February 4, 2008

Jeremy Crabtree
Recruiting Editor

Team ranking and player status as of Monday, Feb. 1, 6 a.m. CST

Team rankings top 25
1. Florida
Stock: Total commits: 22	Florida moved back up to No. 1 last week after adding the commitment of four-star stud William Green. The No. 7 player at his position and the No. 6 player in Alabama was recruited by ace Gator recruiter Charlie Strong. His pledge could help keep Florida at No. 1, unless there is a late rally by one of the teams down the list some.
2. Notre Dame
Stock: Total commits: 22	This Irish class is loaded with prime time players, even though it might not get back to the top spot. Don't be surprised if the Irish do add one more player on Signing Day ? defensive lineman Kapron Lewis-Moore is expected to switch from A&M to Notre Dame, but he's not going on the record with his final pick until Wednesday. The Irish are also making a strong push with four-star running back Milton Knox, a UCLA commitment.
3. Alabama
Stock: Total commits: 28	The Crimson Tide has done a tremendous job this season, dominating not only in-state but elsewhere throughout the nation. Alabama narrowed the gap between it and Notre Dame with the addition late last week of the nation's No. 2 cornerback, Alonzo Lawrence, plus the Tide has quite a few big-time players that could come down for them over the next few days, which means they have about as good of a shot as anybody near the top to climb higher. Alabama is still waiting on studs like T.J. Bryant, Mark Ingram and Julio Jones.
4. Georgia
Stock: Total commits: 25	The Dawgs did a tremendous job this season, scoring one of the best classes early on and then Mark Richt and Co. kept piling on the solid players. The Dawgs had to sweat out Toby Jackson's visit to USC, but he decided to stick with UGA. Xavier Avery visited Oklahoma, but also decided to stick with the Dawgs. Unless there are some surprises, the class should stick somewhere near the top five nationally.
5. Oklahoma
Stock: Total commits: 20	The Sooners have closed strong under Bob Stoops the past few seasons and this year is nothing different. While nobody will go on the record yet, it looks like OU has added four-star athlete Lamar Harris from Gilmer, Texas, to its commitment list. His pledge hasn't factored in yet in the rankings because he's not on the commitment list yet. When his commitment is confirmed it could help OU bump over Georgia, who holds a 71 point lead.
6. Florida State
Stock: Total commits: 24	FSU went about things differently this season compared to the past, as it went out and landed commitments in the spring and summer. In years past, Bobby Bowden waited and closed strong. FSU recently added four-star A.J. Alexander and sleepers Rhonne Sanderson and Josh Gehres. They also still are waiting on Ryan Baker, Jamie Harper and others. The Noles could easily push up higher on the list if they pull a few of those down the stretch.
7. Miami
Stock: Total commits: 27	The Canes did a tremendous job of raiding the top talent in their own backyard. It was extremely tough for anybody to get any of the top players in South Florida away from the Canes this season. That lead Miami to a great recruiting start that has remained steady all the way through. Miami has some big names still on the board that could boost the class up. Brandon Harris, LaRon Byrd, Harper and Nick Perry and are still possibilities. Adding Vaughn Telemaque late Thursday night helped bump them up a spot. If things break right, it could be a top five class of UM.
8. Ohio State
Stock: Total commits: 17	Ohio State's class has been relatively in place for quite some time. Once again Jim Tressel has Ohio State on track to land one of the nation's best groups. Five-star offensive tackles Mike Adams and Michael Brewster are the type of prospects you can build a future line around. The big question now is whether or not they will be blocking for Terrelle Pryor in the future. Ohio State did slid a few spots after top 100 prospect Devoe Torrence was removed from the commitment list.
9. LSU
Stock: Total commits: 25	The national champions have been on a roll and still have a shot at finishing somewhere in the top five if the dominoes all fall right for them down the stretch. The Tigers did a tremendous job of securing an early class and now Les Miles and recruiting coordinator Josh Henson has been targeting key players like Jermaine Thomas and others that could truly help push this class higher. Rumors are that Thomas could switch to LSU any day now. The Tigers did also recently decide to go ahead and take the commitment from super-star prep-school receiver DeAngelo Benton. His addition helped push LSU from No. 12 to No. 9 in the rankings.
10. USC
Stock: Total commits: 17	Here come the Trojans. The Trojans got good news last week from four-star defensive tackle Jurrell Casey when he pledged to the Trojans over Oregon. The Trojans are also waiting for word from Bryant, Harris and Perry. This class, like Miami and LSU, has probably the best chance of moving up in the rankings before next week. USC also is working hard to make sure that Joe Adams doesn't switch to Arkansas.
11. Michigan
Stock: Total commits: 19	With it looking more and more like landing Pryor won't be a reality, the Wolverines have done a nice job here the past few days attacking other needs. The Wolverines have added three-star athlete J.T. Floyd from South Carolina and stud running back Terrence Robinson from Klein, Texas. Robinson might end up being one of the biggest steals not only in the Big Ten, but in the nation. He is one of the best kept secrets n the nation. Other players could come in down the stretch and help push UM into the top 10.
12. Texas
Stock: Total commits: 20	Darrell Scott. Darrell Scott. Darrell Scott. That's about all that's left on the board for Texas, and it's a mighty big one. The Horns, once again, did a tremendous job by jumping out of the gates early with a highly-regarded class. There are plenty of stars of the future in this group, but it'll go down as one of Mack Brown's best efforts if he can snag the nation's No. 1 running back away.
13. UCLA
