Signing Day: Big 12 Recruiting Notes

Signing day has come and (nearly) gone, filled with celebration and upheaval. Sort of like life. We're here to parse what can be parsed and detail the recruiting classes that were for the major conferences.

Last year's big story in college football until its series of bowl flops, the Big 12 finds itself once again among the nation's top conferences when it comes to recruiting. Several schools finished well, with three falling inside of Rivals.com's top 25 classes list. Predictably, Texas and Oklahoma have separated themselves from the pack this year, but the conference remains competitive to where we find many big names at Big 12 places we wouldn't expect.

Mack Brown is one of the great recruiters of our era. He has figured out a way to put a fairly sturdy fence around the state of Texas and pick and choose at his whim what players are worthy of the burnt orange. That fence isn't perfect, but it works well for Texas and helps them make winning at least games every year look boring.

LSU did snag two of the state's top players (No. 1 Russell Shepard, a quarterback and No. 4 Craig Loston, a safety), and Oklahoma picked up No. 7 Jamarkus McFarland, a defensive tackle. Other than that, Texas went to town in putting together the Rivals.com No. 5 recruiting class.

Head of the class is Austin local boy Garrett Gilbert, a five-star quarterback. He joins fellow five-stars offensive tackle Mason Walters and defensive end Alex Okafor. This being Texas, there's more than a fair share of guys in this class named Garrett, Trey, Barrett and Mason. Just one player signed from outside of Texas -- Arkansas defensive tackle Derek Johnson.

Just behind the 'Horns with a No. 13 class was BCS Championship runner-up Oklahoma. Overall the Sooners picked up 11 players from neighboring Texas, to go with players from Kansas, Nevada, Missouri, Mississippi and Pennsylvania in their class of 23. In-state defenders Gabe Lynn, a defensive back and Ronnell Lewis, a linebacker, are the headliners. Just eight of their commits are offensive players as Oklahoma has clearly chosen to shore up its shaky defense.

The final and most surprising Big 12 program to land in the top 25 was Texas A&M. I've been down on them and coach Mike Sherman for his vanilla approach in a game dominated by the innovative. However, he appears to have made headway in his second signing class picking up five star tailback and boy named Sue wannabe Christine Michael. The Aggies kept things simple with their laserlike focus on their home state. Just four players were from outside of Texas, namely four star Louisiana linebacker Jonathan Stewart.

In Missouri, the rebuilding has begun as the Tigers start the post Chase Daniel/Jeremy Maclin era. The Tigers stunned the recruiting world in obtaining and maintaining a commitment from five-star defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson. It helps he was from nearby St. Louis, but for years that area has been considered open territory, ready to be raided by programs from afar. They also picked up four-star JUCO linebacker Josh Tatum, a former USC player. The Tigers have also gotten bigger, with just one recruit listed under six feet tall.

Mike Leach's Texas Tech Red Raiders made waves by picking up a pair of elite defensive tackles. They grabbed Myles Wade, a former four-star recruit, out of a JUCO in Arizona, then on signing day stole Pearlie Graves, a four-star tackle, from Michigan.

Nebraska flew a bit under the radar this year in Bo Pelini's second signing class. They pulled in just a handful of four-star players, led by Maryland defensive end Jason Ankrah. Their signing class is heavy on players from California and Texas.

Colorado had a frustrating signing day, watching several previously committed players go elsewhere. The Buffaloes did, however, rope in athletic California defensive tackle Edward Nuckols and in-state end Nick Kasa.

Oklahoma State left the safe waters of Oklahoma and Texas to bring in players from Indiana, Georgia, Missouri, Mississippi, Kansas and Arkansas in 2009. A pair of lightly regarded quarterbacks were added in anticipation of Zac Robinson's inevitable departure.

Kansas State's new coach is same as the old coach -- Bill Snyder. The old dog hasn't learned any new tricks, still drawing from junior colleges to fill his roster. Nobody really jumps out at you, but then he built a small empire with overlooked players so don't count this signing class out.

Iowa State as usual is near the bottom of the pile in recruiting. They did pick up a six foot six receiver out of Florida named Donnie Jennert who may intrigue.

Finally we arrive at Kansas. The Jayhawks are all over the map, having added one of the nation's best fullbacks (pro-style attack?) and a pocket passer, but also picked up an athletic quarterback named Christian Matthews with offers from spread-y schools Michigan and Tulsa. Hey, at least they've got options.

FanHouse takes you into the belly of the college football beast that is recruiting. We'll be around before, during and after Signing Day '09.