits and disappointing season's the Pittsburgh AD is willing to put up with.
West Virginia posted the nation's #43 recruiting class on the heels of the departure of Rich Rodriguez. My gut tells me Bill Stewart will be the beginning of the downfall of West Virginia both in terms of recruiting and on field success. Rutgers has come in as the country's #46 recruiting class with the addition of 3- 4 star recruits who should make a quick impact on the program.
One surprising item noticed from recruiting is South Florida only coming in as the nation's #54 recruiting class. I would have thought that the early season success coupled with the buzz around the program and being located in the talent rich state of Florida would have had an impact on the recruiting success of the program.
It will be be interesting to see what the addition of Steve Kragthorpe will bring the Louisville Cardinals in the coming years. This season they came in at #55 in the nation in recruiting. They may turn out to be a pretty decent team on the field despite their recruiting.
Rounding out the Big East, Syracuse has brought in the #48 team in the country and Brian Kelly is still trying to establish the Cincinnati program with recruits; coming in at #66 nationally. Randy Edsall's program at UConn, despite last season's success, has come in last in the conference in recruiting (#70 nationally).
Notre Dame
One of the major misconceptions in college football over the past couple years is that Notre Dame doesn't have the talent to be successful. Much of the heat that Charlie Weis should have been receiving this past season was passed off as bad recruiting years by Ty Willingham towards the latter end of his coaching career at Notre Dame.
While it's true his last 2 recruiting classes were subpar for Notre Dame, they still ranked very favorably compared to the rest of the nation. It's also true that Charlie Weis has done very well in recruiting thus far at ND. Last season they were able to secure the commitment of all-world QB Jimmy Claussen. This season they signed the #2 recruiting class in the country. Below is the list of recruiting rankings Notre Dame has had since 2002 according to Rivals.com.
2008- #2 (Charlie Weis)
2007- #8 (Charlie Weis)
2006- #8 (Charlie Weis)
2005- #40 (Ty Willingham/Charlie Weis)
2004- #32 (Ty Willingham)
2003- #12 (Ty Willingham)
2002- #24 (Bob Davie/Ty Willingham)
This season Weis was playing with talent that came from a #40 recruiting class at worst. A 3-9 record with that level of talent is unbelievably bad. Apparently the days of losing to the Purdue's and Michigan State's of the world are not over Charlie.
SEC
The SEC once again ranked out to be the #1 conference in America for recruiting this season according to Rivals.com. The conference as a whole had 5 schools in the top 20 rankings, and 10 schools in the top 45. Alabama under 1st year coach Nick Saban was able to obtain the #1 class in the nation, thanks largely in part to the signing day commitment from Julio Jones, the nation's #1 WR from nearby Foley, AL. Joining Jones are two other 5-star commitments OL Tyler Love and ATH Burton Scott. The biggest noise that was made by Saban was his ability to lock down the top talent in the state of Alabama. There was obviously a changing of the guard in state at least in terms of recruiting this season.
Joining Alabama in the top 10 were Florida and Georgia who respectively ranked #3 and #6 in the nation in recruiting according to Rivals.com. Florida surprisingly looked outside the state for the majority of their players as only 10 of their 22 commitments were from Florida this season. The biggest signing for Florida was Will Hill, the nation's #1 athlete who should see plenty of playing time this season. Georgia's outstanding class includes the nation's #2 wide receiver, AJ Green, and the #2 athlete in the country Richard Samuel. Both are expected to start immediately between the hedges next fall.
LSU, Auburn, and South Carolina round out the other teams in the top 25 this recruiting season. The Bayou Bengals were able to snag prep school standout Deangelo Benton to highlite next season's receiving corp. They also signed the nation's #1 cornerback Patrick Johnson from Gator country. This season will truly test the talent level at LSU after losing highly regarded Bo Pelini to Nebraska.
