By Jon Mahoney, Special to SI.com, SchoolSports.com
With the 2006 high school football season right around the corner, we take a look at which schools are hot among the nation's top recruits. When picking our top five schools, we used a combination of signing classes from the Class of 2006 and commitments from the Class of 2007.
Coach Urban Meyer landed seven Top 100 recruits from the Class of 2006, including Nease (St. Augustine, Fla.) quarterback Tim Tebow and Landstown (Virginia Beach, Va.) wide receiver Percy Harvin. Meyer has already picked up pledges from several stellar Class of 2007 recruits, including Bristol Central (Bristol, Conn.) tight end Aaron Hernandez, Lakeland (Lakeland, Fla.) running back Chris Rainey and McGill-Toolen (Mobile, Ala.) defensive end Sidell Corley.
Fighting Irish head coach Charlie Weis picked up eight Top 100 recruits from the Class of 2006, including St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) offensive lineman Sam Young and Merrillville (Merrillville, Ind.) running back James Aldridge. This year's class should be even better. It all starts with Oaks Christian (Westlake Village, Calif.) quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who is the nation's No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2007. Commitments like Camden Catholic (Cherry Hill, N.J.) tight end Mike Ragone, Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) defensive lineman Justin Trattou, Hoboken (Hoboken, N.J.) wideout Duval Kamara and Hampton (Allison Park, Pa.) running back Steve Paskorz are also top recruits.
Coach Joe Paterno and his assistants recruited well in Pennsylvania last year, landing Downingtown East (Exton, Pa.) quarterback Pat Devlin. Penn State did even better with out-of-state recruits, signing the likes of Christ the King (Middle Village, N.Y.) defensive lineman Maurice Evans and Granby (Norfolk, Va.) wide receiver Chris Bell. Penn State got off to a fast start in its recruitment of Class of 2007 stars, snagging pledges from stellar recruits like Central Catholic (Greensburg, Pa.) wide receiver Nick Sukay and Brother Rice (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) linebacker Chris Colasanti.
From the Class of 2006, the defending national champion Longhorns signed such top recruits as Woodrow Wilson (Dallas, Texas) linebacker Sergio Kindle and Stephenville (Stephenville, Texas) quarterback Jevan Snead. Coach Mack Brown has already picked up several commitments from top Class of 2007 recruits, including South Grand Prairie (Grand Prairie, Texas) offensive lineman Tray Allen and Trinity Catholic (Ocala, Fla.) quarterback John Brantley.
Coach Pete Carroll and his staff signed 11 Top 100 recruits from the Class of 2006, including Hargrave Military Academy (Chatham, Va.) wide receiver Vidal Hazelton and Dorsey (Los Angeles, Calif.) running back Stafon Johnson. From the Class of 2007, USC lost out to Notre Dame on Jimmy Clausen but has already received a commitments from Servite's (Anaheim, Calif.) Chris Galippo, who's the nation's top linebacker, and Clausen's high school teammates, running back Marc Tyler and safety/wide receiver Marshall Jones.
