NCAA Football Ncaa Fb Prospects

Texas is No. 1.

Or is it Oklahoma? Or does Florida, USC or defending recruiting champion Ohio State have enough juice to finish with a flurry over the next five months and land the nation's top 2010 recruiting class? While questions remain, this much is certain: for many top schools, football coaches are receiving non-binding verbal commitments long before February's national signing day.

Many believe the trend of committing early was a recruiting strategy first implemented by Texas coach Mack Brown.

"Most teams are either pretty much done or halfway done at this point, compared to five years ago when teams were barely getting started commitment-wise by late summer," Jamie Newberg, national recruiting analyst for Rivals. com, told FanHouse.

There's no doubt about it.

A.J. Graham -- Florida's Mr. Football - will soon be headed to join his new teammates at Marshall University.

Marshall University reinstated the Godby High School (Tallahassee, Fla.,) star's scholarship Thursday after armed robbery charges were dropped against the record-setting quarterback earlier on Thursday morning because Graham's alibi, according to his lawyer, is strong enough to create "reasonable doubt."

""Based on today's development, A.J. will have his scholarship reinstated," Marshall head coach Mark Snyder said. "We look forward to having him join our program and put this unfortunate episode behind him."

Marcus Lattimore has never bought into the hype about himself.

He might be South Carolina's top college prospect and the No. 1 recruit in the nation, according to The Sporting News. Scout.com lists him as No. 2 nationally and Rivals.com lists him at No 4 for good measure. Lattimore also has received more than 30 scholarship offers and he enters his senior season at powerhouse James F. Byrnes High School as the program's all-time leading rusher.

Impressed? Not Lattimore, no sir.

In case you're wondering, here is the complete list of outrageous things Lane Kiffin has not done since becoming head coach at Tennessee:

1. Paint himself orange and skydive naked into Bryant-Denny Stadium.
2. Ask what Urban Meyer has done that's so great.
3. Consult with the UT astronomy department to see whether the universe would be annihilated if his ego was ever in the same room as Bruce Pearl's.
4. Coach in, and win, a football game.

For a moment, I had to cross off "make an outrageous scholarship offer to a middle schooler" because, well, there were reports that he just did that. Evan Berry, 13-year-old son of former Vol running back James Berry and brother of current Vol Eric Berry, has officially committed to the Vols. Or so said Rivals.com and ESPN, sort of.

Scout.com released its updated Scout 300 on Monday, and offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson remains the site's top high school prospect. Two other offensive lineman were rated among the country's top 22 players, including tackle James Hurst of Indiana.

In fact, Hurst just might be the most heavily-recruited offensive lineman ever from the Hoosier state, which should put a smile on the face of North Carolina coach Butch Davis. Hurst is one of three verbal commitments for the Tar Heels.

"I ran out of good things to say about James a long time ago," Brian Woodard, Hurst's high school coach in Plainfield, Ind., outside of Indianapolis, told FanHouse.

Florida State's list of available receivers continues to dwindle.

Richard Goodman, a senior receiver for the Seminoles, was arrested by Florida State University police Tuesday night and charged with aggravated battery, a felony. He was released on $1,000 bond. The charge, according to a sheriff's office spokesman, stems from an on-campus fight in November 2008 between members of the football team and members of a fraternity.

Goodman was suspended indefinitely from the team on Wednesday by FSU coach Bobby Bowden.

Trouble also has filtered into the local high school ranks, where star quarterback A.J. Graham, the state's Mr. Football Award winner who signed with Marshall University last February, was arrested on Tuesday by Tallahassee police on a robbery with firearm charge.

As a high school senior in Tampa, Fla., in 2007, Robert Marve passed for 48 touchdowns and over 4,000 yards. The final pass of his prep career was a touchdown with 17 seconds remaining in the state title game. With big numbers and clutch performances, Marve was one of the top quarterback recruits in the country, fielding scholarship offers from Alabama, Purdue, Miami and Michigan State and a host of others. Initially Marve committed to the Crimson Tide, but after Mike Shula's firing, he reopened his recruitment and ended up signing with Miami.

Less than six months later, Marve was a passenger in a car driven by one of his Miami teammates. The car slammed into a guardrail on I-95 after the driver fell asleep, and Marve's left hand was badly injured, leading him to redshirt his freshman season. This past season, Marve returned to start 11 games for the Hurricanes, throwing for nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions. But in December he decided to transfer. Which leads to an interesting question, how often have college football quarterbacks transferred and actually been successful at their new destination?

In 2005, Rivals.com ranked 28 men as five-star football recruits. The players were the cream of the crop, the top football players in America. They signed to play for top teams across the country, from USC to Miami, Penn State to Oklahoma.

There was just one problem: Turns out they were more likely to be arrested than drafted by the NFL.

In the 2009 draft, seven of these 28 men were drafted. Four more left early and were drafted in the 2008 draft. That means there have been 11 draft picks from the 2005 five-stars. Amazingly, that's less than the number of men who have been arrested, 14. If you ever doubted whether being obsessed with college football recruiting was fool's gold, keep this stat in mind: In 2005, five-star recruits were more than twice as likely to be arrested (14) as drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft in 2008 or 2009 (six). There haven't been this many wasted hours on the Internet since first year lawyering.

So you want to know how over-the-top college football recruiting has become, how utterly insane it is these days? Allow me to present the case of Bryce Brown.

Arguably the top prep prospect in the entire country, Brown verbally committed to Miami a year ago, but told The U. that he would still visit his other college options. He did so, putting together a list that included Oregon, Kansas State, Tennessee, USC and Auburn.

Then on signing day, with all those teams holding their breath, Brown signed with ... no one. And here's the kicker: He may not wind up at any of those places, according to his "manager" Brian Butler -- instead opting for a professional contract in the Canadian Football League.

I'm not entirely sure how this result will justify the SEC as the nation's best conference, but I am sure someone will argue it: the South team jumped out to a 21-3 lead at the annual Senior Bowl and coasted to a 35-18 win over the North.

Most of the South's offensive success came on the ground -- rising star Rashad Jennings from Liberty carried nine times for 57 yards, part of a 169-yard team rushing effort. Quarterback/whatever he'll play in the NFL Pat White posted the best yards-per-carry average, carrying three times for 31 yards.

White also hit on 4-of-9 passes for 63 yards and a 39-yard third-quarter touchdown to Ole Miss' Mike Wallace. Alabama QB John Parker Wilson, N.C. State running back Andre Brown and LSU fullback Quinn Johnson each scored on the ground for the South, while Wallace's Mississippi teammate Peria Jerry added a late defensive score.