SEATTLE, Wash., Feb. 7, 2007 - A month after its BCS National Championship for college football, the red-hot Florida Gators added the mythical "national recruiting championship" as Scout.com today declared the Gators' 2007 signing class No. 1 in the country.
Florida wasn't the only team in the SEC with an impressive haul as LSU's Les Miles recruited Scout.com's No. 2 Class. Chad Jones, the No. 1 ranked safety in the country, signed his scholarship papers on Wednesday afternoon to vault the Tigers into the No. 2 spot.
Scout.com's top two 2007 prospects - Everson Griffen, a defensive end from Avondale, Ariz., and Joe McKnight, a running back from River Ridge, La. - both signed with USC, which finished No. 3 in the team rankings.
Florida, which also claimed the NCAA National Championship for basketball during the past year, was a commanding winner over No. 2 LSU, No. 3 USC, No. 4 Texas and No. 5 Tennessee, per Scout.com's automated recruiting team rankings.
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"The Gators got on a roll early and late," said Jamie Newberg, Scout.com National Recruiting Analyst. "They got a huge recruiting boost early, especially with all those prospects from Lakeland (Fla.) High School and captured recruiting momentum late after winning the national championship. They signed so many elite prospects at just about every position. This has to be one of the top recruiting classes of this decade, at least on paper."
John Brantley |
Florida signed 10 five-star recruits and 11 members of the Scout.com National Top 100. The Gator class is led by quarterbacks John Brantley and Cameron Newton, running backs Chris Rainey and Bo Williams, wide receivers Joe Haden and Deonte Thompson, tight end Aaron Hernandez, offensive linemen James Wilson, Michael and Maurkice Pouncey, defensive tackles Torrey Davis and John Brown, defensive ends Carlos Dunlap and Justin Trattou, linebackers Lorenzo Edwards and Brandon Hicks, safety Major Wright, and cornerback Ahmad Black. Few believed that coach Urban Meyer and his staff could duplicate would they did last year in recruiting, where they had a photo finish with USC for the No.1 spot in the land. They were right. This class is better, at least on paper. Florida filled its needs and brought in more speed and great athletes from top to bottom.
"Urban Meyer is the new Pete Carroll," said Allen Wallace, Scout.com National Recruiting Analyst. "Now king of the college football world, Meyers is a relentless, aggressive recruiter who has, since he won a national championship as Florida's coach, taken offensive guard James Wilson away from USC and defensive end Justin Trattou away from Notre Dame. This is one of the better recruiting classes compiled in recent years and it's filled with major headline prospects. Meyer no doubt capitalized on bleaker times for both Florida State and Miami, but his amazing march towards this year's mythical recruiting national championship is all about the Gators, and nobody else."
Another SEC team, LSU, finished No. 2 nationally, as the Tigers charged hard with a great January and February run. Miles has proven he can recruit. Even after losing some coaches like offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher (to FSU). Quarterback Jarrett Lee, fullback Stevan Ridley, wide receivers Ron Brooks, Terrance Toliver and DeAngelo Benton, tight ends Mitch Joseph, Jordan Corbin and Alex Russian, offensive linemen Jarvis Jones, D'Montreal Wilson, and T-Bob Hebert, defensive tackles Joseph Barksdale, Drake Nevis, and Will Blackwell, defensive end Sidell Corley, safeties Stefoin Francois and Chad Jones and cornerbacks John Williams and Phelon Jones are a talented and balanced group headed to Baton Rouge.
Everson Griffen |
"LSU is consistently one of the recruiting forces in college football and the Tigers put together another great class this season with a super late run," Newberg said. "LSU landed great prospects at just about every position and once again the Tigers are just loaded."
USC isn't exactly ready to give up the spotlight on signing day, however. USC closed and finished No. 3. The Trojans averaged 10 fewer signees than everyone else in the top 10, but obviously made every signing count. The Trojans landed five-star recruits in quarterback Aaron Corp, running back Marc Tyler, offensive tackle Martin Coleman, center Kristofer O'Dowd, defensive end Everson Griffen, defensive tackle Da'John Harris, linebacker Chris Galippo, cornerback Ronald Johnson and safety Marshall Jones. That's almost a five star at every position. To take it one step further, O'Dowd, Griffen and Galippo are the top-rated prospects at their respective positions and Griffen is the nation's top overall prospect. Other standouts headed to Southern Cal are wide receiver Brandon Carswell, defensive end Michael Reardon and linebackers Malcolm Smith and Jordan Campbell.
"Pete Carroll has gone outside of California again to reel in some of the nation's truly elite prospects," Wallace said. "He's bringing in the nation's No. 1 prospect at running back (Joe McKnight) from Louisiana, plus the No. 1 center (Kristopher O'Dowd) and No. 1defensive end (Everson Griffen), both from Arizona. Although the Trojans lost coveted defensive back Donovan Warren to the Michigan Wolverines, they succeeded in signing highly-coveted Michigan athlete Ronald Johnson. The Trojans have also done very well in California. Linebacker Chris Galippo, running back Marc Tyler and quarterback Aaron Corp lead the latest hit parade into USC."
Texas had 20 or so commitments before the May Evaluation Period and finished No. 4 in the Scout.com rankings. Wide receivers John Chiles, James Kirkendoll and Malcolm Williams, tight ends Blaine Irby, Ian Williams and Ahmard Howard, offensive linemen Tray Allen, Michael Huey and Aundre McGaskey, defensive tackle Andre Jones, defensive end Russell Carter, linebacker Keenan Robinson, and defensive backs Curtis Brown, Ben Wells, Earl Thomas and Christian Scott are all headed to Austin. Chiles, Williams, Allen, Jones, Brown and Wells are all members of the National 100. Allen is the top offensive line prospect in the nation.
John Chiles |
"The Longhorns put this class together so early that it's easy to overlook how powerful it is," said Wallace. "Mack Brown dominated in-state recruiting from the outset and has only one out-of-stater coming in: California All-America tight end Blaine Irby. This well-balanced effort is dominated by the nation's best offensive lineman, Tray Allen, fantastic cornerback Curtis Brown and Andre Jones, a three hundred pound defensive tackle."
The Gators and Tigers are not the only Southeastern Conference teams that did well, as the SEC produced five teams in the Scout.com's top 10.
The University of Tennessee, claimed the No. 5 spot, nationally, as coach Phillip Fulmer and his Volunteers filled their needs and got some super prospects in the process. The Vols loaded up at running back and wide receiver with Lennon Creer, Savion Frazier, Daryl Vareen, Dennis Rogan, Brett Vinson, Kenny O'Neal, Ahmad Paige, Gerald Jones, Todd Campbell, Tyler Maples, Darnius Moore, Anthony Anderson, John Hawkins and Kevin Cooper. UT is also bringing on one offensive tackle in Darris Sawtelle and quarterback in B.J. Coleman. On the other side of the ball the Volunteers are looking very good with standouts like defensive ends Rufus Williams and Ben Martin, defensive tackles Rolando Melancon and Donald Langley, linebackers Chris Donald and Chris Walker, defensive tackles Deshaun Barnes, Eric Berry, and Art Evans.
"The Vols are back near the top in recruiting with a great haul," Newberg said. "They cleaned up at running back and wide receiver and got some great ones on defense like defensive end Ben Martin, linebacker Chris Donald and cornerback Eric Berry."
Rounding out the Scout.com top 10 are Auburn, South Carolina, Oregon, Pittsburgh and Michigan. The Pac-10 was second among conferences, followed by the ACC.
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