January 18, 2009

Rivals.com recruiting staff

Five-star linebacker Jelani Jenkins was the headliner for a big weekend at Penn State. While it looks like the Nittany Lions will have to wait on a decision from Jenkins, they did pick up three verbal commitments over the weekend.

The early returns are in from the big weekend in Gainesville as five-star prospects Greg Reid and Trent Richardson gave their thoughts on the Gators.

New Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen had a successful weekend in Starkville as the Bulldogs reeled in three big commitments.

Read on for the inside scoop on those story lines and more from the big weekends across the country.

» National visit weekend preview | Rivals.com's Mike Farrell talks recruiting on RivalsRadio

Official Visit Weekend: The Results

ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE: BamaOnLine.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

The University of Alabama had a relatively small list of official visitors this weekend, but the headliner was a big one as Bastrop (La.) High's Rueben Randle, the nation's top-ranked wide receiver, was in town for his official visit. ? Randle talks Alabama visit

ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS: ASUDevils.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Rancho Santa Margarita (Calif.) Tesoro offensive tackle Evan Finkenberg made an official visit this weekend to Arizona State and picked up an offer from the Sun Devils. ? ASU offers Finkenberg

AUBURN TIGERS: AuburnSports.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Auburn (Ala.) High offensive lineman John Sullen committed to Southern Miss last weekend following an official visit to Hattiesburg. A week later, following his official visit to Auburn, the 6-foot-5, 338-pound lineman committed to the Tigers. ? Sullen commits to Auburn ? Athlete pre-commits to Auburn ? Four-star DT impressed with Auburn visit ? Auburn makes move with four-star receiver ? JUCO athlete still committed to Ole Miss? ? Texas DE nearing decision after visit? ? Tana Patrick talks Auburn visit

BAYLOR BEARS: SicEmSports.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Three-star standout wide receiver Skyler Scott was one of the players the Baylor staff was trying to secure a commitment from this weekend.

CLEMSON TIGERS: TigerIllustrated.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Tajh Boyd, the No. 4-rated dual-threat quarterback recruit in the nation, took his final official visit this weekend, a trip to Clemson. ? Boyd impressed with Clemson ? Kelly rates visit a '10' Official visitor photo gallery

FLORIDA GATORS: GatorBait.net | Visit Dates | Commit List

Trent Richardson is considered to be one of the elite high school players in the country. Though he committed early to Alabama, several programs, including Florida, are still hot on his trail and he gave high marks to his visit to Gainesville. ? Richardson rates visit a perfect 10 ? Five-star Reid talks Florida visit ? Robinson enjoys visit but still has trips ? Kirkpatrick talks about trip to Florida ? Orson Charles talks Florida

KANSAS STATE WILDCATS: GoPowercat.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Independence (Kan.) Community College safety Emmanual Lamur lined up his first visit of the month to Kansas State and he will leave Manhattan a Wildcat. ? Cats nab JUCO safety

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS: CardinalSports.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

After a visit to Louisville this weekend, JUCO OL Joe Evinger decided to make his college choice. ? JUCO All-American lineman makes his choice

LSU TIGERS: TigerBait.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Slidell (La.) Northshore offensive tackle Chris Faulk jumped on the LSU bandwagon early but waited until this weekend to take his official visit to Baton Rouge. ? Faulk recaps visit

MICHIGAN WOLVERINES: TheWolverine.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Philadelphia (Pa.) Northeast wide receiver Je'Ron Stokes took an official visit this weekend to Michigan ? his first since September when he visited Tennessee. ? Stokes has eye-opening experience

MISSISSIPPI STATE BULLDOGS: BulldogBlitz.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

The Mississippi State Bulldogs picked up three huge commitments on Saturday when four-star recruits Chad Bumphis, Dennis Thames and three-star LaDarius Perkins all decided to take their talents to Starkville. ? Bulldogs add three weekend commitments

NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS: CarolinaBlue.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Three-star offensive tackle Travis Bond has enjoyed the recruiting process up to this point but he feels he is ready to put an end to it. The 6-foot-7, 330-pound tackle from Windsor (N.C.) Bertie narrowed his list down to Michigan, North Carolina, NC State and East Carolina. Then he took official visits to each of those schools, the most recent being to North Carolina over the weekend. ? Bond set to announce

OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS: OStateIllustrated.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Ja-Mes Logan was one of two receiver prospects that made it to Stillwater this past weekend for the Cowboys' largest recruiting weekend of the year. ? Logan to visits OSU, names leader

OREGON STATE BEAVERS: BeaverBlitz.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Oregon State is just wrapping up a huge recruiting weekend and BeaverBlitz.com has photos of one of the scheduled events. Official visitor photo gallery

PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS: BlueWhiteIllustrated.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Woodbury (N.J.) wide receiver Shawney Kersey was looking for a change, and it appears he has found what he was searching for. Kersey switched his verbal commitment from Rutgers to Penn State on his visit and got the ball rolling for verbal commitments to Penn State this weekend. ? Kersey makes a switch ? Urschel commits to Penn State ? Jones is No. 2 for 2010 ? Justin Brown talks Penn State visit

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS: GamecockCentral.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

St. Stephen (S.C.) Timberland four-star offensive lineman Quinton Washington took his third official visit of the recruiting process this weekend when he traveled to Columbia to see how South Carolina compares to Clemson and Michigan. ? Washington leaves Columbia impressed

TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS: VolQuest.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Memphis, Tennessee linebacker Greg King had two teams tied at the top of his list coming into his visit at Tennessee. The Vols and Texas Tech stood at the top of his recruiting mountain, but following his trip to Rocky Top the number of teams at the top have been cut in half. ? King moves Vols to the front ? Phillips likes what he heard ? Graves gives Vols high marks ? Peter White talks Tennessee visit

USC TROJANS: USCFootball.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

San Francisco defensive end Kevin Greene came into this weekend's official visit to USC with two schools on his mind. But before flying back to the Bay Area, Greene had cleared his mind of any doubt about the Trojans. ? Green goes Cardinal & Gold

VANDERBILT COMMODORES: VandySports.com | Visit Dates | Commit List

Vanderbilt picked up a big local commit with an impressive offer list this weekend. ? Three-star prospect picks Vandy