2. Here’s a breakdown of the initial group from Rivals.

3. Alabama is making a push for Georgia quarterback commit Brice Ramsey.

4. Sounds like a move by Urban Meyer, who called the upset talk in the Big Ten last week “nonsense.”

5. If you missed it last week, Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan said he doesn’t recruit prospects committed to other schools.

6. Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin believes the Aggies need to focus their recruiting on Texas and Louisiana.

2. The top-rated unsigned prospect for the 2012 class is getting closer to making a decision.

3. Here are some signing day grades for the 2012 class from CBSSports.com.

4. Alabama signee Dalvin Tomlinson had nothing to do with Darius Philon losing his scholarship at Bama, according to Tomlinson’s coach.

5. Chris Hays of the Orlando Sentinel takes an early look at the 2013 class in Florida.

6. Here’s a look into Kentucky’s efforts to sign its class for 2012.

7. Nkemdiche won’t be the only highly-touted prospect in the state of Georgia for 2013. The group will be large again.

8. South Carolina received a visit from offensive lineman Tyrone Crowder from Rockingham, N.C.

Next, we examine Quality by comparing the average amount of points awarded to each school’s prospects:

Finally, we look at only the High-End Signees inked by each school.  The more four- and five-star recruits signed, the better a team’s odds of finding some true playmakers:

To arrive at our final MrSEC.com Recruiting Rankings, we tally up the standings from each category and weight them equally… as each — in our view — is important when trying to determine the true strength of a school’s recruiting class.

(Those final rankings were posted while sitting in the very loud waiting room of a doctor’s office.  If there’s a typo in the charts above, it’ll be corrected soon.)

Below you’ll find the 14 SEC programs ranked according to the percentage of homestate signees they inked yesterday.  This can be a little misleading because one school might reach for some lesser-ranked in-state prospects while another school might decide to chase better athletes outside its state’s borders.  Still, it’s interesting for the sake of comparison:

Below is the list of states that produced SEC signees this year, ranked from most to least:

Observations:

* More SEC signees came from Georgia than South Carolina, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Ohio, California, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Kansas, Indiana, Arizona, New Jersey, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado and all of the other zero-signee states combined.

* Expect the number of signees from Texas to increase in 2013.  When coaches were making connections with players this time last year, Texas A&M was still looked like a Big 12 cornerstone.  SEC programs will focus much more on that state this year.  Just as more Texas athletes will pay attention to SEC games on television.

* It was a down year in Louisiana which impacted LSU’s signing class and resulted in the Pelican State producing just one more SEC signee than Tennessee.

* The number one non-SEC state for SEC talent?  North Carolina produced 10 SEC signees in 2012.  Ohio was next with five.

* Year-in, year-out, you can expect the staffs at Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt to do more long-distance recruiting than their SEC brethren.  That doesn’t mean it can’t be done — witness Arkansas and Carolina now, Tennessee until the past decade — but it is a tougher slog.

That’s one reason SEC newcomer Missouri plans to send out mass “propaganda” to SEC-region high schools in “numbers you can’t imagine.”

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com.

Vanderbilt

28.5% of class came from within Tennessee.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com.

Texas A&M

78.9% of class came from within Texas.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com.

Tennessee

15.0% of class came from within Tennessee.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com.

South Carolina

16.0% of class came from within South Carolina.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com.

Ole Miss

41.1% of class came from within Mississippi.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com.

Missouri

27.7% of class came from within Missouri.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com.

Mississippi State

57.1% of class came from within Mississippi.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com.

LSU

61.9% of class came from within Louisiana.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com.

Kentucky

15.3% of class came from within Kentucky.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com.

Georgia

57.8% of class came from within Georgia.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com

Florida

52.1% of class came from within Florida.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com

Auburn

31.5% of class came from within Alabama.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com

Arkansas

21.7% of class came from within Arkansas.

As usual, we’ll use the star rankings and current signee lists as provided by Rivals.com

Alabama

26.9% of class came from within Alabama.

Here’s how the total numbers for the league’s 14 members have changed overall from 2010 to 2011 to 2012:


2010 total signees: 359 or 25.6 per school

2011 total signees: 342 or 24.4 per school

2012 total signees: 305 or 21.8 per school


Fewer numbers mean longer odds of finding playmakers, but judging by the SEC’s overall national rankings it’s clear the league passed on more two- and three-star players, not four- and five-star guys.  Naturally.

So while some will no doubt point to the decrease in overall numbers and suggest that SEC teams might start to decline, we continue to say — as we have been saying since the new soft cap passed — that due to the SEC’s location in the most fertile recruiting zone in the country, the new rule isn’t likely to put too big a dent in the league’s overall football product.

