ESPN Recruiting Nation Football

An underwhelming season has hardly affected USC’s recruiting efforts, as the Trojans have maintained their standing atop the new ESPN class rankings. Preseason aspirations of a BCS championship have since been deflated, but USC commits have, for the most part, stood firm.

Aside from the unsurprising decommitment of four-star athlete Max Redfield (Mission Viejo, Calif./Mission Viejo) earlier this month, the Trojans’ bumpy campaign has arguably helped solidify the stance of some in the nation's No. 1 recruiting class.

“I just want to see the Trojans win,” four-star cornerback commit Chris Hawkins (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rancho Cucamonga) said. “We’ve been fighting hard battles. I just want to see them get back on their feet and win. It was very tough to see them lose. The defense, in particular the defensive backs, haven’t played very well. It just makes me want to get there even more. Hopefully, I can get there and help my team win games.”

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There's one thing that's clear about Texas A&M's quick success in its first Southeastern Conference season. It has gotten the attention of recruits.

The Aggies already had 28 commitments before the season started but have added three 2013 commitments plus a 2014 commitment.

Mesquite (Texas) West Mesquite safety Kameron Miles, a 2013 prospect who on Wednesday decommitted from Tennessee and switched his commitment from Texas A&M that night, was the first pledge the Aggies have landed since their landmark victory over then-No. 1 Alabama. Four days later, they added City College of San Francisco offensive tackle Jeremiah Stuckey.

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Texas’ fall from grace as a recruiting superpower should’ve been swift and painful.

In 2010 and 2011, the Longhorns went a combined 13-12. There’s no escaping that number. For opposing coaches looking to do some negative recruiting against UT, it doesn’t -- or at least it shouldn’t -- get much easier than that.

They could say Mack Brown was losing touch or that he could retire at any moment. They might argue that no matter how many new assistants he brings in or how many changes he makes, the program is trending in the wrong direction.

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Linebacker Zach Bradshaw woke up every morning for two weeks and weighed Penn State's sanctions.

The 2013 recruit out of Damascus, Md., spoke with his father, reflected on his commitment and wondered just how competitive his Nittany Lions would remain -- before finishing breakfast on a Tuesday morning and calling Bill O'Brien to decommit. On Aug. 7, Bradshaw hopped into a car with his mother, drove to Charlottesville, Va., and pledged to the Cavaliers.

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Coming off three straight recruiting classes that have loaded Oregon roster with talent and an undefeated season so far, the Ducks are in prime position to close the 2013 recruiting cycle with a bang.

Since Chip Kelly's arrival in 2007, Oregon recruiting has taken things to a whole new level. Three consecutive league titles -- and the subsequent BCS appearances -- have helped place the Ducks in the midst of recruiting battles with some of the top programs nationwide. They way they have dismantled every opponent this season has them squarely in the sights of several top prospects from across the country.

While Kelly has built his program by turning unheralded and under-the-radar prospects like Marcus Mariota and Kenjon Barner into stars, he has shown an ability to battle the big boys for top recruits. In each of the past two years, the Ducks have used late pushes to sign California's top prospects -- De'Anthony Thomas and Arik Armstead -- away from USC.

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It’s going too far to call Oklahoma’s 2012 season a disappointment at this point. The Sooners are 8-2, 6-1 in Big 12 conference play. Goals of winning the conference championship and playing in a BCS bowl game remain within reach.

OU has only lost home games to No. 2 Kansas State and No. 4 Notre Dame, two of the best teams in the country. So why does it feel like a lackluster fall in Norman, Okla., on the recruiting trail?

The Sooners simply haven’t made that huge impression to nab big-time recruits. OU has hosted them, a slew of top-ranked recruits in the ESPN 150 and ESPN 300. But the Sooners haven’t earned a commitment from any of them since the season began.

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On the field success is normally what draws top prospects’ eyes to college programs, but Michigan coach Brady Hoke has proved with just his third recruiting class at Michigan that it’s not always necessary.

