WVU just landed the nation's top high school running back Noel Devine today.

Great Pick up for the Big East and WVU.

http://westvirginia.rivals.com/viewprospec...mp;pr_key=36104


What other suprises loom?

Ah man! Thought the Gators were gonna land him. Well, good for the Mountaineers!

Hey now. Florida's more than doing ok without landing Devine. Meyer's a great coach & recruiter. I'm all about FSU and Miami falling into obscurity in Florida.

USF grabbed 5 star running back Mike Ford too. That was surprising.

Sure, Gators are doing great. What can I say, we're greedy

Honestly though, I'm happy for WVU and USF. With a good RB like him, USF offense should be exciting next year. Now if Grothe can be a more consistent passer and get better at reading defenses, game management and not lock onto receivers as he occasionally does, USF would be pretty dangerous. You guys better watch out! Then again, your offense is going to be great next year. Don't know much about your defense though. Are you stocked?

Illinois is going to finish with a top 20 recruiting class, not bad following up a 2 win season. The coaches really picked up some great players in positions that really needed them. The number three WR in the country Arrelious Benn, the top player in Illinois and no. 2 weakside DL in the nation Martez Wilson and the number 5 Prep School player in the country OL Craig Wilson.

And the Zooker's going to get four years to see what he can do with the players, you can trust me on that.

Do any of you know Devine's story? I heard a long time ago that he probably would go to a D-I school, yesterday he verballed WVU, and today he says he isn't going to sign. Is he in danger of not qualifying or something else going on?

Also, LSU has a great, and I think slightly underrated class coming in. Only 2 5-stars, but at least 20 4 star+ and filled spots we're going to need (WR and S).

Congrats to everyone excited about the recruiting classes and it was nice to see fewer signing day switches than in recent years.

Knew something like this was coming: New York Times Insinuates Zook Cheated. One of their sources? John L. Smith. Sounds like sour grapes Mr. Smith, maybe you should smack yourself a little harder before making comments like that again.

Yeah, it made it's way around today. Mike Gottfried ripped the Times a new one, basically calling the article crap. Oddly enough, it was the first thing talked about on PTI today, with both of them saying unless there's you've got proof, this is a non story.

Deion Sanders called Devine last night and asked him to wait a week before commiting. WVU coaches are naturally PO'ed right now as this is a possible NCAA violation as Sanders is an FSU booster and alum. There are a lot of rumors gooing around about the curcumstances of what's going to happen.

WVU of course doesn't its recruiting by the book. If Devine does commit, that is outstanding. If not, I wish him the best of luck. The kids gone through a lot and Sanders intervention is what is wrong with big time college athletics. Devine's HS coach is very angry at FSU for pulling this stunt with Sanders.

Regardless, WVU signed 6-1 powerful 4 star running back Terence Kerns from Maryland and also has 2004 Parade All American Jason Gwaltney back in the fold. With our without Devine, WVU will have some talented runners to back up Steve Slaton.

this was a surprise....

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/recruiting/...ustin-unc_x.htm

The top defensive prospect picked North Carolina......?

The Top 25 Recruiting Classes according to Rivals.com

1 Florida
2 Southern Cal
3.Tennessee
4 LSU
5 Texas
6 South Carolina
7 Auburn
8 Notre Dame
9 Georgia
10 Alabama
11 Oregon
12 Michigan
13 Nebraska
14 Oklahoma
15 Ohio State
16 North Carolina
17 Illinois
18 Florida State
19 Georgia Tech
20 Clemson
21 California
22 Miami-FL
23 Penn State
24 Virginia
25 Pittsburgh

By Conference: SEC 7 (all in the top 10!), ACC 6, Big Ten 4, Big Twelve 3, Pac-Ten 3, Big East 1, ind. 1

I prefer Scout's ( ESPN) ranking system which is a lot more credible than Rivals.


