2010 SEC Recruiting Report: Meyer, Addazio Keep Florida On Top

Don’t kid yourself. National Signing Day is the biggest day of the year for major college football programs and whenever the head coach of a consummate contender comes out of a room with a smile on his face at the end of National Signing Day, you can almost guarantee good days are on the horizon for his program.

Urban Meyer and Steve Addazio have put together another outstanding class

Sure there are teams like UConn, Texas Tech, Iowa and Cincinnati that find diamonds in the rough, polish them and pull off upsets year in and year out. But if the coaches of those respected teams had a chance to come away with Florida’s recruiting haul instead of their own, they would take it in a heartbeat. Good coaching only gets you so far, as we’ve seen over the last decade in college football, and there comes a point when you need dominant athletes to consistently win BCS games.

Over the next few weeks we’ll break down some of the winners and losers in the 2010 recruiting race. First up is a look at the SEC.

The Biggest Winner: Florida

Some are calling this Gator class the greatest group in recruiting history. It’s not fair to judge right now but if you consider the depth, speed, athleticism and overall freakish talent that this class provides, you can make an argument that this class has the ability to bring multiple titles to Gainesville and continue to build on the foundation of tradition that Urban Meyer has set during his first five years at Florida. The class includes four 5-star and fifteen 4-stars players that is sure to produce a bunch of victories for the Gators and make Meyer’s staff look like geniuses, all while making both the university and coaching fraternity an absurd amount of money in today’s college football landscape.

The Star: #1 ATH Ronald Powell (Rancho Verde HS, CA) is the biggest fish is a gigantic pond of Florida recruits. At 6′4″ 225lb Powell has the ability to play a hybrid LB/DE and had every powerhouse program in the country on his heels during his prep career. Powell will make an immediate impact tin Gainesville and help ease the pain of the departure of Carlos Dunlap to the NFL

The Sleeper: #53 ATH Tyler Murphy (Wethersfield HS, CT) is one of two multi-dimensional quarterbacks in the Gators class. UConn insulted Murphy with an offer to be a defensive back, with no chance of even competing at QB and giving him a very small window to make a decision. Since he wasn’t getting a lot of attention at the time UConn tried to big league him, got burnt and lost yet another in-state recruit to a national powerhouse program. Al Golden told Murphy he would be in the mix at QB as soon as he stepped foot on campus at Temple. Murphy committed to Temple but Florida invited him to campus to throw a few weeks ago and he displayed everything the Gators look for in their dynamic quarterback position. Florida loves the way Murphy throws darts on the run and his elusiveness in the pocket. He is also an All-American level Triple Jump star that could move to a different position if things don’t work out under center. But he will be given a chance to compete for the spot and that’s all he wanted. In two years the Gators will have two Connecticut quarterbacks - Jordan Reed being the other - battling for their starting spot. Reed is the more polished signal caller right now but don’t be surprised if Murphy waits his turn and turns head when given his chance. If the Gators need help in the defensive secondary don’t be surprised if Murphy turns into the next Major Wright. Yes, he is that athletic.

Most Disappointing: South Carolina

By this time in Steve Spurrier’s career many of his disciples would have pictured the Gamecocks being a constant threat to win the SEC title year in and year out. While that hasn’t been the case in Spurrier’s first few seasons, there is absolutely no reason South Carolina shouldn’t enter next season as one of the early favorite to win the SEC East. With the mass exodus of talent in Gainesville to the coaching change at Tennessee to the question marks revolving around Georgia, the Gamecocks are in a position to make some noise in 2010. It’s too bad they couldn’t convince a few more recruits that they may be on the verge on something special in Columbia. Don’t get us wrong, SC still put together a strong class but with the issues revolving around their main recruiting rivals we feel like they should have bagged a couple more 4-star athletes, especially since their time is now.

The real disappointment is that a team like Tennessee went through so much adversity and still had the ability to put together a better class. Georgia, who has a lot of tradition but also have question marks all over the field and on their coaching staff, was able to out-recruit the Gamecocks as well. It can be seen as a testament to those programs but for some reason we’ve been expecting a little more from this South Carolina program, one that will be highly ranked in our preseason Top 25. 2010 seemed like the year Spurrier could have put together a class that made everyone take notice. While this class still in the Top 25 nationally by most recruiting services they were merely the 7th or 8th best in the SEC, which doesn’t exactly strike fear into the hearts of the SEC’s top dogs. They also didn’t sign a big time quarterback, which is necessary for success in college football.