Under Hoke, the Wolverines have returned to relevance on the national scene, but through the first year and a half of his time with Michigan, he didn’t have the same resume as other top programs. Still, he has recruited as well as any of them.

Michigan has the No. 5 recruiting class in the country right now, headlined by 16 four-stars and southpaw quarterback Shane Morris.

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Here's a telling statistic for anyone questioning LSU's recent recruiting success: in the past 11 seasons dating back to 2001, the Tigers have finished first or second in the SEC West nine times.

During that span, LSU has played for five conference championships, won four of them, traveled to five BCS bowl games, played for three national championships and won two.

Simply put, no other program in the SEC has sustained that level of success over such a long period -- not Alabama, which was up and down for years before the hiring of Nick Saban, and not Florida, which endured mediocrity at both ends of the past decade.

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ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia’s recruiting class for 2013 is ranked No. 10 in the new class rankings released Wednesday and with a few key commitments, the Bulldogs could climb the list even higher.

Georgia has had four classes ranked sixth or better in the last five years, the only exception being the 2010 class. That group of signees was small and only three members from that class are starters today. Granted, Alec Ogletree, Jarvis Jones and Kenarious Gates are three of the Bulldogs’ top players, but the 2010 class and the 2010 season left much to be desired. Georgia finished that year 6-7, Mark Richt’s only losing season at Georgia.

The following year Richt and his staff rededicated themselves to the recruiting trail and landed what he called the “Dream Team.” The Class of 2011 was ranked No. 6 in the nation and had an instant impact as Georgia won the SEC East and played in the SEC title game. The two year turnaround from the losing season to being the division champions removed the hot seat talk that had hounded Richt and in 2011 he signed the No. 5 recruiting class in the country.

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Florida State's 2013 recruiting has been loosely tied, if at all, to the results on the field this season.

There is an interesting motif that has weaved through the fan base, media and prospects alike when it comes to the Seminoles, who this week claim the 12th best recruiting class for 2013. People want to know whether they are who they appear to be.

Commitments have come and gone with zero correlation to wins. Following the win against Clemson, a top-10 team, in September, there was no rush of pledges despite there being more than 100 prospects in attendance. After the loss at North Carolina State, there were no processes that opened up again.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- During the last 10 years or so, the Florida Gators have consistently ranked among teams with the top recruiting classes in the country -- and won two national championships, two SEC championships and played for another SEC championship.

This begs the question: Is Florida's success in recruiting a product of on-the-field success?

In the last seven years, Florida's recruiting classes have finished No. 1, No. 2, 4, 5, 1, 12 and 4 in the ESPN team recruiting rankings. The 2011 class that finished as the No. 12-ranked class came after Florida went 8-5 on the field, but more importantly it was the year in which Urban Meyer resigned right after the season.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- For Nick Saban, his success started on the recruiting trail, not the football field.

In his first season, the University of Alabama head football coach went 6-6 and guided the Crimson Tide to a berth in the Independence Bowl, the lowly Independence Bowl, where they hung on to defeat Colorado.

Almost immediately, the turnaround began. Saban and his staff put together the No. 3 recruiting class in the country during his first full year. The group featured seven ESPN 150 prospects, five first-round NFL draft picks and included a Heisman Trophy winner.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- One of Urban Meyer’s keys to victory isn’t that difficult to figure out. While he is having almost unprecedented success as a first-year coach at Ohio State -- there have only been two other coaches to start with 11 consecutive wins at the school -- it all begins in the recruiting world.

Meyer has long been known as a tireless recruiter and will work until the last possible second to either flip a prospective commit or land the big name. His recruiting class in February ranked sixth -- the highest it has been since 2008 -- as his resume no doubt brought some of the bigger name recruits from other programs.

Taylor Decker, Kyle Dodson, Se’Von Pittman, Joey O’Connor, Tommy Schutt, Armani Reeves and Camren Williams were all destined for other universities before becoming Buckeyes nine months ago. Meyer had similar success at Florida as the Gators were almost always in the upper echelon of the class rankings.

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