1. Florida 27 SEC 5504 12 10 13 4 12 14 1 26 1 4.22 1.
2. LSU 27 SEC 4456 7 4 17 5 15 10 2 26 1 3.89 2.
3. USC 18 Pac-10 4363 12 10 5 3 9 9 0 18 0 4.39 3.
4. Texas 25 Big 12 4332 5 4 16 3 14 11 0 25 0 3.84 4.
5. Tennessee 32 SEC 4312 6 4 15 10 16 16 0 29 3 3.63 5.
6. Auburn 30 SEC 3770 3 1 13 10 14 15 1 30 0 3.30 6.
7. South Carolina 31 SEC 3464 2 1 13 13 14 17 0 28 3 3.35 7.
8. Oregon 29 Pac-10 3211 1 0 11 11 10 18 1 27 2 3.14 8.
9. Pittsburgh 23 Big East 3210 2 3 8 9 13 10 0 22 1 3.48 9.
10. Michigan 20 Big Ten 3141 5 2 12 4 10 10 0 19 1 3.70 10.
11. Notre Dame 18 I-A Ind 2970 5 1 11 6 10 7 1 18 0 3.72 11.
12. California 25 Pac-10 2968 0 0 12 12 12 12 1 22 3 3.44 12.
13. Miami (Fl) 18 ACC 2947 1 3 9 4 10 8 0 17 1 3.72 13.
14. Georgia Tech 20 ACC 2880 2 0 9 9 9 11 0 20 0 3.35 14.
15. North Carolina 23 ACC 2878 4 1 10 4 13 9 1 23 0 3.17 15.
16. Ohio State 15 Big Ten 2852 4 1 10 3 5 10 0 15 0 3.73 16.
17. Georgia 23 SEC 2791 1 1 10 9 14 8 1 19 4 3.39 17.
18. Penn State 21 Big Ten 2703 2 0 12 7 9 11 1 19 2 3.48 18.
19. Alabama 25 SEC 2683 1 0 5 17 10 15 0 24 1 3.08 19.
20. Nebraska 28 Big 12 2622 0 0 8 17 13 14 1 22 6 3.18 20.
21. Illinois 19 Big Ten 2551 3 2 5 8 8 11 0 18 1 3.26 21.
22. Clemson 22 ACC 2504 2 0 7 11 9 13 0 22 0 3.14 22.
23. Oklahoma State 22 Big 12 2463 2 0 7 11 11 11 0 21 1 3.14 23.
24. Virginia Tech 25 ACC 2460 1 1 5 12 13 12 0 25 0 3.00 24.
25. West Virginia 26 Big East 2408 0 0 4 18 11 15 0 23 3 3.00 25.


The ACC is the conference not to have a team ranked in the top 10 in recruiting.


Also, WVU will most likely land 4-Star Lineback Pat Laezer next week and still has a very good shot at Noel Devine. If WVU snags these two next week, WVU will palce around 15th in recruiting. WVU's already has a commitment from the nation's #1 lineman Josh Jenkins for the class of 2008. Also, if WVU lands one of those two players ( laezer or Devine) the Big East will finish ahead of the Big 12,ACC, and Big 10 in this year's Scout.com conference rankings.

As was the case on the field this year for Big East football, recruiting is also at an all time high.

As a Gator, I was and am one of the rare breeds who was a Zook supporter all the way through. Granted he wouldn't have won a national championship this season, and I doubt he would have won the SEC in the first place. But I had a chance to interact with him for over an hour once and I saw a class act all the way through. It was amazing seeing his progidious energy and enthusiasm at display. It is no surprise he attracts such strong recruiting classes at all. IMHO, he is a very good coach. If he'd only loosen up a bit, especially in his coaching, and not try to do too much all the time, I believe he'd be a lot more successful. In any case, it's great to know Illinis have a great recruiting class and I sincerely wish Zook succeeds in building a strong and winning program there.

West Virginia adds stud 4 star Linebacker Pat Lazear today to its recruiting class. Pat Lazear chose WVU over Ohio State and Alabama. He was espn.com's #6 Linebacker prospect in the country.

With the influx of defensive talent from this class, redshirts, and 9 returning starters, WVU's defense should be improved next year to compliment its explosive offense.

I wasn't on the FireZook bandwagon either but must admit was ready to see him go. I agree with everything you say but I don't think Zook had the ability to ever lead us to a SEC championship or even close to a National Title. Everything I heard and read tells me he is too much a "players coach". I watched too many games where his game plan appeared to play safe or scared. I used to joke with my friends that Zook coached prevent defense and offense! Of course I always thought the same about Tony Dungy......

Zook seems to be recruiting well at the Illini. It seems Notre Dame and Iowa coaches are not happy about his success on the recruiting trail and are making some assertions. The New York Times ( I believe) did a detailed artcile on Zook's recrutiing success at the Ilini and pretty much stated where there's smoke thee is fire. I think its more coaches from the old guards schools fail to understand how a coach from a program that has less tradition than theirs can out recruit them. Zook's always been a very good recruiter. Being a game day coach has always been the knock against him. He's collecting the talent no doubt. It will be interesting to see what next year has in store for the Illini.

No doubt that there is anywhere to go but up for Illinois. I'm going so far as to actually buy season tickets this year in anticipation of not being embarrassed on national television. I hope Zook has learned his lesson about getting conservative in late game situations after losing to Wisconsin and Indiana last year after having double digit leads in the second half.

On the accusations tangent, John L. Smith is the most vocal accuser of the Illini and Zook. Funny for a man who lost his job after losing to Illinois. (By the way, there is a link to the NYT story in my post a little further up in this thread).

