Blue White Illustrated

To no one's surprise, the Southeastern Conference had another banner recruiting year SAME OLD STORY BY PHIL GROSZ Blue White Illustrated O hio State and Michigan have two of this year's top seven recruiting classes, and Texas is challenging Alabama for the Class of 2012 recruit- ing title. But despite those success sto- ries from around the country, the Southeastern Conference has once again dominated the national rankings. If you're keeping track, this is the sixth consecutive year in which the SEC has cleaned up in the rankings. Eight SEC teams came away from signing day Feb. 1 with classes that were ranked among the top 20 in the country. According to Rivals.com, Al- abama has the nation's No. 1 re- cruiting class, followed by Florida (No. 3), Auburn (11), Georgia (12), Texas A&M (15), LSU (17), Tennessee (18) and South Carolina (19). The G&W Recruiting Report has Al- abama second, followed by Florida (fourth), Auburn (11th), Tennessee (12th), Georgia (13th), Texas A&M (15th), LSU (16th) and South Caroli- na (18th). As of this writing, it seemed that Texas and Alabama were the only schools with a legitimate chance of fin- ishing No. 1 in the country. That de- termination is usually made by the be- ginning of March at the close of the 30- day signing period. Rivals named Alabama No. 1 on sign- ing day. The Crimson Tide landed 26 N AT I O N A L R A N K I N G S RIVALS 1. Alabama 2. Texas 3. Florida 4. Ohio State 5. Stanford 6. Florida State 7. Michigan 8. Southern Cal 9. Miami (Fla.) 10. Oklahoma 50. Penn State 24 SCOUT 1. Texas 2. Alabama 3. Ohio State 4. Michigan 5. Florida 6. Stanford 7. LSU 8. Miami (Fla.) 9. Auburn 10. Oklahoma 49. Penn State M A R C H 2 , 2 0 1 2 G&W REPORT 1. Texas 2. Alabama 3. Ohio State 4. Florida 5. Stanford 6. Michigan 7. Florida State 8. Oklahoma 9. Miami (Fla.) 10. Southern Cal 41. Penn State ESPN 1. Alabama 2. Florida State 3. Texas 4. Florida 5. Georgia 6. Ohio State 7. Michigan 8. Miami (Fla.) 9. Clemson 10. Notre Dame recruits, including three five-star play- ers, 12 four-stars and 12 three-stars. At the top of the Crimson Tide's list are five-star defensive back Landon Collins of Geismar, La., and five-star running back T.J. Yeldon of Daphne, Ala. Alabama's top-rated four-star re- cruits are linebacker Ryan Anderson of Daphne, Ala., wide receiver Chris Black of Jacksonville, Fla., wide re- ceiver Amari Cooper of Miami, defensive back Travell Dixon of Eastern Arizona Communi- ty College, athlete Cyrus Jones of Baltimore, linebacker Dillon Lee of Buford, Ga., line- backer/defensive end Reggie Ragland of Madison, Ala., and defen- sive back Geno Smith of Atlanta. Texas leapfrogged Alabama into the SIGNING DAY NATION 2012 THE bal commitments after being named head coach on Nov. 28. Except for three- star wide receiver Riquan Southward of Lakeland, Fla., all of those players were rated four- or five-star prospects. The list includes offensive lineman Taylor Decker of Vandalia, Ohio, offen- sive lineman Joey O'Connor of Windsor, Colo., defensive end Se'Von Pittman of Canton, Ohio, defensive back Armani Reeves of West Roxbury, Mass., defensive lineman Tom- my Schutt of Glen Ellyn, Ill., defensive end Noah Spence of Harrisburg, Pa., athlete David Perkins of South Bend, Ind., and linebacker Camren Williams of West Roxbury, Mass. A surprise entry in the national top G&W Recruiting Report's No. 1 spot af- ter receiving verbal commitments on Jan. 31 from two four-star Texas prospects: athlete Daje Johnson of Pflugerville and linebacker/defensive end Dalton Santos of Van. All told, Mack Brown landed 28 re- including two five-star cruits, prospects, 14 four-stars and nine three-stars. At the top of the Long- horns' list of recruits are two five-star Texas prospects: defensive lineman Malcom Brown of Brenham and run- ning back Johnathan Gray of Aledo. The Longhorns' top-rated four-star recruits according to Rivals are offen- sive lineman Kennedy Estelle of Pearland, Texas, wide receiver Cayleb Jones of Austin, Texas, and athlete Kendall Sanders of Athens, Texas. In the Big Ten, Ohio State capitalized on the hiring of Urban Meyer as head coach. Were it not for Meyer, it's un- likely the Buckeyes would have attract- ed the country's No. 4 class, as rated by Rivals. (The G&W Recruiting Report rated the Buckeyes' class third.) A two-time national championship winner at Florida, Meyer landed 10 ver- 10 is Miami, a school that hadn't been near the top of the rankings in more than five years. Al Golden had a re- markable recruiting year. Among the 33 players to verbally commit were one five-star prospect, nine four-stars and 22 three-stars. At the top of Miami's list is five-star running back Randy Johnson of Mia- mi. The Hurricanes' top four-star re- cruits are defensive back Deon Bush of Miami, offensive lineman Ereck Flowers of Miami, defensive end Jelani Hamilton of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and linebacker Raphael Kirby of Stone Mountain, Ga. All told, 25 members of Miami's class are from Florida. Rivals ranked it the ninth-best class in the country, while the G&W Recruiting Report has it in seventh place. "Florida and Florida State may have higher-ranked teams nationally com- pared to Miami, but no one did a bet- ter job of recruiting in the state of Flori- da than Golden," said recruiting ana- lyst Bill Buchalter, who is based in the Orlando area. "When you consider the fact that Miami will in all likelihood re- ceive USC-type sanctions from the W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M

• Cover