|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Top 10 recruiting classes
Updated: Friday February 09, 2001 2:24 PM
With all but a handful of the nation's prospects signed, sealed and delivered, it's time for a more detailed breakdown of the best classes. Our preliminary Top 10 follows, and it is, as always, subject to change. 1. FLORIDA STATE (27 signees) Bobby Bowden's revenge! Signing Day was a 'Nole roll call that included two of California's best, DB Dominic Robinson and DL Justin Tomerlin, along with nine of the Florida's top 15 prospects. Three All-America QBs signed on: in-stater Adrian McPherson, Joe Mauer, who could end up playing major league baseball, and Tennessee's Matt Henshaw. FSU even dipped into the juco ranks for elite OL Milford Brown from Mississippi. SuperPrep's No. 1 LB, Willie Jones and No. 8 DB, Jerome Carter, didn't announce in favor of Bowden until the final day, cementing the conquest but making us wonder if they had planned this all along. 2. LSU (26) Five of SuperPrep's Elite 50 are aboard -- TE Marcus Spears, WR Michael Clayton, DL Marquise Hill, OL Ben Wilkerson and TE David Jones -- no school signed more. Nick Saban closed Louisiana borders to much of the recruiting world, signing the state's six best prospects and 10 of the top 14. The Tigers came all the way to California for QB Rick Clausen, brother of Tennessee frosh sensation Casey. Saban clearly has his sights set on higher plateaus and he has sent a message with this class that Louisiana will be tough for others to recruit, while he obviously considers Texas (watch for All-America RB Joseph Addai ) and Florida (three signees) fair game. 3. MICHIGAN (22) For awhile, it looked like the Wolverines were going to walk away with this year's recruiting contest. Then they lost Elite 50 WR Reggie Williams to Washington and two big-timers to Penn State: DL Charles Rush and OL Tyler Reed -- both from Pennsylvania. Four SuperPrep Elite 50 team members are new Wolverines: RB Kelly Baraka (broke Notre Dame's heart), DB Ernest Shazor, DB Marlin Jackson and DL Pierre Woods. Lloyd Carr needed to add defensive line help with this group and Woods is joined by Dave Spytek, Pat Massey and Alex Ofili, all superior prospects. Although this effort lacks the presence of a big-time prep signal caller, transfer Spencer Briton fills the void. 4. WASHINGTON (23) Two of the nation's top three juco prospects, QB Taylor Barton and LB Kai Ellis, both from national champion San Francisco CC, are already enrolled and will be learning the Husky system this spring. Rick Neuheisel, sorely in need of wide receiver help, went all the way to Florida to sign speedster Charles Frederick, who will join coveted in-stater Reggie Williams, giving the Huskies immediate big-play ability through the air. Seven of the state's top 10 prospects decided to stay in Seattle and as usual, numerous prep Californians (seven) headed north for rainier weather. Even Alaska chipped in, supplying All-America DL Tui Alailefaleula, who had 38 sacks over the last two years. Another juco OL, Francisco Tipoti, also from SFCC, is the nation's finest. Great team balance, both in the trenches and at the skill spots. 5. TEXAS (22) Pure Texas talent, with the exception of California DL Kaelen Jakes and Tennessee DE/FB Eric Hall. RB Cedric Benson, OL Jonathan Scott and ATH Quan Cosby lead the hit parade of 10 SuperPrep All-Americas from Texas who are headed to Austin, where they will add to Mack Brown's pressure to win that big game that Longhorn supporters are tired of losing. An amazing six offensive linemen inked with Brown, only to be topped by the potential seven DBs on the Longhorn signing list. There is so much Texas talent that wants to play for Texas now that the loss of the state's No. 1 prospect, DL Tommie Harris, to Oklahoma, can hardly be figured a defeat by Brown. All-America DBs Cedric Griffin, Kendall Briles, Michael Huff and Rufus Harris are fantastic. 6. OKLAHOMA (29) This class didn't come together because of the national championship. It was looking like a reality long before then, when it became clear Bob Stoops had reconfigured the Sooners into a modern passing machine fortified with old-fashioned, smothering defense. Six of the top 25 Texas prospects committed to Stoops, who also went to Louisiana for QB Brent Rawls. In-state RBs Kejuan Jones and Seymore Shaw will give Stoops the ground game to keep people honest and he signed five offensive linemen to pave the way. They wouldn't be the Sooners without a great 'backer and Tulsa's Mike Wilson figures to get some tips from Brian Bosworth about breaking into show biz. 7. NEBRASKA (18) They don't sneak up on us anymore. We are now ready for the careful progression, year after year, of the best option QBs, running backs and offensive linemen that the Big Red can develop. Talented signal callers Mike Stuntz and Mike McLaughlin committed long ago amid little fuss, which is how the Huskers like it. This class didn't end with a Florida State-type bang because it didn't need to. The final day did bring a major victory over Iowa and Iowa State, when RB Marquez Simmons said yes to Frank Solich. He also signed three All-Americas from Colorado (OL Gary Pike, ROV Philip Bland and ATH Cory Ross ). This year's class was a world-wide effort: Giant DL Seppo Evwaraye (6-5, 325) grew up in Finland and never considered any school but Nebraska. 8. VIRGINIA TECH (21) The nation's best RB, Pennsylvania's Kevin Jones, chose Frank Beamer over Joe Paterno. Jones, amazingly graceful and quick for such a powerful 6-1, 205-pounder, won't have to worry about carrying the load. All-America QB Bryan Randall, who was coveted by Tennessee, can't promise he will become the next Michael Vick. But he was the first player in state history, as junior, to both pass and run for more than a 1,000 yards and he did it again as a senior. RB Cedric Humes is another fantastic ball carrier. Six defensive linemen and three on the offensive side of the ball figure to shore up the trenches. In-state All-America DBs DeAngelo Hall and D.J. Walton are the future of Beamer's secondary. 9. UCLA (18) Amazing California DBs Matt Ware and Jibril Raymo are true headliners of a defensive group that bordered on the fantastic until Marvin Simmons decommitted to USC, LB Michael Craven signed with Stanford and DL Shaun Cody chose the Trojans. So much for the downside. Generally speaking, the better your class, the bigger your losses. Bob Toledo loaded up on offensive talent with 11 signees, led by Arizona WR Junior Taylor, RBs Jason Harrison, Wendell Mathis and Tyler Ebell (7,385 career yards and 111 TDs), Pennsylvania TE Keith Carter and huge, talented offensive linemen Bob Cleary (6-7, 285), Ed Blanton (6-9, 300) and Collin Barker (6-8, 300). 10. CLEMSON (28) Rarely do you see a team completely dominate a positional segment within a state. Usually there is a split of the prospects. But with this class, the Tigers managed to capture all three of the state's nationally coveted WRs: Roscoe Crosby, Airese Curry and Ty Zimmerman (exactly what Texas did in-state last year). Tommy Bowden actually has a lot more to crow about. He also signed 13 other in-staters, including superb DLs Charles Bennett and Trey Tate and TE Ben Hall. Bowden lost in-state All-America LB Roger Mcintosh to Miami and All-America Missouri QB Ryan Cubit to Rutgers but still ended up with three nationally recognized linebackers and talented QB Charlie Whitehurst from Georgia, which supplied four signees. The best of the rest: 11. Stanford, 12. Miami, 13. Notre Dame, 14. Tennessee, 15. Ohio State, 16. Oregon State, 17. Purdue, 18. Arkansas, 19. USC, 20. Georgia Tech For more from SuperPrep, click here.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