Since you prefer Scouts (ESPN) ranking system....lets look at it now that signing day has passed and the dust has settled.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/...tory?id=2757802

1. Southern Cal
2. Florida
3. Texas
4. South Carolina
5. Tennessee
6. LSU
7. Auburn
8. Notre Dame
9. Miami
10. Michigan
11. North Carolina
12. Illinois
13. Georgia
14. Georgia Tech
15. Virginia Tech
16. Texas A&M
17. Alabama
18. Clemson
19. Pitt
20. Ohio State
21. Oenn State
22. Nebraska
23. Oregon
24. Iowa
25. Florida State


Turns out that its actually the "big east" with that distinction, only having one good recruiting class--Pitt at #19. Over half of the teams with Top 25 recruiting classes came from the SEC or ACC.


Actually, the "big east" finished 6th out of the 6 BCS conferences....wow, what an all time high!

Well, dunno if Zook is going to learn his lesson on not being conservative like in the NFL where a touchdown lead is solid enough unless you play a quick-scoring team (like Indy; the irony of it, eh?). He basically lost his Florida job because of this tendency. Too many close games were lost simply because Gators could never put it away. In fact, even Meyer's teams seem to share a bit of that tendency, but with Zook, the defense was in constant prevent mode. The opposing offense was almost guaranteed to generate positive yardage in most all plays. If only Zook's teams are as aggressive as he is in recruiting! I agree with everything you say StPtGator, except I'd have given Zook another year. Well, regarding Dungy, when you have a QB as successful as Manning, you just let him run his offense and I think that's what's happening there. Besides, IMHO, in NFL, coaches typically aren't as all-powerful as in college (with obvious exceptions like Belichick). There's a lot more give and take in NFL and coaching, I feel, is a lot subtler there.

This tells a different Story with the recruiting rankings. 3 big East teams in the top 30 and only the SEC "beat up" on the Big East in recruiting. Compared to past season whens all conferences did, its a big time imrpovement. That is of course if you put a lot of stock into these rankings. Of course, when a conference like the Big East has three ranked teams in the top 15 ( only the SEC and Big 10 can rival that feat) like it did last year, it speaks volumes. Also, with possibly 4 teams ranked in next year's polls and two major national championship contenders, four of the top 5 Heisman challengers are in the Big East , what's not to be excited about?







1. Florida 27 SEC 5504 12 10 13 4 12 14 1 26 1 4.22 1.
2. USC 18 Pac-10 4363 12 10 5 3 9 9 0 18 0 4.39 2.
3. Texas 25 Big 12 4332 5 4 16 3 14 11 0 25 0 3.84 3.
4. Tennessee 32 SEC 4312 6 4 15 10 16 16 0 29 3 3.63 4.
5. LSU 25 SEC 4212 7 4 15 5 13 10 2 24 1 3.88 5.
6. Auburn 30 SEC 3770 3 1 13 10 14 15 1 30 0 3.30 6.
7. South Carolina 31 SEC 3464 2 1 13 13 14 17 0 28 3 3.35 7.
8. Pittsburgh 24 Big East 3223 2 3 8 9 13 11 0 23 1 3.38 8.
9. Oregon 29 Pac-10 3211 1 0 11 11 10 18 1 27 2 3.14 9.
10. Michigan 20 Big Ten 3146 5 2 12 4 10 10 0 19 1 3.70 10.
11. Notre Dame 18 I-A Ind 2970 5 1 11 6 10 7 1 18 0 3.72 11.
12. California 25 Pac-10 2968 0 0 12 12 12 12 1 22 3 3.44 12.
13. Miami (Fl) 18 ACC 2947 1 3 9 4 10 8 0 17 1 3.72 13.
14. Georgia Tech 20 ACC 2880 2 0 9 9 9 11 0 20 0 3.35 14.
15. North Carolina 23 ACC 2878 4 1 10 4 13 9 1 23 0 3.17 15.
16. Ohio State 15 Big Ten 2852 4 1 10 3 5 10 0 15 0 3.73 16.
17. Georgia 23 SEC 2791 1 1 10 9 14 8 1 19 4 3.39 17.
18. Penn State 21 Big Ten 2703 2 0 12 7 9 11 1 19 2 3.48 18.
19. Illinois 21 Big Ten 2638 3 2 5 8 10 11 0 20 1 3.14 19.
20. Nebraska 27 Big 12 2622 0 0 8 17 12 14 1 21 6 3.22 20.
21. Alabama 24 SEC 2619 1 0 5 16 10 14 0 23 1 3.08 21.
22. Clemson 23 ACC 2564 2 0 7 12 10 13 0 23 0 3.13 22.
23. Oklahoma State 22 Big 12 2468 2 0 7 11 11 11 0 21 1 3.14 23.
24. Virginia Tech 25 ACC 2458 1 1 5 12 13 12 0 25 0 3.00 24.
25. West Virginia 26 Big East 2444 0 0 4 18 10 16 0 23 3 3.00 25