FanHouse Julio Jones

When you take a road trip as a fan, you dream about moments like these. Four seconds to play, a hated rival on the ropes, your team lined up for a final play with victory or defeat hinging entirely on that one play. After over three hours of even football, it all comes down to this one final snap. And you want one thing more than any other: complete silence to soak through the stadium while your team pours onto the field in celebration, their celebratory shouts no louder than the dribble of a basketball on a court hundreds of yards away, echoing over the stunned home crowd. For a moment you might even contemplate, like I did, simply closing your eyes and allowing the crowd reaction to tell the story of the field goal. But instead, I watched.

Tennessee came achingly close on Saturday to delivering the most agonizing loss to Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium in a couple of decades, maybe ever. But then they ran into a mountain of a man.

The NCAA is once again looking into Alabama's football program after a, well, fishy report emerged that a person had funded a fishing trip for two of the program's star players. An Alabama man named Curtis Anderson acknowledges paying for both receiver Julio Jones and running back Mark Ingram to go on an offseason fishing trip.

Alabama versus Florida was billed as a monster matchup for the 2008 SEC Championship, and with good reason -- there were tons of stars on offense, two brilliant head coaches in Urban Meyer and Nick Saban and a likely spot for the national championship on the line.

It was also supposed to be a dramatic slugfest for the rights to best team in the SEC, and by default, arguably the best team in the country. Even with Percy Harvin out for the game, Tim Tebow and a stout defensive effort were enough to allow Florida to pull away from the Crimson Tide and become SEC Champions.

That's not to say that it wasn't a great game; it was. Julio Jones was outstanding for the Tide, catching everything that got near him from John Parker Wilson (who really should cameo/star in a Corey Feldman and/or Corey Haim movie at some point simply based on his name) and finishing with 125 yards on just five catches. Glen Coffee and the Alabama rushing game were strong and the highlight of the offense for 'Bama.

And on the Gator side, it was obviously Tebow -- it always is. He went 14 of 22 for 216 yards and three touches and led the team in rushing. And even though the numbers weren't insanely eye-popping, if you watched this game, you know darn well that Tebow made about five or six absolutely huge throws when Florida needed a big first down.

Nick Saban is not a likable guy. Sometimes he drives his car into trees. He may have even inspired an NCAA recruiting rule. But hoo boy, can the $32 million dollar man recruit.

It helps that their signing class is 32 strong (the NCAA permits a maximum of 25 recruits to sign in any given class - there will be some creative accounting at work to make this class happen), but just the same the 'Tide signed an impressive class.

Among the notables are the nation's #4 player, wide receiver Julio Jones, the nation's #30 player offensive tackle Tyler Love, the nation's #38 player linebacker Jerrell Harris and the nation's #55 player, athlete Mark Barron. The 'Tide also signed Florida quarterback Star Jackson.

Reflecting the athlete first, football player second mentality so prevalent in the SEC, Alabama signed four four-star "athletes" as well as a fifth designated with a fifth star. It was a class loaded with quantity and quality, giving a major boost to second-year coach Nick Saban. For comparison's sake, in-state rival Auburn stands at 20th in the most recent rankings while Saban's former employer LSU registers the nation's 11th-best signing class.

Alabama was just 7-6 last year, but Saban and staff were able to sign players from nine state, as well as Alabama. Overall 14 of Alabama's 32 commits are from out of state, reflecting the program's sudden national pull under Saban.
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Here's the headlines

The Terrelle Pryor saga continues . . .

With Pryor holding a big announcement to apparently make it clear that he's delaying his announcement decision. Whenever the nation's top recruit does decide, it will likely come down to Michigan, Ohio State or Penn State. Pryor has drawn comparisons to former Texas legend Vince Young

Florida is having a rough morning

The Gators nearly lost big-time defensive tackle Omar Hunter, but after a slight freak-out he held to his commitment. However, two other pledges shook at that last minute, losing defensive back Ramon Buchanan to Miami and offensive lineman Ricky Barnum to Michigan. Speaking of Michigan . . .

Great morning for the Wolverines

Not only did Michigan steal center Ricky Barnum from Florida, they also plucked receiver Roy Roundtree from a previous pledge to Purdue. Now, the Wolverines did lose in-state defensive end Nick Perry to USC, but overall it's been a fine morning as they may also add Ohio running back Michael Shaw.

The Day Isn't Over

A decent handful of at-large recruits have yet to announce, among them Rivals 5-star recruits Alabama receiver Julio Jones and California running back Darrell Scott (choosing between Texas or Colorado).

Coming up later we'll have a brief look at what schools appear to have signed the best recruiting classes. Given the state of recruiting the last few years, some of them are a bit of a surprise.