NEW YORK (AP) -These days, the Alabama-LSU rivalry is revved-up year round.
The Tigers and Tide tussled for the top spot in the recruiting rankings Wednesday, with Nick Saban and ‘Bama closing strong and even getting one Louisiana star to switch from purple and gold to crimson and white on signing day.
As if LSU fans needed another reason to seethe about Saban, the former Tigers coach who needed just two seasons in Tuscaloosa to wrest the SEC West away from Les Miles’ Tigers.
Alabama went 11-2 last season and played for the Southeastern Conference championship, while LSU disappointed and finished 8-5 the season after winning the national championship.
On signing day, LSU and Alabama went at it again.
Rivals.com and Scout.com gave Alabama its top spot, just ahead of LSU. LSU was No. 1 in ESPNU’s rankings, with Alabama fifth.
Few coaches are as relentless as Saban and Miles when it comes to recruiting.
‘ Bobby Burton of Rivals.com said. “Both of them really take it seriously from start to finish.”
“They both need to keep each other at bay.”
The next meeting on the field between the burgeoning rivals is Nov. 7 at in Tuscaloosa.
The other schools vying for the top spot were mostly the usual suspects: Southern California, Texas and Ohio State.
Florida coach Urban Meyer didn’t have many scholarships to hand out – most of his national championship team will be back next season – but what his class lacked in quantity it made up in quality.
One newcomer to the top-10: North Carolina, with coach Butch Davis. The Tar Heels haven’t had this type of recruiting success since Mack Brown was in Chapel Hill in the late 1990s.
Rich Rodriguez’s first season at Michigan was a 3-9 debacle, but his first recruiting class drew top-10 rankings.
And the top running back prospect in the country decided NOT to sign a letter of intent on Wednesday. Bryce Brown of Wichita, Kan., who has given a verbal commitment to Miami, plans to mull his decision over for a few more weeks. Oregon and Kansas State are apparently still in the running.
LSU appeared to be on its way to being crowned the recruiting champion for 2009 early Wednesday, but several talented players who entered the day uncommitted picked Alabama and the Tide rose up the charts.
rnerback in the country by Rivals, who decided to stay close to his Gadsden, Ala., home play for Saban.
Five-star prospects D.J. Fluker, an offensive lineman, and Nico Johnson, a linebacker, also stayed in state and honored their verbal commitments to the Tide. Saban again landed most of Alabama’s top prospects. Five-star running back Trent Richardson from Pensacola, Fla., picked the Tide over Florida and LSU.
“There was a fair amount of speculation that Richardson might have gone to LSU,” said Allen Wallace of Scout.com and SuperPrep Magazine. “If he had gone (to LSU) I might have switched LSU No. 1 instead of Alabama. That’s how close it is at the top.”
Alabama also persuaded four-star wide receiver Kenny Bell, from Rayville, La., to make a signing day switch and abandon his verbal commitment to LSU.
The Tigers got bad news on Bell, but good news on Rueben Randle, Rivals’ No. 1 receiver prospect in the country. Randle, from Bastrop, La., hadn’t made a verbal commitment and had Alabama among his final choices.
Bell was one of the few highly rated prospects in Louisiana who didn’t sign with LSU.
Miles reached into Texas for a couple of stars. Safety Craig Loston from Aldine and dual-threat quarterback Russell Shepard from Houston were rated among the best in the country at their positions.
nship.
The Gators handed out 16 scholarships and lost out on some players late. But Florida’s class includes receiver Andre Debose of Sanford, Fla., rated the second-best at his position in the country by Rivals, and Gary Brown of Quincy, Fla., Rivals’ No. 3 defensive tackle.
Meyer said Debose could replace Percy Harvin, the talented and multidimensional receiver who is skipping his senior season to enter the NFL draft.
“Watching (Debose) on film, for what we do, our style of offense, for what we need right now with the departure of Percy Harvin, that’s a critical element because we’re not going to change our offense,” Meyer said.
Wednesday morning, Florida landed one of the top uncommitted prospects entering signing day in Jelani Jenkins, a highly touted linebacker from Olney, Md.
Manti T’eo from Honolulu, another top-rated linebacker, also made his choice Wednesday and surprised many of the experts by picking Notre Dame over USC and UCLA.
Still it was another good signing day for Pete Carroll and USC. The Trojans’ latest heralded recruiting class features the consensus No. 1 quarterback in the country. Matt Barkley is from Mater Dei High School, the same southern California school that produced Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart.
Texas’ Brown also found a five-star quarterback prospect in his backyard. Garrett Gilbert from Austin highlights a Longhorns class that is, as usual, highly rated and loaded with in-state talent.
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