Auburn had to really look outside the state this season due to Alabama's renewed presence with the recruits. Only 10 of their 29 signings came from within the state. Of those committed, Tommy Tubberville dove into the JUCO and prep school ranks to pull his most talented players this season. The Old Ball Coach put a premium this off season on signing defensive stars as they were able to reel in five 4 star defensive recruits to bolster an already impressive unit.
Possibly the biggest acquisition however this off season was the transfer of Ryan Mallett from Michigan to Arkansas. He should be perfect for the Bobby Petrino pass happy system. The fit was too good to pass up for the kid from Texarkana. It will be interesting to see what impact Petrino can make in the coming years at a school who can recruit much greater than Louisville.
One school that stands out unfavorably in this recruiting class was Vanderbilt. It's incredibly tough for them to compete with the big boys in conference. They have one of the highest academic standards in the country and are forced to compete with some of the lowest standard schools in the nation, let alone the ones with the highest player talent, and deepest pockets. Vanderbilt was ranked #88 in the country, right below the likes of Eastern Michigan and North Texas.
Big 12
The Big 12 did very well for themselves this off season posting the #2 rank in the Rivals.com conference rankings. Oklahoma was the gem of the conference in this year's signing period, bringing in the nation's #5 class. The conference as a whole has 4 teams in the top 20 and much like the SEC, 10 teams in the top 45. The conference was strong throughout in recruiting this season with Iowa State ranked #62 as the conferences worst recruiting team this season. The majority of the talent was spread from the very talent rich state of Texas.
Colorado and Oklahoma were able to pick up the nation's #1 and #2 running back respectively this season. This seems to be a common occurrance for Oklahoma as of late with the signings of Adrian Peterson and Demarco Murray in recent years. This season the nation's #2 running back, Jermie Calhoun, joins that impressive list of running backs the Sooners have signed. Blocking for Calhoun in the coming years will be 5 star recruit Stephen Good, a prototypical Texas hog volley coming in at 6'6'' and 300 lbs. Oklahoma was also able to sign the nation's top DE in RJ Washington out of Keller, TX.
Texas as usual didn't have to look far for their #14 recruiting class. Only 1 of their 20 commitments is from outside the state. There are no 5 star commitments from that class (the first time since 05'), but there are a healthy amount of 4 star players in the class who should keep the talent levels high in Austin for years to come. Texas A &M was very much in the same recruiting mindset of Texas. They did however reach outside the state more than the Longhorns. This season TAMU was able to get 2 of their 24 recruits from outside of Texas! It wasn't, however, one of the better classes for Texas A&M.
Colorado was the big surprise of the Big 12 recruiting season, coming in with the nation's #15 recruiting class. Highlighting the class is the nation's #1 running back, Darrell Scott, who chose the Buffs over offers from just about everybody including nearby hometown teams USC and UCLA. It seems Dan Hawkins is finally starting to make his mark amongst West coast prospects.
With the success of Missouri last season and the spot lite being put on Chase Daniels, the Tigers were able to wrestle in the the nation's #1 pro style quarterback, Blaine Gabbert from nearby Ballwin, MO. The same however can not be said for the Fighting Mangino's of Kansas who never seem to bite off more than they can chew........in recruiting. This year's class is pretty similar to their past season's with a splattering of 3 star recruits and a couple of 4 star recruits. Look for a recruiting spike for Kansas this coming season as prospects now have the team on their radar after last season's overwhelming success.
Boone Pickens impact is starting to be felt on recruiting year-in and year-out at Oklahoma State as they've secured the nation's #26 recruiting class. Since the huge donation by Pickens, the recruiting classes have improved to compete with the big boys in the Big 12.
Meanwhile Nebraska has brought in the nation's #30 class on the heels of the coaching transition from Bill Callahan to Bo Pelini. Callahan was always a very successful recruiter for Nebraska, but his defense never was successful in Lincoln. It will be interesting to see how well the notorious X and O coach that Pelini is does on the recruiting circuit.
