Border Wars: College Football Recruiting Battles

• Tweet
• Email

Everyone knows the success of any college sports program is dependent upon the coaching staffs’ ability to recruit talented prep prospects. With the college football season nearly at a close, the battle for the nation’s most talented high school players never comes to an end.

Jelani Jenkins

As national signing day approaches, 24 of Scout’s top 100 and 23 of Rival’s top 100 prospects remain uncommitted. As you might expect, both recruiting services differ on which players reside in their respective top 100 lists.

Among one of the prep prospects that have yet to announce his decision is Jelani Jenkins, a 6-2, 220-pound linebacker from Olney, Md. Jenkins is being recruited most heavily by Boston College, Florida and Illinois and he’s set to visit the Illini on January 23.

Manti T’eo, a 6-2, 225-pound linebacker from Honolulu is considering offers from BYU, UCLA, USC, Stanford and Notre Dame. T’eo has scheduled an official visit to BYU on January 10.

Reuben Randle is Rivals No. 1 overall prep prospect and is considered to be the most sought after wide receiver in the nation. At 6-2 and 195 pounds, Randle is being recruited by LSU, Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, Miami and USC. Randle has taken one official visit thus far to Oklahoma on November 22.

Devon Kinnard is a 6-3, 255-pound defensive end from Phoenix who many believe has narrowed his college choices to Texas and USC. One-time University of Tennessee commitment Tajh Boyd is by most accounts the best quarterback that has yet to make a commitment.

Marlon Brown

Boyd, a 6-1, 210-pound dual threat quarterback from Hampton, VA is considering offers from Clemson, Ohio State, Oregon and West Virginia.

Another talented wide receiver that has yet to make a commitment is Marlon Brown from Memphis. The 6-5, 210-pound Brown is Tennessee’s Mr. Football Award winner in Division 2-A and is considering offers from Tennessee, Florida, LSU, Georgia and Ohio State.

Scout and Rivals have their top two recruiting classes in reverse order, with Scout ranking Ohio State’s class as the best with LSU coming in second.

Rivals has LSU first and the Buckeyes second, but either way you look at it, both programs have landed a wealth of talent.

Ohio State has received commitments from 24 prep players with six among Scout’s top 100. Highlighting the Buckeyes list of commitments is linebacker Dorian Bell, a 6-2, 227-pounder from Monroeville, PA.

Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel Has Signed a Very Talented Class

LSU has received commitments from 21 prep players with five among Scout’s top 100. The Tigers landed Craig Loston, a 6-1, 190-pounder from Houston. Loston is the nation’s best safety according to Scout.

USC has received commitments from eight of Scout’s top 100 to lead all schools. USC has landed Matt Barkley, the nation’s top prep quarterback and Vontaze Burfict, the top middle linebacker.

Other top recruiting classes include Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and North Carolina.

Auburn, at one time considered to have a consensus top 5 class by Scout and Rivals, has fallen in the rankings after losing nearly half their commitments after former coach Tommy Tuberville was forced to resign at the end of the season.

Auburn is currently listed as the No. 20 best recruiting class by Scout and No. 23 by Rivals.

The SEC has dominated conference rankings for the past seven years and 2009 will be no different. Nine of the SECs 12 teams are listed among the top 25 recruiting classes by Scout, and eight of the top 25 according to Rivals.

The Big 12 is a distant second, with four of the top 25 classes according to Scout and Rivals.

To view a list of Scout’s top 100 prep prospects, click here and to view Scout’s team rankings, click here. You can click here to view Rival’s top 100 prospects and here to see their team rankings.