For now, we wanted to give you a quick look at the numbers for each SEC program:

After committing to the Bulldogs live on ESPNU this morning, Josh Harvey-Clemons still hasn’t sent in his Letter of Intent to UGA.  That’s because the star linebacker’s grandfather hasn’t signed the LOI yet.  And as Harvey-Clemons’ legal guardian, Gramps has to ink the pact to make it all legal-like.

The player’s uncle, Roy Hart, tells the AJC that his nephew’s decision surprised most people in the family.  They expected the Valdosta native to sign with Florida or Florida State.  ESPN reports that the family preferred Florida.

So will 51-year-old Woodrow Clemons eventually sign his grandson’s LOI?  “… he’s going to sign, from what I understand,” said Hart.  Okay, but will that be today?  “I don’t know.  I don’t know where his grandfather is.  He has kind of been missing in action, so to speak.  I can’t get him on the telephone.”

CBSSports.com reports — via a source — that his family is “advising (Harvey-Clemons) to reconsider attending Florida before making a final decision.”

Mark Richt has said he’s not worried about losing Harvey-Clemons.  We’ll see.

Mark Richt told ESPNU today that his team’s 10-win season had a positive impact on today’s class, but he expects even better things in the future:

“I think (the 2011 turnaround) affected the class in a very positive way.  I think it’s actually going to affect next year’s class even moreso, because now’s the when the 2013 class starts to fall in love with Georgia or whoever they fall in love with.  And with the momentum that we have from a great season last year, most everybody back on both sides of the ball, lotta great things happening at Georgia… that I think it’s going to be a very attractive place for these young men.  So I think what happened this season will probably benefit next year’s class more than it did this year.”

Richt didn’t even mention UGA’s 2012 schedule which most SEC fans outside the Peach State rank as the breeziest of breezes.

Louis had been an Auburn commitment before switching late to Florida State and then declaring himself undecided.  Turns out, he wound up where folks thought he would all along.

And suddenly Auburn’s finish has taken on a much better look.

WTEV/WAWS-TV in Jacksonville reports that the 3-star prospect will make a visit to Knoxville this weekend before deciding whose scholarship offer to sign.

This afternoon, the son officially overruled the mom and inked with the Crimson Tide.

In preparation for signing day, schools like Georgia build profiles of all of their possible signees.  Someone at UGA accidentally hit the publish button on Young’s bio and it went live.

But moments ago the Florida native selected Auburn over both Georgia and Florida.  Auburn hasn’t closed as fast as it has in recent years so Young’s announcement will put a nice spin on things.

Les Miles just shared the following anecdote with ESPNU:

“Avery Johnson, we know him well.  He’s certainly been to our camp and he’s been around Pat, and he’s family.  He got (assistant coach Steve) Kragthorpe on the phone and he said to Steve, ‘I’m going to another school that where’s red.’  And Steve said, ‘Are you serious?’  All the blood left his face.  ‘Yeah, really, I’m signing with that other school.’  And Steve said to Frank Wilson, ‘Take the phone, I don’t think I’m gonna make it.’  It was shortly thereafter that Avery said, ‘No, I’m coming.  You guys received my fax, didn’t you?’  We checked the fax machine and it was just arriving, so good fun being had.  Now, I can also say during freshman two-a-days there’ll be some extra sprints for him.”

Brutal.

Defensive end Caleb Azubike, offensive lineman Andrew Jelks, and running back Brian Kimbrow — all from inside the state of Tennessee — did wind up inking with the Commodores.  But longtime Vandy defensive end commit Josh Dawson from Tucker, Georgia decided today to stay at home and join Todd Grantham’s Bulldogs defense.

Franklin surprised many with his early successes on the recruiting trail last summer and Dawson was one of the first commitments who helped turn heads.  Losing him has to be a disappointment.  But for Vandy, grabbing three 4-star players is still reason to celebrate.

Taylor told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution two weeks ago that Saban wanted him to grayshirt and become a part of the Tide’s 2013 class.  Taylor waffled back and forth before deciding to take the bird in hand UK was offering.

Taylor is recovering from a torn ACL he suffered last September.

First, the Gators lost out on Valdosta linebacker Josh Harvey-Clemons who chose Georgia.  In-state cornerback Tracy Howard followed by selecting Miami.  Then old nemesis Lane Kiffin snuck into the Sunshine State and made off with two of the state’s top players, both of whom were considering the Gators — receiver Nelson Agholor and defensive tackle Leonard Williams.

