News / Sports
College Football Recruiting Class Favors USC, Florida Gators and Texas Longhorns
It’s been just over a month since the Florida Gators upset the Ohio State Buckeyes for the National Championship and already college football is back in the spotlight. Top college programs have been scrambling for a year to land prized recruits to their respective schools and national signing day is when all the phone conversations, film reviews and home visits determine who won the war.
February 6 was the first day high school football players could sign their letter of intent to enroll at their school of choice and judging by the scouts’ and recruiters’ the USC Trojans landed the top class.
After landing Joe McKnight, the nation’s number one ranked player, the USC Trojans completed a remarkable recruiting class that features the top three ranked high school football players in the country. Chris Galippo and Marc Tyler will join McKnight on the USC squad to give Pete Carroll the trifecta. McKnight and Taylor should carry on the tradition of great running backs that have past through the backfield of USC while Galippo is seen as a dominant inside linebacker that will make an immediate impact on the defensive side of the ball.
Urban Meyer will be bringing in a class of recruits that could put the Florida Gators in position to win a few more national championships in the coming years. The Gators landed a slew of talent, drawing on the wealth of high school football in the state of Florida. Carlos Dunlap was the #2 ranked defensive end going into signing day and offensively the Gators will be bringing in prized recruits John Brantley at quarterback, Deonte Thompson at wide receiver, and Chris Rainey at running back. The Gators also landed the #1 offensive guard in 6’5 305-pound James Wilson and #1 tight end 6’4 235-pound Aaron Hernandez.
The Texas Longhorns once again mined the state for their top prospects. Of their top 25 recruits 24 played high school football in Texas. Among the top recruits signing to play for the Longhorns are 6’4 300-pound Tray Allen who is considered the #1 offensive tackle. Defensively the Longhorns had an impressive signing day as well. Prized safety Christian Scott and corner backs Ben Wells and Curtis Brown. Ahmard Howard, the nation’s #3 ranked tight end will also be wearing a Longhorn uniform come spring.
While USC, Florida, and Texas established the most impressive recruiting classes it certainly doesn’t guarantee them a national championship. Florida will need all the help they can get as fellow SEC schools South Carolina, Tennessee, LSU, and Auburn were considered to have the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh ranked classes respectively. Texas will be putting their impressive recruiting class up against Texas A&M who were considered to have the 16th best recruiting class in the country. USC, who consistently plays one of the toughest schedules, will rely heavily on their new class to keep them atop the Pac 10.
