Written by In The Bleachers | 06 February 2008

Throughout the day I will be posting my comments and some news that happens during the first day that the 2008 High School class can sign their letters of intent. Usually we have a few shockers and a few switches, so we could be in for a long ride. All times posted are EST just for your information. 6:45 AM EST - This came in late last night but it will be the first thing posted today. There is more of a possibility that Terrelle Pryor will not sign today. Late last night, he sent a message to the coordinator of Rivals.com recruiting and told him that he is still undecided. He wants to take an official visit to Penn State and possibly Oregon. His father has been impressed all along with the way Penn State has handled his recruiting. As of right now, Pryor will not commit today. This latest article details what he has been going through the last day. From my understanding of that article Pryor was going to pick Ohio State, and his father wants him to go to Penn State. 7:45 AM EST - A non Pryor update for once. The top RB on the board still left uncommitted, Darrell Scott will announce at 12:50 pm and from what I am hearing, Colorado is going to win the Big 12 battle over Texas. Julio Jones, a 5 star WR from Alabama will announce at 12:30 p.m., and I believe his home state will be elated with his decision. 8:13 AM EST - Despite a late push from Tennessee and Penn State, WR Deion Walker sticks with his commitment to Notre Dame.

Big day in Ann Arbor early

9:25 AM EST - Michigan has reportedly gotten an LOI from Roy Roundtree, a 4 star WR from Ohio. Roundtree did verbal to Purdue earlier in the year. Four-star offensive guard Josh Jenkins signed with West Virginia after taking a look at Florida State and Ohio State when Rich Rodriguez left WVU. 9:30 AM EST - DUAL FLIP ALERT!!! Michael Shaw has switched from Penn State to Michigan. So the Nittany Lions get spanked off the field by the Wolverines too! Michigan also gets Ricky Barnum away from the clutches of the mighty Urban. Big day for Michigan so far, Barnum is a 4 star center.
9:43 AM EST - Not exactly recruiting news but former Wolverine and current Razorback Ryan Mallett is petitioning to play next season. He is hoping that the NCAA will waive the year he has to sit out. Good luck with that...FLIP ALERT!! - Ramon Buchanan who had committed to Miami, then switched to Florida, and now has signed his LOI with Miami.

Canes building momentum

9:54 AM EST - Just taking a quick look at the Rivals.com Team Rankings...Florida will most likely fall from #1 since they have lost two players already, so that leaves a battle between Alabama and Notre Dame for the Mythical Recruiting Championship of 2008. Saban and Weis are really doing a good job with teams that combined for 9 wins in 2007. 10:00 AM EST - Another team that I have to give props to early on is "Da U". The University of Miami has pulled out some great recruits early on...Tommy Streeter, Ben Jones, Kendall Thompkins, and the aforementioned Buchanan. All blue chip recruits that could bring Miami back to the top of the ACC.
10:17 AM EST - Okay forgive me...I jumped the gun a little bit on Michael Shaw, but that is what a live blog is all about...rumors...predictions...and sometimes they are wrong. Shaw just stated at his press conference that he is too conflicted and hasn't made a decision even though the Rivals.com Michigan report had said that he (Shaw) chose Michigan. Shaw will come back at 1 pm EST to make his choice. 10:24 AM EST - Butch Davis had a great year last year on LOI Day, but he just lost E.J. Abrams-Ward. Abrams- Ward is a 6-foot-5, 210-pound athlete from Thomasville (N.C.) High and chose Tennessee over North Carolina. He has expressed interest in playing basketball in college. 10:45 AM EST - My eyes are crossing and we are only a little over 4 hours into LOI Day. This is great! It's like the NFL Draft for college football fans. Omar Hunter who originally committed to Notre Dame...then switched to the Gators is now torn on who to sign with. This could be more bad news for Gator fans. Four star Tight End Dwayne Allen has picked Clemson over Georgia according to 790 The Zone in Atlanta. 10:54 AM EST - Some news on the wafflers...Michael Shaw is apparently upset because someone leaked the info of where he was going before he announced it. So what...if you know where you want to go, does it really matter if a stupid internet recruiting person said it first? Omar Hunter is concerned now that Florida co-defensive coordinator Greg Mattison is going to take a job with the Baltimore Ravens. Another recruit Corey Lewis who had verballed to Virginia and recently opened his recruiting back up has set a 3 pm press conference. Rumor has it he will choose Ron Zook and the Illini.