Stock: Total commits: 23	Things have been kind of quiet the past few weeks for UCLA. The Bruins have been busy working hard at trying to keep the pieces in place to what was a top five recruiting class. There have been some defections that really stung, but in the end most of the top players that were committed under the old staff have remained in place. All things considered, this is a very special UCLA class. The Bruins did add recently three-star juco quarterback Kevin Craft. UCLA is also sweating out a last-minute push by Notre Dame on Milton Knox.
14. Clemson
Stock: Total commits: 23	The Tigers did add a nice pledge late last week from Cheraw, S.C., three-star athlete Jaron Brown. The 6-foot-2, 187-pounder picked Clemson over Michigan and South Carolina. The Tigers still have some big fish on the line also ? especially running back Jamie Harper. Harper's commitment would be like icing on the cake for Clemson.
15. Texas A&M
Stock: Total commits: 26	Give the new Texas A&M staff a ton of credit. They took what could have been a major recruiting disaster and hit the road aggressively and it's paid off with a tremendous class. The Aggies did some major homework to find sleeper linebacker Ricky Cavanaugh, who might be one of Texas' biggest steals. Then on Sunday the Aggies landed four-star and top 100 running back Cyrus Gray. A&M is having to fight hard to keep Moore, but all signs point toward him switching to Notre Dame. That could push the Aggies down a little bit.
16. Auburn
Stock: Total commits: 29	The Tigers have been busy the past few days, after a flurry of commitments late last week, Auburn added three-star safety Neiko Lipscomb of Tucker, Ga., on Sunday. Lipscomb is ranked as the No. 28 player in Georgia and the No. 35 safety overall. He picked the Tigers over Ole Miss and a host of other national offers. Like Alabama, the Tigers are also waiting to see what's going to happen with Gadsden (Ala.) Gadsden City four-star linebacker Jerrell Harris.
17. Virginia Tech
Stock: Total commits: 28	Things have been relatively quiet lately for Tech, as the foundation of the class has already been in place for a while now. The Hokies have landed a small handful of commitments in January with most of the work in the class done well in advance back this spring and summer. Ryan Williams has a chance to be a monster star for the Hokies. Not only is he talented, but he also fits the system really well. The Hokies also have one of the nation's best offensive line classes.
18. Oregon
Stock: Total commits: 20	The Ducks continue to do it all over the country. Not only do they recruit well in California, but they've recruited well in other parts of the country. They went into Kansas to pull in Chris Harper recently and went into Texas to pull in stud running back LaMichael James. The Ducks are making a strong push also for Kentucky receiver Aaron Boyd and five-star prep school running back Enrique Davis. Landing either could push them up the charts some.
19. Illinois
Stock: Total commits: 28	The Illini have been holding steady also for a while now. The number of potential kids still on the list is down to a small handful. Ron Zook proved again in this year's class that he's one of the best recruiters in the nation. He did it both on the high school and on the junior college level. Four-star juco safety Donsay Hardeman has a real shot at being special for the Illini right away. The Illini did add kicker Derek Dimke last Wednesday.
20. Arizona State
Stock: Total commits: 27	It's also been quiet lately for ASU. The Sun Devils did a tremendous job on the field this season and then also in the recruiting front. Dennis Erickson complimented his high school class with a talented-laden junior college class. The biggest gets, though, come from in-state high school stars like Gerell Robinson and Jarrell Barbour. Stealing away Ryan Bass from rival Arizona also had to feel really good.
21. Pittsburgh
Stock: Total commits: 20	Pittsburgh has been one of the most pleasant surprises nationally this recruiting season. Not only did they make strides on the field late in the season, they've continued to make strides forward in the recruiting wars. Landing five-star receiver Jonathan Baldwin is something that should help sparkplug the offense even more next season. And they've done a tremendous job also on the defensive side of the ball with guys like Shayne Hale expecting to compete for early time.
22. Washington
Stock: Total commits: 26	Tyrone Willingham is flat out getting it done in Seattle this recruiting season. UDub might go down as the biggest surprise nationally, but it shouldn't be a true surprise because the Huskies have a tremendous recruiting base to recruit to ? major urban area, great facilities, good tradition and a great fan base. The Huskies have done most of their damage this season in the Northwest with the key additions of stars like Kavario Middleton, Everrette Thompson, Alameda Ta'amu. But stealing Chris Polk away from USC also had to be exciting for the UDub coaches.
23. Minnesota
Stock: Total commits: 30	Tim Brewster is already well thought of as one of the nation's top recruiters, but the job that he's done this season at Minnesota has been nothing short of amazing. To struggle so bad on the field and then to recruit a class that could end up in the top 25 is simply mind-blowing. The Golden Gophers have had a solid foundation in place for a while, but recent additions from players like Kevin Whaley, Cedric McKinley and Brodrick Smith have pushed the Gophers up two slots from late last week.
24. Missouri
Stock: Total commits: 24	The Tigers did a tremendous job of capitalizing on their Big 12 North championship. Mizzou landed the nation's top pro-style quarterback in Blaine Gabbert and also did a good job of sealing up the rest of its state borders by landing six of the state's top eight players. The Lone Star State was also kind to the Tigers with pledges from 12 players. The addition of Marcus Malbrough early this week pushed the Tigers up a few slots.
25. Oklahoma State
Stock: Total commits: 27	The Cowboys will sign one of the nation's best combinations of high school and junior college players. OSU already has eight players on campus, including top 50 juco players Maurice Gray, Beau Johnson and Swanson Miller. OSU also has done well on the high school level, re-loading at the defensive back spot. Safeties Victor Johnson and Markelle Martin have a shot to be really special for the Cowboys. Keeping Kye Staley, a highly-ranked player, away from Arkansas is a key to keeping a spot in the top 25.