Elsewhere around the Big 12, Kansas State was able to put up a very nice recruiting class coming in at #27 in the nation. Surprisingly it seems K State has been able to establish a pipeline in California as they signed 12 kids from there this season. Rounding out the Big 12 were Texas Tech (#45), Bayor (#51), and Iowa State (#62). Top to bottom, there really was no dud recruiting class for the Big 12 this season, a lot of that is due to the on field success from last year as well as the impact of new coaches in the league.
Big East
Year-in and year-out the conference who does more with less is the Big East. Contrary to popular belief, even the powerhouse teams like West Virginia and Louisville have problems bringing in talent. Take a guess as to who's had the most talent brought in over a 3 year span in the Big East. West Virginia? Rutgers? Louisville? No. It's been Dave Wannstedt's Pittsburgh teams. Pitt is the equivalent of Nebraska in the Big East. A lot of talent has come through the program, but the team has struggled under the pro style system that Wanny has incorporated.
This season there were a total of 1- 5 star player and 18- 4 star players brought into the Big East. Alabama's recruiting class alone has 3- 5 star players and 19- 4 star players. It's really tough to gauge why the Big East has struggled so greatly over the years in recruiting. The conference has many things going for it including: Great coaches, the easist road to a BCS game and the National Championship, many games with exclusive Thursday night showcase coverage on ESPN, etc.
Pittsburgh leads the way this season in the Big East with the conferences sole 5 star player, Jonathon Baldwin. This 6'6'' monster heads the Panther's #28 recruiting class. It will be interesting to see how many more years of good recruits and disappointing season's the Pittsburgh AD is willing to put up with.
West Virginia posted the nation's #43 recruiting class on the heels of the departure of Rich Rodriguez. My gut tells me Bill Stewart will be the beginning of the downfall of West Virginia both in terms of recruiting and on field success. Rutgers has come in as the country's #46 recruiting class with the addition of 3- 4 star recruits who should make a quick impact on the program.
One surprising item noticed from recruiting is South Florida only coming in as the nation's #54 recruiting class. I would have thought that the early season success coupled with the buzz around the program and being located in the talent rich state of Florida would have had an impact on the recruiting success of the program.
It will be be interesting to see what the addition of Steve Kragthorpe will bring the Louisville Cardinals in the coming years. This season they came in at #55 in the nation in recruiting. They may turn out to be a pretty decent team on the field despite their recruiting.
Rounding out the Big East, Syracuse has brought in the #48 team in the country and Brian Kelly is still trying to establish the Cincinnati program with recruits; coming in at #66 nationally. Randy Edsall's program at UConn, despite last season's success, has come in last in the conference in recruiting (#70 nationally).
Notre Dame
One of the major misconceptions in college football over the past couple years is that Notre Dame doesn't have the talent to be successful. Much of the heat that Charlie Weis should have been receiving this past season was passed off as bad recruiting years by Ty Willingham towards the latter end of his coaching career at Notre Dame.
While it's true his last 2 recruiting classes were subpar for Notre Dame, they still ranked very favorably compared to the rest of the nation. It's also true that Charlie Weis has done very well in recruiting thus far at ND. Last season they were able to secure the commitment of all-world QB Jimmy Claussen. This season they signed the #2 recruiting class in the country. Below is the list of recruiting rankings Notre Dame has had since 2002 according to Rivals.com.
2008- #2 (Charlie Weis)
2007- #8 (Charlie Weis)
2006- #8 (Charlie Weis)
2005- #40 (Ty Willingham/Charlie Weis)
2004- #32 (Ty Willingham)
2003- #12 (Ty Willingham)
2002- #24 (Bob Davie/Ty Willingham)
This season Weis was playing with talent that came from a #40 recruiting class at worst. A 3-9 record with that level of talent is unbelievably bad. Apparently the days of losing to the Purdue's and Michigan State's of the world are not over Charlie.
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