Paternos successor, New England Patriots offensivecoordinator Bill OBrien, is coaching in theSuper Bowlthisweek. OBrien said today hes appreciative of the players whohave stuck by their commitments to Penn Statechnical school rankingste and that hedoesnt put too much stock in recruiting rankings.
Florida,Georgia, Ohio State, Clemson,Michigan, Stanford,Miami,Southern California, Notre Dame,Oklahoma,Texas A&MandLouisiana State are among the schools that also have topclasses, recruiting experts said.
The rich keep getting richer, said ESPN nationalrecruiting analyst Tom Luginbill.
While the nations top-rated recruit opted to stay close tohome and play for Southeastern Conference-bound University ofMissouri and schools such as Florida and Florida State made asigning day push, Alabamas class finished No. 1 according torecruiting analysts atRivals.comandESPNU.
Having a good relationship with the coach, the people,the players and just the whole atmosphere has been outstandingfor me, Green-Beckham said.
Jameis Winston of Hueytown, Alabama, and Gunner Kiel ofColumbus,Indiana, are considered the top quarterbacks, withWinston headed to Florida State and Kiel signing withNotreDame. Kiel enrolled at Notre Dame last month after previouslysaying hed play football at Indiana University and LSU.
If youre a top-10 recruiting program consistently,youre going to be a good football program, Farrell said.
Dorial Green-Beckham, a 6-foot-6 wide receiver fromSpringfield,Missouri, and the countrys top prospect accordingto Rivals and Scout, said on national television that hellattend Missouri. Green-Beckham, who had 75 touchdowns onreceptions in high school, said Missouris move from the Big 12to the SEC, which has had the last six national champions, had abig impact on his decision.
Texasfinished atopScout.coms recruiting standings andwas ranked second by Rivals and third by ESPNU.FloridaStatecame in second in ESPNs class ranking.
Florida State made a late push by signing two of thenations top defensive linemen in Mario Edwards of Denton,Texas, and Eddie Goldman ofWashington. Edwards, whose therMario played at Florida State before going to the NFL, was theNo. 1 rated player in ESPNUs top 150.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:Michael Sillup atmsillup@bloomberg.net
Rutgers came in with an already strong class, Luginbillsaid on ESPNUs signing day show. Its one thing to keep thegood guys in the fold, its another thing to go out and securethe best guy in your state.
Texas, coming off a 7-6 season, signed nine ESPNU top-150players, including Johnathan Gray of Aledo, Texas, whosconsidered the nations top high school running back and scored65 touchdowns as a senior.
Defensive end Darius Hamilton of Ramsey,New Jersey, theNo. 11 national prospect, reaffirmed his commitment to play atRutgers Universityfollowing the departure of coachGreg Schiano, who joined theNational Football Leagues Tampa BayBuccaneers last week.
To contact the reporter on this story:Erik Matuszewski in New York atmatuszewski@bloomberg.net
Ohio State benefited from the Nov. 28 hiring of coach Urban Meyer, who won two national titles at the University of Florida.Though Ohio State is cing a 2012 postseason bowl ban and iscoming off its first seven-loss season since 1897, among thehighly-touted players Meyer landed were Penn States top tworecruiting targets.
Penn State, stung by the child- abuse scandal that ledto the firing of the late coachJoe Paterno, has an incomingclass thats ranked 50th by Rivals.com.
ESPNU Rivals.com Scout.com========================================================== 1. Alabama Alabama Texas 2. Florida State Texas Alabama 3. Texas Florida Ohio State 4. Florida Ohio State Michigan 5. Georgia Stanford Florida 6. Ohio State Michigan Stanford 7. Michigan USC LSU 8. Miami Florida State Miami 9. Clemson Miami Oklahoma10. Notre Dame Oklahoma Florida State11. Oklahoma Auburn UCLA12. Stanford UCLA South Carolina13. USC Clemson Georgia14. LSU Texas A&M Auburn15. Texas A&M Oregon Oregon16. South Carolina LSU Clemson17. Auburn Tennessee Texas A&M18. Oregon South Carolina Mississippi St19. UCLA Georgia Notre Dame20. Texas Tech Washington USC
Among them is the nations No. 1-rated safety, LandonCollins of Geismar,Louisiana, who spurned LSU in vor of theCrimson Tide. Another five-star recruit is 6-foot-4 widereceiver Eddie Williams of Panama City, Florida.
Alabama, which has a 36-4 record under coach Nick Sabanduring the past three years, finished No. 1 in Rivals.comsrecruiting rankings for the fourth time in five years. SinceRivals started its rankings in 2002, every school thats beenranked No. 1 -- Texas in 2002, Louisiana State in 2003, SouthernCalifornia in 2004-06 and 2010, Florida in 2007 and Alabama in2008-09 and 2011-12 -- has won a national title.
The Crimson Tide, which beat LSU 21-0 last month to win thenational title, got commitments from 24 players, including 10 inESPNUs list of the top 150 prospects
Whether were ranked the 50th recruiting class or the No.1 recruiting class, I really couldnt care less, to be honestwith you, he said. We feel very good about the players webrought in here.
technical school rankings Alabama, Texas, Florida State Land Top College Football Recruiting Classes,Yesterday was the first chance for high school footballplayers to make an official written commitment to a collegeunder National Collegiate Athletic Association rules. Recruitspreviously could make only non-binding verbal commitments.
TheUniversity of Alabamafollowedits second national championship in three seasons by signingcollege footballs top incoming class, recruiting experts said.
Recruiting is not an exact science. No one knows for surehow these players are going to develop in the future, Sabansaid at a news conference. Thats certainly something we workhard on here, as coaches and teachers, is to help these playersdevelop. How adolescents are going to respond two or three yearsout, nobody can really predict that.
Mike Farrell, a national recruiting analyst for Rivals,said Penn State usually finishes among ttechnical school rankings Alabama, Texas, Florida State Land Top College Football Recruiting Classeshe top 20 schools inrecruiting and had a down year because of the scandal, thedelay in hiring a coach and Meyers arrival at Ohio State.