The Star: #2 RB Marcus Lattimore (Byrnes HS, Duncan SC) was the main reason this class was ranked higher than Mississippi State and Arkansas teams that are fighting for respectability in the conference. When Lattimore steps on the field next season he will demand respect from every opposing defensive coordinator in the league. This was arguably the most meaningful signing by any school in the country considering what South Carolina’s class would have looked like without him and it would have been double trouble had he ended up somewhere else in the SEC. Lattimore can run between the tackles, catch the ball out of the backfield and fill up a stat sheet, something he did throughout a stellar prep career. Lattimore will step directly into a featured role and share some carries with sophomore-to-be Kenny Miles, giving the Gamecocks a poor man’s version of the Ingram-Richardson backfield that Bama boasts. The only difference is that Lattimore could wind up being better than either of the studs at Bama. He’ll be looked upon to solve the Gamecocks backfield trouble and save them from leaning too much on Stephen Garcia, much like he saved this recruiting class from being toward the bottom of the SEC.

The Sleeper: #56 OG Corey Robinson (Haveock HS, NC) was one of South Carolina’s targets to build a dominant interior offensive line, one that will be taking a hit after this season due to graduations. One of the most physically imposing guards you will find in the prep ranks, Robinson will look good coming off the bus at 6′7″ 290lb but he’ll need to be coached up a little before he becomes a bulldozer on the front lines for Marcus Lattimore in the next year or so. AJ Cann is the most heralded lineman in the Gamecocks class but Robinson’s size and coachability may allow him to make an impact in an offense that needs to start punishing people up front before they can make big plays down the field.

Ranking The Classes

1. Florida

Michael Dyer gives Auburn a quick replacement for Ben Tate

2. Auburn - Gene Chizik is turning this thing around quick. The signing of #1 RB Michael Dyer puts them ahead of LSU and the Crimson Tide by a nose.
3. LSU - If anybody thinks Les Miles’ program isn’t getting a little sick and tired of everyone else -including Tennessee - receiving the accolades, then you’ve got another thing coming. #12 RB/ATH Spencer Ware brings some versatility to an extremely deep class.
4. Alabama - They got the top quarterback - Philip Sims - in a somewhat weak quarterback class. The might be third in the SEC but their depth and athleticism puts them in the top five nationally on a lot of rankings.
5. Tennessee - What Derek Dooley did after the departure of Lane Kiffin was borderline miraculous. He not only kept most of the Vols’ signees but added 4-star WR Da’Rick Rodgers at the last minute by stealing him from Georgia. Do yourself a favor and write down Rodgers’ name. He’ll score the Vols first TD in 2010!
6. Georgia - The Bulldogs already have some talent in the backfield so they insured them a little bit with some linemen that can make holes but 8 out of the top 11 prospects are defensive studs, proving how much the SEC values defense.
7. South Carolina
8. Mississippi - Your recruiting is going to fall off once you lose Ed Orgeron but the Rebels still put together a nice class that has some depth, highlighted by 6′8″ DE Wayne Dorsey, a junior college transfer who is expected to make an impact right away.
9. Arkansas - The Razorbacks have become a throwing, put-you-on-an-island offense. You better protect the QB when you play that way and #8 OT Cam Feldt is coming in to do just that. They landed a ton of 3-stars but couldn’t get over the hump and it’s only going to get tougher over the next couple years.
10. Mississippi State - You need to be fast in the SEC. So the Bulldogs went out and got four guy that can run 4.4 40s and decided they are going to get the best all-around athletes they possibly can.
11. Kentucky - Unfortunately, there are no John Walls or DeMarcus Cousins’ in this class for the Wildcats football team.
12. Vanderbilt - This class was ranked in between Cincinnati and USF on a couple of recruiting sources. You know what that is in the SEC? The worst recruiting class in the Southeastern Conference. My goodness!