Florida did convince defensive end Dante Fowler to flip-flop from Tallahassee to Gainesville and — as noted above — UF will still wind up with a primo class.  But, oh, it could have been so much more.

John Atkins, DT

Collin Barber, P

Faton Bauta, QB

Mark Beard, OL

Josh Dawson, LB

Sheldon Dawson, Ath

James DeLoach, LB

Leonard Floyd, LB

Todd Gurley, RB

Quayvon Hicks, RB

Jordan Jenkins, LB

Keith Marshall, RB

Marshall Morgan, K

Greg Pyke, OL

Ty Flournoy-Smith, TE

Jonathan Taylor, DL

John Theus, OL

Blake Tibbs, WR

Evan Boehm, OL

Morgan Steward, RB

Donavin Newsom, LB

Evan Winston, DL

Sean Culkin, TE

Maty Mauk, QB

Ka’Ra Stewart, DB

Harold Brantley, DL

Levi Copelin, WR

Rickey Hatley, DL

Torey Boozer, LB

Micheal Scherer, LB

Russell Hansbrough, RB

Jordan Williams, OL

Chaston Cuffee, DB

John Gibson, DB

Markus Golden, LB

Dorial Green-Beckham, WR

Darius White, WR

Jonathan Williams, RB

Cordale Boyd, OG

Ray Buchanan Jr., CB

Brandon Lewis, DE

Taiwan Johnson, DE

Deatrich Wise Jr., DE

AJ Turner, OLB

Keon Hatcher, WR

D’Arthur Cowan, RW

Jeremy Sprinkle, DE/TE

Jeremy Ward, OG

Nathan Holmes, Ath

Donovan Roberts, RB

Jared Collins, CB

Vin Ascolese, LB

Demetrius Wilson, WR

Otha Peters, LB

Austin Flynn, DE

Will Hines, CB

Eric Hawkins, WR

Defonta Lowe, Ath

The four-star prospect is a great grab for Kevin Sumlin’s pass-happy system.  He’s an better get because he was once committed to Texas.  ”So long to the Orange and White” indeed.

Johnson will fill the vacancy left by Bralon Addison’s signing day decision to sign with Oregon.

Corey Batey, WR

Tip McKenzie, WR

Andrew Jelks, OL

Caleb Azubike, DL

Paris Head, DB

Brian Kimbrow, RB

Tory Agee, DL

Darreon Herring, LB

Barrett Gouger, OL

Blake Fromang, OL

Patton Robinette, QB

Will Holden, OL

Brandon Banks, DB

Jake Sealand, LB

Elston will be joining Hugh Freeze’s Mississippi program after making up his mind last night.

Good get for the first-year coach.

LSU.

Alexander said he’s known for two weeks where he was going.  That’s a big raid into the state of Alabama for Les Miles and company.

Matt Davis, QB

Otis Jacobs, DB

Kenneth Marshall, DB

Derel Walker, WR

Kimo Tipoti, OL

Edmund Ray, DT

Mike Richardson, DE

Tyrone Taylor, DE

Jordan Richmond, LB

Julien Obioha, OL

DeVante Harris, DB

Germain Ifedi, OL

Edward Pope, Ath

Sabian Holmes, WR

Cody Blanc, Ath

Deion Bonner, DB

Davante Bourque, Ath

Drae Bowles, WR

George Bullock, K

Jason Croom, WR

Daniel Gray, DB

Alden Hill, RB

Alton “Pig” Howard, WR

Justin King, LB

LaTroy Lewis, OLB

Daniel McCullers, DL

LaDarrell McNeil, DB

Justin Meredith, TE

Danny O’Brien, DT

Cordarelle Patterson, WR

Nathan Peterman, QB

Darrington Sentimore, DL

Trent Taylor, DL

Tino Thomas, DB

Quenshaun Watson, RB

It’s always good to get a last minute flip, but to steal one from a rival… that’s got to be sweet for Gator Nation.

Kelvin Rainey, TE

Brock Stadnik, OT

Clayton Stadnik, C

Jerrell Adams, TE

TJ Holloman, LB

TJ Gurley, S

Jody Fuller, WR

Rico McWilliams, CB

Chaz Elder, CB

Kendric Salley, RB

Brendan Nosovitch, QB

Nick St. Germain, K

Darius English, DE

Joe Harris, OG

Mason Zandi, OT

Cody Core, WR

Quintavius Burdette, RB

I’Tavius Mathers, RB

Jaylen Walton, RB

Ben Still, OL

Channing Ward, DL

John Youngblood, DL

Robert Conyers, OL

Darone Bailey, OL

Pierce Burton, OL

Dehendret Collins, DB

Bo Wallace, QB