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With national signing day past us it is time to see who did the best job at getting top High School prospects to come to their school. Below are the top 10 schools with the best recruiting classes - the rankings are based on two factors: 1) How many top prospects they signed and 2) how well they did at filling gaps.

Top 10 2008 College Football Recruiting Classes

1. Clemson Tigers - The Tigers surprised a lot of people on signing day, they were able to get a bunch of players who verbally committed to other schools to switch. Top recruits: tight end Dwayne Allen, offensive tackle Antoine McClain and running back Jamie Harper.
2. Alabama Crimson Tide - New coach? So what! The Tide rolled with top wide receiver Julio Jones and offensive tackle Tyler Love.
3. Miami Hurricanes - The hurricanes joined Clemson is getting a ton of defensive talent, including linebackers Arthur Brown, Sean Spence and Ramon Buchanan.
4. Ohio State Buckeyes - The Buckeyes have the best class in the Big Ten, their class is heavy with top defensive talent including linebacker Etienne Sabino.
5. USC Trojans - The Trojans lost a couple prospects who verbally committed but, as usual, have their share of talent like top cornerback T.J. Bryant and defensive end Nick Perry.
6. Florida Gators - Like USC, the Gators lost a couple prospects but also like the Trojans they were able to get big time players like wide receiver T.J. Lawrence and safety Dee Finley.
7. Notre Dame Fighting Irish - The Irish and Charlie Weis are coming off a horrible season and needed a big recruiting class, they got it. The Irish are bringing in top receivers Michael Floyd and Deion Walker as well as top quarterback prospect Dayne Christ.
8. Texas Longhorns - Texas is great at recruiting people who will fit need, not just going after the top player at a position - this recruiting class is no different.
9. LSU Tigers - Rolling with their BCS title the Tigers got top wide receiver Chris Tolliver and tight end Tyler Edwards, plus defensive end Chancey Aghayere.
10. Oklahoma Sooners - The Sooners have a class that could get better once a couple key prospects  decide where they are going, so for Oklahoma signed top prospects Jameel Owens at wide receiver and defensive tackle Stacy McGee.

Today is the day that the top High School prospects can officially sign with their chosen college.  Most of the athletes will stay with the schools that they verbally committed to - however things can change. Here is our first run down of who signed where and who has yet to make a official decision.

• Top quarterback recruit, and the player with the most buzz this year, Terrell Pryor did not commit anywhere and said that he needs more time to think this through.
• Top wide receiver prospect Julio Jones (ESPN #2 overall) signed with Alabama.
• Running back Jamie Harper (ESPN #3 running back) signed with the Clemson Tigers.
• Defensive End Robert Quinn has chosen North Carolina.
• Running back Joe Adams has switched from USC and signed with Arkansas.
• Top Tight End prospect Dwayne Allen switched from Georgia (who he verbally committed to) and signed with Clemson.
• Running back Jermie Calhoun has signed with Oklahoma.
• Shockingly, Al-American wide receiver Martin Bayless is going to play at non-BCS powerhouse Northwestern.
• Notre Dame Fighting Irish have signed 10 ESPN 150 players - including defensive end Ethan Johnson and quarterback Dayne Crist.
• Defensive End Nick Perry has chosen USC over Michigan.

Ok that is it for now, we will post another update from College Football Signing Day later.

Michigan Wolverines QB Ryan Mallett, who was a top recruit last year, has left the Michigan football program. Ryan’s father Jim Mallett told the AP today that “He’s on his way home. We don’t know where he’s going to go yet, but we need to do something quick. We’re going to visit three, four or five schools.” Mallett, a former Texas Class 4A offensive player of the year, will have to sit out next season and will have 3 years of eligibility when he returns. Mallett might have his eyes set on Tennessee, which could be hiring some former Michigan coaches, but he is also considering Texas A&M, Arkansas and UCLA.

The reason for leaving Michigan should be pretty obvious since new coach Rich Rodriguez favors a spread offense that features a mobile QB - Mallett would not fit well into that scheme. Mallett will be looking to transfer to a school that runs a more pro-style offense that can showcase his strengths.

Mallett played 11 games this year after starter Chad Henne got injured, he went 61 for 141, threw for 892 yards and 7 touchdowns.

With the BCS Title game done what better time to put together a Pre-preseason College Football Top 10 ranking. 2008 promises to be another year for the record books in College Football as a good amount of top schools are bringing back their star players and lesser known programs look to follow in the footsteps of Kansas and Missouri. Expect a great deal of chaos and change in the rankings / polls up until this time next year.

So, here is my first Pre-preseaseon College Football Top 10 Rankings*:

1. USC Trojans - Yup, a great deal of people will questions why I put USC up top but I don’t care. Joe McKnight is the real deal at running back and the Trojans should be bringing back the core components of their defense.
2. Georgia Bulldogs - The Bulldogs deserved to be in the title game, much more then Ohio State - sorry Buckeyes. Watch out for the Bulldogs in 2008, I am predicting a BCS Title game for them.
3. Oklahoma Sooners - Perfect example of a young team who will only get better. If the Sooner do not stumble early expect them to make a run at the top spot in October.
4. Missouri Tigers - With most of the same team returning I don’t think anyone can overlook the Tigers anymore - next year we will see if they are the real deal or not, but until proven otherwise I am ranking them high.
5. Florida Gators - Any team that returns a deal threat like Tim Tebow should be in the top 10. The Gators do have a series of question marks that will determine how good they really are…i.e. how good will Emmanuel Moody be?
6. LSU Tigers - How good will the new class be and how big will be the impact of all the players leaving this year?
7. Ohio State Buckeyes - Another young team who will not be getting any credit based on their BCS Title game issues and perceived weak conference / schedule. Their defense will have question marks around it until we know exactly who is leaving for the NFL (e.g. Laurinaitis will, but what about Gholston?)
8. Wisconsin Badgers - Seems like this time last year I was talking about how good the Badgers will be in 2007. I guess I didn’t learn from my mistakes and go with the Badgers being a top-tier team based on so many starters coming back.
9. West Virginia Mountaineers - The Mountaineers season and ranking all depend on whether or not Pat White and Stever Slaton head to the NFL or head back to the hills.
10. Kansas Jayhawks - The only big loss for the Jayhawks will be All-American CB Aqib Talib. So, now that Kansas cant take teams by surprise how good will they be? Oh and BTW - you know have a huge target on your backs. Welcome to big time College Football.

There we have it, my Pre-preseason College Football top 10 Ranking…let the arguments begin
* Subject to change whenever I feel like!

The US Army All-American Bowl, where all the top High School seniors play,  is going to take place today at 1pm in San Antonio. With that I thought it would be a good idea to look at the complete roster of players, their position ranking and which schools they plan on attending - you can find the list of top recruits at Rivals.com.

Take a quick look at the roster and what stands out? First off there are a great number of players who are committed to the major schools, as usual, but look at how many players are committed to playing at Notre Dame, 15 in total, that is a huge number. In comparison the other top football schools are considerably less - Ohio State (8) and USC (7) being two examples. Of course you cant go on number of commitments alone, you have to look deeper to see where those players are ranked. Of their 15 players, Notre Dame has only one player who is ranked #1 at their position (TE).  Notre Dame needs to get better at not just getting players to commit but getting top players away from schools like Texas, USC and Miami. Having the 9th ranked OLB coming in is great but will that really make the impact Notre Dame needs?