Signing Day Features Winners, Not Whiners

By Chris Dufresne

Feb. 3, 2005 12 AM PT

Once again, the top story emanating from national signing day in college football was that there were no losers -- at least no loser who would admit to it.

Signing day is like pitchers and catchers reporting for spring training -- all futures are bright and everyone thinks they’re going to win the pennant.

It’s a day when national champion USC and delta bottom-feeder Louisiana Monroe can both say “we addressed our needs.”

In three years, some Division I-A team is going to go 0-11 because of the rubbish collected Wednesday, but isn’t it nice to be able to defer tomorrow’s reality for today’s optimism?

“I’m very excited about this class,” Tulane Coach Chris Scelfo boasted about his 2005 crop, never mind that it was ranked No. 83 (out of 117) by Scout.com.

Temple has one foot in the D-I football grave, yet that didn’t stop Coach Bobby Wallace from sounding like Norman Vincent Peale.

“I think we were able to sign a very good group of high school players,” Wallace said.

The only sure thing about signing day is that nothing’s for sure.

In 2000, Florida had the top-rated class, the top-rated quarterback in Brock Berlin and the top-rated coach in Steve Spurrier.

Spurrier ended up in the National Football League and Berlin ended up at Miami.

Hard work is required to build a contender, but so is luck.

Once, Oklahoma State grieved over losing a prospect to Texas only to fill the scholarship with a longshot named Barry Sanders.

Marshall “discovered” Chad Pennington when he showed up one day, out of the blue, at the school’s summer camp.

Now that’s good recruiting.

The accounts payable bill for this year’s recruiting season will come due in 2008, but here are 10 story lines unearthed from Wednesday’s topsoil.

1. Tennessee.

“Yee” and “Haw.”

No state in the union better juxtaposed the sensational and sleazy sides of recruiting.

In Knoxville, fans celebrated as Tennessee claimed arguably the nation’s best class as the Volunteers hauled in a Costco-trip, 27-player load.

“It really shows you the draw of football in that part of the world,” said Allen Wallace, national recruiting editor of Scout and SuperPrep.com, which rated Tennessee’s class No. 1 this year. “It’s a different ballgame there.”

Here’s how good a day it was: Tennessee was able to lure coveted safety Demetrice Morely, a South Floridian, out of Miami’s back yard.

Yet, on the very day Tennessee was making headline hay, a jury in Memphis convicted Logan Young of federal racketeering charges. Young is an Alabama booster who paid Memphis high school coach Lynn Lang $150,000 to deliver defensive lineman Albert Means to Tuscaloosa.

The case sent several programs scurrying for cover after Lang testified that eight schools offered money for Means (who ended up playing for Memphis).

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive said last year his goal was to have the SEC probation free by 2008.

He may want to amend that statement to 3008.

2. The Rich Get Richer.

And the poor get the picture.

USC’s goal to become the most dominant football program ever was not damaged by Wednesday’s recruiting class, even though the Trojans slipped a bit by not, for the second consecutive year, signing a running back.

Picky, picky.

Last we checked, USC had two star backs with two years of eligibility remaining (Reggie Bush and LenDale White), and a potential star in cold storage -- Chauncey Washington.

Not even Pete Carroll wins all the recruiting wars, though.

Reggie Smith, the highly touted safety from Edmond, Okla., chose the Oklahoma Sooners over the Trojans.

Didn’t he see the Orange Bowl?

3. South Bender.

What does a player do if he wants to play for a top-10 program?

If you’re touted offensive line prospect Brian Roche, you choose Louisville over Notre Dame.

Louisville finished No. 6 last year.

Notre Dame finished 6-6.

It was not a good signing day for the Irish, who also lost star defensive end Lawrence Wilson, from Akron, Ohio, to Ohio State.

“Good afternoon everyone,” Notre Dame Coach/New England offensive coordinator Charlie Weis said on a Wednesday conference call. “I am obviously here from lovely Jacksonville.”

That, of course, was the problem. On the most important day in college football, Weis was preparing the New England offense for Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Weis did the best he could for a guy with two jobs. He is carrying two cell phones with him this week, one for Notre Dame and one for New England.

Weis did his best to close on players with his cellular roaming plan, but it appears this recruiting class is going to be a bust.

“I’m content and happy with the 15 young men we’ve got,” was the way Weis spun it.

4. Heartbreak Hotel.

Nothing like getting jerked around by a high school senior to make a man wish he never got into coaching.

Louisiana star Ryan Perrilloux reneged on his oral commitment to Texas and signed with Louisiana State.

A dual-threat quarterback who amassed more than 12,000 total yards in his high school career, Perrilloux had his heart set on Texas only months ago.

