National Signing Day 2012 Live Thread

It’s just before 6 a.m. PT. Breakfast bagel is warm, coffee is hot, and National Signing Day is officially off and running. Rutgers and Florida State are on the board immediately. The Scarlet Knights sign top 10 defensive lineman Darius Hamilton, and the Seminoles nab Reggie Northup. The runner-up on both commits? Miami. A slow start for the Hurricanes? The U is projected to finish with a top class, though, and Al Golden’s a proven recruiter.

If you’re seeking live updates from the universities themselves, most schools have outstanding Signing Day Centrals. Check out Notre Dame’s here.

Miami lands No. 1 cornerback Tracy Howard just before 10 a.m. ET. Way to recover for The U, which has a terrific Signing Central.

6:59 a.m. PT

Nick Saban is on ESPNU, cheerful as ever. You are the reigning BCS Champion, you signed another top 3 recruiting class…crack a smile, fella!

7:04 a.m. PT

Eddie Goldman looks nervous…

7:05 a.m. PT

No muss, no fuss, Eddie Goldman picks Florida State and the audience at his high school erupts. Jimbo Fisher, ladies and gents.

7:07 a.m. PT

Dari Nowkhah: “Defense…it looks like the ACC is building that way.” The Orange Bowl begs to differ.

7:15 a.m. PT

Josh Harvey Clemons’ signing at Georgia was one of the neater recruiting stories this season, as Mark Richt attended church with his family. And Richt seems really pumped about the signing per his ESPNU interview.

7:16 a.m. PT

Dorial Green-Beckham time…a packed house on hand for his announcement.

7:17 a.m. PT

DGB is Missouri-bound! Huge get for Gary Pinkel in the ‘Zou’s first SEC season.

7:23 a.m. PT

Important thing to note with Pinkel’s signing of DGB is that Mizzou had virtually no in-state recruiting reach before his tenure began. The rise of MU football has been directly correlated to his ability to recruit the Show Me State.

7:30 a.m. PT

“Quality, not quantity” preached for USC with the NCAA imposed scholarship limitations. The Trojans are bringing in an impressive haul, but Lane Kiffin needs his signees to produce immediately or go elsewhere — much like Dillon Baxter, Brice Butler, Kyle Prater…you get the picture.

7:33 a.m. PT

Holly Rowe: “I am just 20 steps from the fax machine here at LSU.” So now Rowe is Brian Fontana?

Wonder if she shoved Les Miles to get to the fax?

7:51 a.m.

No room at Ohio State? Is Urban Meyer bringing a taste of the SEC to Big Ten country? The Big Ten recently took measures against oversigning, so it’s unlikely there’s any grayshirting coming to Columbus.

Meanwhile at Meyer’s old program, Florida picks up Dante Fowler, a victory over Florida State. Check out HailFloridaHail.com for more.

7:55 a.m.

“Coach Muschamp is a defensive coach,” Fowler tells ESPNU was a key to his switch to UF. He also credits his “hybrid” style was a good fit for the Gators’ defensive scheme.

8:08 a.m.

Kwon Alexander gives us the first LeBron of the day, “taking his talents” to LSU. The bowtie and suspenders were a nice touch, though I was hoping for a live tiger.

8:14 a.m.

Going down the line at Oxford, Ole Miss snags Trae Elston. That’s a high profile signing for Hugh Freeze’s new regime at Oxford (Miss., not Alabama). Thus far, the Tide is getting shut out at this home state program. Not that it matters — Saban is the Montana Max of recruiting and typically gets whatever he wants.

8:35 a.m.

I’ve read several “Christmas in February” jokes about Signing Day, but for a program like Michigan that locked down many of its targets early, is it truly like Christmas shopping: best to have finished early? NSD feels like a crowded mall on Dec. 23, packed to the gills with procrastinators. It’s fun as an observer, but has to be stressful for coaches — particularly when you’re seeing a player with hats lined up before him at a press conference.

8:43 a.m.

There’s a lot of fun to be had on Signing Day, but it’s also the full moon to the proverbial werewolves that are recruiting trolls. Michael Felder’s “Butthurt Live Blog” is keeping track of the biggest morons on social media.

8:47 a.m.

A 23rd hour swiping for Houston from Notre Dame, as five star wideout Deontay Greenberry makes the switch. This is the most surprising revelation of the day thus far, but Tony Levine’s offense is sure to showcase a talented WR’s skills.

Per the above linked Fresno Bee story:

"“But I was going there for all the wrong reasons,” [Greenberry] said.The main reason, actually: His cousin, Tee Shepard, a defensive back who graduated from Washington at the semester and is at South Bend now.“I was following him,” Greenberry said, “but that wasn’t best for me.”"

9:17 a.m.

Nelson Agholor sounded incredibly nervous, but the ear-to-ear grin as he put on the cardinal-and-gold USC cap was proof he was ready to make the continental move to Los Angeles. Agholor is a superstar, but will be low on the depth chart with USC so loaded at receiver.

9:23 a.m.

And here’s why I’m not leading the parade for USC as a national championship frontrunner:

This was one of the first thoughts I had as Agholor spoke of catching passes from Matt Barkley in the one season they’ll both be Trojans. Agholor could end up in the same limbo as George Farmer or Baxter (though Baxter had problems beyond finding a niche on the offense). However, Farmer was an All-CIF wideout who was square peg-round holed into RB.

9:23 a.m.

Arik Armstead to Oregon, spurning USC and Cal. The Ducks were seemingly low on the radar, but Midnight Chip strikes again.

9:49 a.m.

College Football Talk reports that a Washington verbal commit, Cyler Miles, no-showed his own NSD ceremony. If you’re Steve Sarkisian, that can’t be a comforting sign. Jones could pull the ol’ switcheroo to USC.

9:54 a.m.

Landon Collins has not sent an LOI to Alabama? Oh man, this one is getting interesting.

10:01 a.m.

10:13 a.m.

Jordan Payton continues the bolstering of UCLA’s already strong class, and Cal’s slide continue. Jeff Tedford has had a rough month.

10:17 a.m.

Houston Nutt and Mike Bellotti brushed up on their ESPN handbooks and dive into the Big East bashing, pointing out how the ACC is clearly superior. Nutt goes so far as to call it the third best conference. What am I missing?

10:29 a.m.

Tom Luginbill is defending oversigning. I cannot condone this. And he’s comparing it to a KID changing his mind on a verbal commitment. Schools do need to account for players who don’t clear admissions, sure, but if we’re being realistic about oversigning, that’s not why schools do it. It’s hording.

11:06 a.m.

Avery Young commits to Auburn. Earlier, Stanford secures five star offensive tackle Andrus Peat to bolster a line that has been among college football’s best in recent season. The Cardinal have two likely first round NFL draft selections in David DeCastro and Jonathan Martin.

11:08 a.m.

We have a fax machine malfunction!

Nevertheless, faxes remain a more failsafe method than email. LOIs sent over email would have programs signing princes from Nigeria and Free C1@lis to scholarships.

11:49 a.m.

The Josh Harvey-Clemons situation is beyond bizarre.