Tide`s class dazzles AU lands playmakers

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2009 SECTION C
UAB cruises to victory over Tulane 9C
FOOTBALL RECRUITING
ALABAMA FOOTBALL
THE BUZZ 2C ❘ GOLF 3C ❘ NBA 10C ❘ DIGEST 10C
SIGNING DAY 2009
AUBURN FOOTBALL
Tide’s class dazzles
AU lands playmakers
Tide repeats as
Rivals’ champion
Last-minute additions ONE-MINUTE MADNESS
Ray Melick and Kevin
flesh out class of 26
Scarbinsky video: Can Gene
By IAN R. RAPOPORT
News staff writer
TUSCALOOSA — Alabama
recruiting enthusiasts likely
went to bed on Tuesday
night wired for a long National Signing Day that
promised endless drama.
Thirteen decisions concerned the Crimson Tide,
most involving blue-chip
prospects, even more capable of wildly swinging the
emotions of a fan base.
Not Nick Saban. He slept
serenely.
“Maybe publicly you don’t
know what guys are going to
do,” the Alabama coach said,
“but I had a pretty good idea
when I went to bed what
most of the guys were going
to do.”
If he closed his eyes Tuesday night peacefully, he arrived to announce 25 signees
in a positively giddy mood.
A day that began in rocky
fashion when Hargrave offensive tackle Bobby Massie
spurned the Tide for Ole
Miss ended with Alabama’s
breathtaking sweep of the
top available prospects.
Recruits can
play recruiting
game, too
See ALABAMA
NEWS STAFF/LINDA STELTER
AUBURN — Tommy Tuberville
spent last season complaining Auburn needed more playmakers. Gene
Chizik may have found them
Wednesday.
The new Auburn football coach not
only delivered one of the biggest uncommitted names on his recruiting
board in receiver Emory Blake of Austin, Texas, but one of the national
shockers when receiver DeAngelo
Benton of Bastrop, La., signed with
the Tigers.
Auburn signed 26 players Wednesday to go along with two who enrolled in January. But the buzz among
the Auburn faithful was about the
last-minute additions of Blake and
Benton.
Emory Blake
Chooses
Auburn over
high-flying
Texas Tech and
Colorado.
Chizik and his staff’s connections
in the Southwest paid off.
See AUBURN
Page 3C
TOP 10 RECRUITING CLASSES OF 2009
Rivals.com
1. ALABAMA
2. LSU
3. Ohio State
4. USC
veryone else may have worried
about which scholarship offer
Pensacola running back Trent
Richardson was going to accept
Wednesday afternoon, but not Gadsden’s Dre Kirkpatrick.
“Trent?” Kirkpatrick said, about
an hour before Richardson’s longawaited official announcement
came. “Oh, he’s going to Alabama.
He’s been texting me for a week,
telling me I’d better be going to Alabama, too. He’s been all over me
about going to Alabama.”
LSU fans might have been holding their breath about the decision
of receivers Rueben Randle and
DeAngelo Benton, but not Kirkpatrick’s teammate, wide receiver
Kendall Kelly.
“Yeah, I heard about Rueben this
morning,” Kelly said. “We talk. Me
and him and D.J. (Fluker, Alabama
offensive lineman) and a bunch of
other guys. We all keep up with
what everybody is thinking.”
Welcome to the inside game of
college recruiting, where top players
often tell each other more than they
tell anyone else.
And why not? The only people
who really know what a recruit goes
through is another recruit. And
since they grow up attending the
same summer camps and playing in
all-star games and going on so
many of the same recruiting trips,
quite a few naturally become
friends.
So they talk. Or text. They compare notes. And tell each other what
they’re hearing.
See MELICK
Chizik succeed recruiting
nationally? Go to al.com/
sports/birminghamnews
News staff writer
Carver-Montgomery’s
Brandon Moore enjoys the
spotlight after signing with
Page 3C Alabama on Wednesday.