Apparently, though, Vince Young’s virtuoso performance in Texas’ Rose Bowl win over Michigan chased Perrilloux to Baton Rouge.

Perrilloux might have deduced it would be easier to beat LSU sophomore JaMarcus Russell out for the starting job than Young, who still has two years of eligibility remaining.

“I have no disappointment in guys that don’t come,” Texas Coach Mack Brown said. “Because there’s a reason they didn’t come.”

Last year, tailback Adrian Peterson didn’t come.

5. Rocky Mountain Climb.

Remember that sex-and-booze scandal that was supposed to cripple Colorado’s football program for years to come?

Well, apparently it didn’t.

Early indications are Colorado recruited a decent-to-solid class -- maybe a shade better than last year’s -- despite implementation of the nation’s strictest recruiting guidelines in the aftermath of last year’s mess in which the football program was accused of using girls and alcohol to ply recruits.

Scout.com has Colorado’s class at No. 44, one notch better than last year’s rankings.

“I think they weathered the storm,” Wallace said. “I think they got through it.”

6. Putrid Sound.

Washington Coach Tyrone Willingham receives a get-out-of-recruiting-jail-free card this year considering he walked into a typhoon when he took over this broken-down program in mid-December.

No shock that the Huskies, coming off their first losing season since 1976, signed a class that was about as small (13 players) as Washington point guard Nate Robinson.

Adding to Washington’s perception problem was that, on signing day, it seemed as if half of the athletic department was preparing for testimony in the trial of former coach Rick Neuheisel, who is suing Washington for wrongful termination.

Is it any wonder Washington is suddenly small potatoes and why one of the nation’s top running backs, the homegrown Jonathan Stewart, opted to play for Oregon?

Things may actually improve for Willingham once he gets around to hiring the rest of his coaching staff.

7. Iowa.

I-o-what?

A top-10 signing class for the Hawkeyes?

Believe it.

Iowa parlayed three consecutive 10-win seasons and the long-term commitment from rock-solid Coach Kirk Ferentz to pull off one of this year’s biggest hauls.

“They represent what every program needs to get over the hump,” Wallace said. “Appear in and/or win BCS games.”

Iowa took advantage of a down cycle at Illinois, raiding the state for six of its top players.

Cautionary note: Iowa fans haven’t been this excited since the stellar recruiting class of 1986, which produced 6-foot-7 quarterback Dan McGwire, who ended up transferring to San Diego State.

Let’s just say Dan’s brother, Mark, had a better career.

8. Nebraska.

Chalk up a big win for the original “Red State.”

Defying logic and reason, Nebraska parlayed one of the most disappointing seasons in half a century into one of the top recruiting classes.

Recruiting analyst Tom Lemming actually had Nebraska ranked No. 1 this year.

How to explain this?

The Cornhuskers had a losing season, did not go to a bowl game, and looked discombobulated at times under first-year Coach Bill Callahan.

“I think it played right into their scenario,” Wallace of Scout.com said. “They said to the kids, ‘We’re embarrassed, this never happens around here.’ There are no excuses.”

9. Follow the Bouncing Ball Coach.

Spurrier wasn’t known as a gung-ho recruiter at Florida, but he apparently scored big with his first class at South Carolina.

He dipped into North Carolina to snag tight end Jonathan Hannah away from Virginia Tech and coaxed speedy receiver O.J. Murdock away from ... Florida.

Spurrier also signed quarterbacks Tommy Beecher and Cade Thompson, who led their high school teams to state championships.

“Our goal is to make the University of South Carolina a fun place to be a football player,” Spurrier said.

How about Fun N’ Gun II?

10. Know the Pecking Order.

In Los Angeles, the current P.O. address for two-time national champion USC, rival Coach Karl Dorrell of UCLA continued his slingshot fight against Goliath with a pronouncement of his “outstanding, well-rounded class.”

Is it?

It appears the Bruins landed another quality recruiting batch of players, but only time will tell if UCLA can make a dent into USC’s dominance.

The Bruins went toe to toe with the Trojans on at least one recruit, Charles Brown of Diamond Ranch High, but ultimately lost.

UCLA has to hope the key signing of quarterback Ben Olson will trigger a Pied Piper reaction in Westwood.

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Rich Get Richer

USC landed three of the top 10 incoming recruits, according to SuperPrep/Scout.com:

1. Eugene Monroe, OT, 6-6, 315

So. Plainfield, N.J. (signed with Virginia)

2. Mark Sanchez, QB, 6-4, 215

Mission Viejo (USC)

3. Derrick Williams, WR-DB, 6-1, 187