NCAA Football lsu Tigers

The SEC coaches meetings rolled into Destin, Fla., this week, and Lane Kiffin washed ashore.

You know Kiffin, the man who brought a Molotov cocktail to the SEC tea party, the guy who coaches like tickets have to be sold for the latest WWE event. You halfway expect for him to enter press conferences wearing orange tights, grab the mike, scream invectives at his rivals, then spike the microphone, kiss his biceps, and leave without taking questions. Kiffin coaches college football like Vince McMahon helms the WWE, it's all about creating a buzz.

Michael Lewis's opus The Blind Side is currently filming in Atlanta and slated for release on November 20, 2009. The book recently received a jolt of interest when the primary subject of the story, Ole Miss offensive tackle Michael Oher, who rises from a hardscrabble existence in Memphis to become the top offensive tackle in the nation, was drafted in the first round by the Baltimore Ravens. A major portion of the story focuses on the top-ranked Oher's recruitment by three men: then-LSU coach Nick Saban, then-Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, and then-Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron. It's a recruiting battle for the ages.

Two weeks ago Bruce Feldman reported that Orgeron would play himself in the movie. Now I can report that Phil Fulmer will be playing himself, having traveled down to Atlanta this past Friday to film his scenes with Sandra Bullock. All that remains to be determined is whether Nick Saban is playing himself. And wouldn't that be great if Saint Nick donned the purple and gold to reprise his role for the film?

Outgoing LSU receiver Demetrius Byrd is hospitalized and in intensive care after an auto accident. The Associated Press says his agent David Dunn expects him to be OK while LSU officials say the accident happened Sunday near his Miami home.

We're delighted to hear he should be alright but this is obviously tough news for him and his family just days before the NFL draft. Byrd had 37 receptions for 513 yards and four touchdowns last year, his second at LSU after transferring in from a junior college. He is perhaps most famous for his beautiful corner of the end zone game winning touchdown catch as time expired against Auburn in 2007 (video after the jump) that helped preserve LSU's national title hopes.

The slow season in college football is a great time to examine various trends and topics within the game. Something that jumped out about the 2008 season was the standout performance by Pete Carroll's USC defense. It posted some of the best cumulative marks of the era in points (9.0), yards (222), pass yards (134) and pass efficiency defense (85.75) allowed. It pitched a trio of shutouts. It will likely send every starter into the NFL along with many backups.

Without hesitation one can safely claim it was one of the best defenses we've seen in the last 20 years of college football. Of particular interest is that it didn't happen in isolation. USC's been building towards a performance like that for several years. After digging into the numbers an interesting trend jumped out.

We've been following this Bryce Brown saga for, well, probably less than the amount of time constituting a true "saga," but enough to possibly give credence that highly-recruited tailbacks are to the college game what highly-paid receivers are to the NFL (see also: David Oku).

While linking his name to nearly every hot commodity outside of his Wichita origins, up to and including Canada, the No. 1 offensive prospect according to Rivals had a verbal commitment to Miami, bolstered by the fact that his brother is currently a linebacker for the 'Canes and his pops apparently wants to see him at Miami too.

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.

When prospect DeAngelo Benton announced on Tuesday night that he would sign with LSU, it apparently did not sit well with stud wide receiver recruit Rueben Randle. Mere hours before signing day started, Randle -- long considered an LSU lock -- told a reporter that he may not commit to any school on Wednesday.

"When I get home, I'm going to sit down with my family and talk about it. Then I'll decide whether I'm going to sign (Wednesday) or not," Randle told the Bastrop Daily Enterprise before baseball practice today.

I guess Randle cooled off after baseball practice, because he wound up signing with LSU anyway.

LSU is adding to its defensive line riches this signing day morning, gaining the commitment of South Carolina defensive end Sam Montgomery. Montgomery had offers from nearly every major power, but chose LSU and coach Les Miles over the chance to play for Butch Davis at North Carolina or Lane Kiffin at Tennessee.

Rivals.com rates him a four-star player, and lists him as a weakside defensive end as he's a bit light but quick at 230 pounds. Montgomery is part of a monster signing class for LSU, which came into today just behind Ohio State in the Rivals.com class rankings. They are my early guess for which school will come out on top today.

Darren Myles, a top-ranked safety being pursued by LSU and Alabama spurned them both to go with Lane Kiffin and Tennessee. It was something of a minor surprise considering how hard LSU seemed to be pursuing him in the final week, including an in-home visit by Les Miles in the final week. This was a big win for Kiffin going against two major SEC recruiters.

Myles is a four-star safety from Georgia, that Lane Kiffin actually called first after being allowed to contact recruits. That apparently had an impact on Myles. It also helped that he would be coached by Monte Kiffin and play with Eric Berry at Safety.

FanHouse's lead-up to college football's signing day makes like Charles Dickens and looks at the Ghosts of Recruiting -- past, present and future. In the Ghosts of Recruiting Present, we document prominent recruiting makes and misses that changed programs

West Virginia plucked superstar quarterback Pat White out of all places, lower Alabama. How it got him came down to its offensive system and persistence in treating him as a quarterback when other schools felt he would be a wide receiver. The other schools weren't wrong to do so, by conventional wisdom, but sometimes you get ahead by attacking the margins as West Virginia did.