Never doubt the power of The Pete

11:05 AM EST - If it wasn't a big enough kick in the nuts for Nebraska fans to get squashed by Kansas (like the Mangino reference?) but apparently Kendall Thompkins showed up to his announcement wearing Nebraska gear...only to pick the Canes. Ouch! I had Kevin Jones flashbacks there! Omar Hunter ended the speculation and signed with Florida. 11:20 AM EST - As I speculated before, Florida has dropped from #1 in the overall recruiting rankings with Notre Dame being the new #1 and Alabama at #2. Nick Perry is set to announce anytime now and he is between USC and Michigan. Also there are more grumblings about Sam McGuffie and a possible switch from Michigan. 11:23 AM EST - A chink in the armor of USC as Joe Adams signs with Arkansas. 11:35 AM EST - I am still awaiting word on Nick Perry but a few kids from the prep school ranks have signed their LOIs. Running back Enrique Davis chose Mississippi over a host of other schools and his old teammate, Quinton Coples signed with North Carolina. Davis was widely considered the top prep school recruit in the nation. 11:39 AM EST - Just when I go a take a shot at Pete Carroll, he goes and gets one of the best defensive ends out there...Nick Perry picked USC over Michigan and Miami. 11:50 AM EST - Update on Julio Jones who will annouce in about 45 minutes. They are setting up the tables and put 4 hats on it...Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida State, and Florida. He also got reportedly got a call from the Governor of Alabama last night to push the Tide. Next up for the USC train is hopefully TJ Bryant but they are in a battle with Florida State and Miami for him.
11:54 AM EST - News is flying in like crazy...I have learned that Khiry Battle will sign with Arkansas. Battle, from Dacula (Ga.), is a standout running back and safety will chose the Hogs over the Rebels (HT: MJ4H). 11:56 AM EST - Ron Zook has a huge smile on his face right now as he just stole a recruit right in his old stomping grounds of Florida. Corey Liuget picked the Illini over LSU. Watch out Big Ten, Zook is for real! Clemson also picks up their 4th 4 star of the day with OT Antoine McClain. Give me some slack for the next few minutes as I attempt to stuff my mouth with food for lunch. 12:25 PM EST - I am full of energy with food in my belly. Here is some news that I have been hinting towards which is now making its ranks to the official news. Sam McGuffie might be following in the footsteps of Terrelle Pryor...and not sign today. Like I said last night in my interview and today on the blog, McGuffie is having second thoughts about signing with Michigan. Notre Dame have received 23 LOI's today and they might not be done. Four star RB Milton Knox is having second thoughts about signing with UCLA.

Clemson is creeping up

12:35 PM EST - Okay I am officially done picking against USC. The Trojans pull in TJ Bryant and Alabama pulls in a stud WR with Julio Jones like I said earlier. 12:50 PM EST - A 4 star athlete from Montour PA, Christian Wilson, was once a verbal to Michigan but now has signed with North Carolina. Wilson picked the Tar Heels over Boston College. It seems as if the momentum that Michigan built early is fading. Another signal of that is now there is smoke to the rumor where Michael Shaw will actually honor his verbal commitment to Penn State and we will find that out in about 10-15 minutes.

Hawkins gets his man

12:55 PM EST - This is a bit of old news...relatively speaking of course but Clemson got a signed LOI from Jamie Harper today. Harper is a 4 star fullback that ran for over 1400 yards this year. The Clemson Tigers are another team quietly moving up the recruiting rankings. 1:04 PM EST - The number 1 ranked running back recruit Darrell Scott chooses to go to Colorado over Texas. 1:10 PM EST - You didn't actually think that Urban Meyer would lose everyone did you? TJ Lawrence picked the Gators over Michigan, Virginia Tech and South Carolina. Now Gator fans can celebrate a victory over the Wolverines.
1:15 PM EST - What is that wooshing sound I hear? It is the Hurricanes picking up another 4 star commitment. Brandon Harris chose Miami over Ohio State, UCF, Ohio State, and Florida. Michael Shaw's press conference is going on now. 1:19 PM EST - Michael Shaw picks Michigan. Bad day for the Nittany Lions they are getting slaughtered. They have to hope some how to get Pryor and even that in my opinion is very unlikely. 1:34 PM EST - I am through making predictions that much I know...but I will make some educated speculations. With Shaw going to Michigan, they are getting close to their limit of scholarships. That means they either have to greyshirt someone or they won't be able to take someone that might still be undecided...McGuffie...Pryor. Maybe they know something we don't? I gotta give a hat tip to the Notre Dame staff for pulling in the 23 kids they did after a 3-9 season. It's funny how they can sell a school that last won a bowl game when these kids were 3 or 4 years old. I can't be too nice to the Domers.

What will we do with all these recruits?!?!

1:38 PM EST - FLIP ALERT!!! - It is about time we have another filp-flop...things were starting to get a little boring around here. Four star wide receiver Sedrick Johnson went back on his word to go to Texas A&M and chose...really...ummm...Iowa State. I'm serious on that one. I was also looking at the team recruiting rankings and noticed that as of now Minnesota has the 17th ranked class. Tim Brewster is going be turning that program around in no time. 2:01 PM EST - Michigan recruit Dann O'Neill does not seem too worried about Sam McGuffie going back on his verbal commitment. O'Neill said he knows McGuffie loves Ann Arbor...well if he loves it that much, what is he waiting for? 2:20 PM EST - The defending MNC LSU Tigers got some good news today when 5 star cornerback Patrick Johnson decided to pick LSU and also 4 star offensive tackle Greg Shaw plans on joining him. Right now LSU is just outside the top 10 at 11 in the recruiting rankings. 2:55 PM EST - As you can tell the news is slowing down to a pace of a trickle. There are still a few big names left to commit, mainly in California. So once I get word I will post them. Thanks to everyone who has been checking back throughout the day, this has been a fun day to say the least. 3:23 PM EST - Alabama continues to add to their list of massive recruits as they locked up four-star linebacker Jerrell Harris. The Tide right now sit at about 31 for today...somebody should let Saban know that he can't have all these kids come into camp this fall. Come on Bama...leave some for the rest of the country!!
3:59 PM EST - In case you were curious on who was still left to commit today....check out this page on Rivals.com. 6:38 PM EST - News out of Arkansas is saying that four star OL Matt Hall from Russelville, AR has signed with Arkansas but his parents have not signed their part of the LOI. Rumors are flying that they want him to go to Ole Miss. The 3pm press conference at Arkansas had no mention of Hall since it is forbidden to talk about a recruit that hasn't signed yet, but he did sign with Arkansas in front of the media this afternoon. 9:32 PM EST - Four star RB Milton Knox stays with his initial verbal and signs with UCLA. 10:30 PM EST - Sam McGuffie ends the suspense and sends his LOI in to Michigan. 10:38 PM EST - FLIP ALERT TIMES TWO!!! Uona Kavienga, who had previously verballed to BYU and UCLA, signs his LOI with USC.

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