NCAA Football National Signing Day 2009

After much drama and delay, running back Bryce Brown has decided to play for Lane Kiffin and the Tennessee Volunteers. Brown, considered the nation's top recruit by Rivals.com, delayed his decision until more than a month after signing day.

He had committed to Miami early in the recruiting process, before opening things up and deciding between Miami and USC (both of whom later stopped recruiting him) as well as LSU, Oregon and Tennessee.

Just over a month past college football's official signing day one of the last major uncommitted college football recruits, Florida tight end Orson Charles has signed with Georgia among a host of suitors. The Tampa Plant High School product -- same school as collegiate superstar turned NFL flameout Mike Williams -- picked the Bulldogs over USC and Tennessee after having also visited Florida and Florida State.

He's also the answer to a trivia question. You might remember him as the person who accidentally destroyed Florida's 2006 BCS Championship crystal football on a recruiting visit. Fortunately it was insured and eventually replaced. Unfortunately for Florida guilt over his goof wasn't enough to secure his services.

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.

So, who had the best recruiting class in the Big East? It seems to depend on who you ask. West Virginia was tops according to Rivals.com and Scout.com. ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc., however, had them at number three. Rutgers was ranked first, third and fourth in the various team rankings. Only South Florida seemed to have consistency at the two spot.

There is no question that the Mountaineers got offensive talent that would thrive in their old spread schemes. Whether it will still happen under the Bill Stewart and Jeff Mullen version of the offense is the big unknown. The headliners were running back Tavon Austin and quarterback Eugene Smith. Both are players that fit perfectly in the spread option offense.

Lane Kiffin waltzed out onto some pretty thin ice when he called Urban Meyer out for cheating in his recruitment of Tennessee commit Nu'Keese Richardson. That ice got a heck of a lot thinner when Florida got wind of the accusations and responded,charging that Kiffin slandered both Meyer and the university.

The best route for Kiffin was likely a quick and humble apology. That's exactly what he did apparently after a little pressure from the SEC.

Lane Kiffin made some pretty bold statements at a recent recruiting celebration banquet, stating that Urban Meyer "cheats" -- without winning no less! It was an odd way to behave considering that Kiffin must have known he was being recorded.

Florida's athletic department, predictably, is not thrilled about the accusations. And they're going so far as to sling around the legally charged term "slander" in a statement from athletic director Jeremy Foley.

Okay, Lane Kiffin actually said a lot more than that about Urban Meyer at a recent Tennessee "recruiting celebration banquet." In fact, Kiffin states that he is "gonna turn Florida in right here in front of [the crowd]" and then states that while Nu'Keese Richardson was on Tennessee's campus, Meyer was calling him (which Kiffin believed was a violation, apparently incorrectly so).

So, yes, this seems like a pretty monster way to fire up a rivalry that didn't really need any firing up. But not to close out on a "calm" note, Kiffin decided to bring the house down with "I love the fact that Urban had to cheat and still didn't get [Richardson]" before being drowned out by Volunteer fans cheering. (Watch the video from VolunteerTV after the jump, and you have to hit the volume button -- be careful, it's loud.)

The headline says it all, this is about the top college football recruiting classes in 2009. Like Rivals, we're calling Alabama the top recruiter after a stellar final day saw the 'Tide seal the deal with in-state five star cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick and four star linebacker Tana Patrick. They also picked up the south's best back in Floridian Trent Richardson.

Nipping at their heel was another SEC power with Nick Saban connections: LSU. The Tigers inked the country's top receiver, Louisiana's Rueben Randle. They also got an early enrollment from Texas quarterback Russell Shepard. On defense they picked up five-star cornerback Janzen Jackson and five-star defensive tackle Chris Davenport. Just a monster, monster class.

After the jump, the rest of the real power elite recruiting classes at the end of signing day.

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.

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.

While recruiting services Scout and Rivals differ widely in their overall assessments of this year's Big Ten recruiting classes, they're both impressed by many of the same things. Of course, they're also unimpressed by many of the same things.

But hey, you're a smart person. You can figure things out for yourself. You want to know who helped themselves. You want to know who shot themselves in the foot. You want to know if the talent-rich got richer, like Michigan did with defensive end Craig Roh (pictured). Make the jump, grasshopper; all will be revealed.