NATIONAL RECRUITING Southern Cal sitting on throne; Sooners get most-sought player

Miami's late surge was the biggest surprise on signing day.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The question isn't if the recruiting class landed by Southern California on signing day is the best in the nation. All the top recruiting services agree it is.
Just call it the Trojans' second national championship in a month.
What the recruiting analysts are wondering is whether the Trojans' freshman class will turn out to be one of college football's best of all time.
"It could come down to that," Tom Lemming of Prep Football Report said Wednesday. "I prefer to wait for three to four years, after all the hype dies down, but it could rank as one of the best."
Bobby Burton of rivals.com called it the best class he's seen in his 11 years of analyzing prep recruiting.
Trojans' tentacles
The Trojans didn't just come away with many of California's top players, including defensive end Jeff Schweiger and offensive lineman Thomas Herring. They also journeyed into recruiting hotbeds Ohio (wide receiver Fred Davis) and Florida (linebacker Keith Rivers) to land Top 25-caliber players.
Southern Cal also signed the nation's most highly recruited lineman, Gatorade and Parade player of the year Jeff Byers of Loveland, Colo. He's considered one of the top linemen of the last five years and perhaps the best center produced during that time.
The Trojans signed 17 high school players, three junior college players and three other freshmen -- including Davis -- who are already enrolled in school. Recruiting analyst Allen Wallace of SuperPrep can't recall a single comparable class in which every player was coveted nationally.
"USC never dipped below that, even though they had kids who wanted offers," Wallace said.
Each of the five recruiting services surveyed by The Associated Press had Southern Cal first and LSU second -- the same way they finished in the final AP poll last month.
Other schools enjoying excellent recruiting years included Oklahoma, Florida State, Ohio State, Miami, Michigan and Georgia.
Oklahoma gets prize
Oklahoma came away with nation's most-sought player, Adrian Peterson, who ran for nearly 3,000 yards last season at Palestine (Texas) High, plus top-five quarterback Rhett Bomar of Grand Prairie, Texas.
LSU signed nearly every player it sought from Louisiana, a productive state that had 74 players wearing NFL uniforms last season.
Just as they've done for several years, the Tigers came away with yet another deep group of receivers, getting Early Doucet of St. Martinville, La., Xavier Carter of Melbourne, Fla., and Lavelle Hawkins of Stockton, Calif.
LSU stayed in-state to land dominating 310-pound lineman Marlon Favorite, then went next door to sign massive 395-pound lineman Herman Johnson from Denton, Texas.
Miami's late surge was the biggest surprise on signing day.
Coach Larry Coker's Hurricanes came away with two Top 50-caliber players they weren't expected to get in linebacker James Bryant of Reading, Pa., and defensive lineman Rhyan Anderson of Oak Creek, Wis. They also persuaded Miami high school linebacker Willie Williams to stay at home.
"They really came on strong, and that's tough to do this late in the game," Lemming said.
Troubles
Williams, however, is facing three sworn criminal complaints stemming from his official visit to the University of Florida last weekend. The State Attorney's Office in Gainesville will investigate the sworn complaints before deciding whether to officially charge Williams.
Florida State made a strong comeback after last year's class finished well down the charts. The Seminoles signed two quarterbacks from Florida: Xavier Lee, the state's career passing leader (9,082 yards, 98 touchdowns) at Daytona Beach's Seabreeze High, plus Drew Weatherford of Land O' Lakes.