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USC Soars Late, Pulls Shocker

Tallahassee Lincoln kids love to flirt, and they're never lacking for suitors. But when push comes to shove, the vast majority of them break hearts and stick with the hometown Seminoles. So it came as a complete shock to many people when highly regarded cornerback T.J. Bryant cast his lot with Pete Carroll and USC.

USC lost out on Alabama linebacker Jerrell Harris, but did pull in Bryant, Michigan linebacker Nick Perry and Los Angeles linebacker Uona Kavienga throughout the second half of the day to slide into 7th place in the Rivals.com rankings. It's been a great month of recruiting overall as USC recently got a pledge from the nation's top player for 2009 in quarterback Matt Barkley along with several other preliminary top 100 recruits. Damn.

Back To The Future

As expertly stated by EDSBS, the top of the recruiting rankings have a certain 1985 feel. Alabama, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Miami ... thank heaven for moth balls.

Miscellany

Notre Dame has a great deal to prove on the field after last year's disaster and two consecutive BCS flops. However, the Irish were magnificent in holding together their recruiting class and finding some decent guys in the trenches (at least on defense, anyway). The same can be said for UCLA after the departure of coach Karl Dorrell.

Jumpin' Sam McGuffie briefly flirted with California, but he's come home now and will stick with Michigan.

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.