GADSDEN
E
By CHARLES GOLDBERG
Scout.com
5. Texas
6. Florida State
7. Michigan
8. North Carolina
9. Georgia
10. Florida
1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. ALABAMA
4. North Carolina
4. UCLA
6. Texas
7. USC
8. Georgia
9. Oklahoma
10. Penn State
ESPN/Scouts, Inc.
MaxPreps/Tom Lemming
1. LSU
2. ALABAMA
3. Texas
4. USC
1. LSU
2. Ohio State
3. Texas
4. USC
5. Florida
6. Georgia
7. Miami, Fla.
8. Florida State
9. Ohio State
10. Michigan
5. ALABAMA
6. North Carolina
7. South Carolina
8. Georgia
9. Florida
10. Miami, Fla.
Also
Also
Also
Also
18. AUBURN
15. AUBURN
25. AUBURN
NR. AUBURN
Page 3C
RAY
MELICK
AP, BEN TWINGLEY/PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL
Escambia High School’s Trent Richardson, left, signs a letter of intent to play for the University of Alabama as his mother, Katrina, looks on
Wednesday in Pensacola.
Tide sweeps top of state’s crop
THUMBS UP
Indiana men’s
basketball. The
Hoosiers finally
picked up their
first Big Ten
victory, 68-60 over
Iowa on Wednesday. The
Hoosiers are now 1-8 in Big Ten
play.
THUMBS DOWN
David Beckham.
The international
soccer superstar
said Wednesday
that he wants to
leave the LA Galaxy and stay with
AC Milan. Beckham came to the
Galaxy less than two years ago,
vowing to take soccer to a new
level in the U.S.
Gadsden City duo
highlights big day
By DOUG SEGREST, JEFF SENTELL,
MIKE BOLTON and ENEA ZHONGA
News staff writers
For the second straight year, the
dominoes fell in order, all pointing to
Tuscaloosa.
From Tana Patrick in Stevenson, to
Gadsden City’s dynamic duo of Dre
Kirkpatrick and Kendall Kelly to big
man Brandon Moore in Montgomery,
Alabama solidified its recruiting class
with a clean sweep of the state’s top
remaining uncommitted prospects.
And to top things off, the Tide got
word of another major commitment —
this one, a reconfirmation — from the
South’s top running back prospect,
just across the state line.
TRENT RICHARDSON
McCarron gives it away
PENSACOLA — Trent Richardson
sat behind the Escambia High banner
SPECIAL
Bastrop-Louisiana High School’s
DeAngelo Benton pulls in a pass
during the 2006 playoffs. Benton
signed with Auburn on
Wednesday.
as more than 150 reporters, cameramen, teachers, coaches, students and
family members awaited his decision.
He walked in with several relatives
in tow and sat down in his black pinstripe suit, his dreads hanging down
close to the microphone.
Despite rumors he would break his
commitment to Alabama, the drama
faded quickly. Some family members
wore crimson. And when Mobile quarterback A.J. McCarron, a Crimson Tide
signee, arrived at the Escambia High
library the announcement was apparent.
Placing a houndstooth hat on his
head, Richardson chose Alabama over
Florida and Louisiana State, saying his
relationship with Crimson Tide players, including Julio Jones, made his decision easier.
What wasn’t easy for Richardson
was calling Florida coach Urban Meyer
and LSU’s Les Miles to inform them of
his decision.
“It was tough, man,” Richardson
said. “You get all these other schools
tagging along. But they (Alabama) recruited me first.
See SWEEP
Page 3C
INSIDE
Biographies of Alabama
signees / 4C
Recruiting notebook / 4C
Blazers add surprise signee
Ike / 5C
Biographies of Auburn
signees / 6C
Samford’s Sullivan enjoys
being choosy for class of
2009 / 5C
Troy class heavy on
defensive linemen and
backs / 7C
Doug Segrest’s Inside
Recruiting / 8C
National recruiting
roundup / 8C
Find more
recruiting news at
al.com/recruiting