Somewhere out there, some modern Machiavelli has penned a masterwork to instruct top-rated prospects on the consolidation of power in the recruiting process, beginning with one crucial rule: Delay the drama as long as possible, preferably until it becomes all about you. Two years ago, No. 1 prospect Terrelle Pryor pushed his decision to sign with Ohio State until well into March, more than a month after the vast majority of his 2008 classmates had declared their intentions long before signing day in early February. Last year, chart-topping running back Bryce Brown delayed his decision so long that his longstanding "commitment" to Miami simply evaporated when the 'Canes declined to renew an expired offer sheet; Brown defected to Tennessee instead, a school that wasn't even on his radar on signing day.

And this year's most hyped incoming name, Minnesota offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson was already a practicing diva as of last week, thanks to a nationally televised announcement/fashion show from New York City and the bucket of cold water he tossed onto his "commitment" to USC a few hours later, when he refused to sign an official letter of intent until he knows more about the consequences of the NCAA's upcoming review of major allegations against former Trojan Reggie Bush's bank account during his junior year in L.A. Officially, the towering man-child says he remains committed to USC until further notice. Today's Minneapolis Star-Tribune, though, says Henderson -- like Brown during his tortured "commitment" to Miami this time last year -- is still as good as a free agent:

As has been suspected since Wednesday -- when Cretin-Derham Hall offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson committed to play at USC but did not sign a letter of intent -- the nation's No. 1 recruit is back on the market.

During an in-studio interview with KSTP-TV sports anchor Joe Schmit on Sunday night, Henderson and his father, Sean Henderson, made it clear that Seantrel will not sign with USC if NCAA penalties are too severe. But the extent of those penalties may not be known for months, and nobody knows how long the Hendersons are willing to wait.
[...]
Sean Henderson said, "I wouldn’t lose the leverage that we have. I mean, at the end of the day it’s still a business and at the end of the day it’s still my son’s future. ... I’d rather be able to at least let him keep his options open,  because if things aren’t looking good come the 20th or the 21st [of February] or whatever, then we might have to move in a different direction, but it’s only for the sake of his future."

It's unlikely the Hendersons (or anyone else outside of the NCAA's jealously guarded inner sanctum) will have any new, reliable information after the closed-door meetings on USC's fate later this month, and the official judgment will likely come down after April 1, the last day Henderson has to sign if he plans to play anywhere next fall. It's extremely unlikely that any of the smoke surrounding the probe will disappear over the next two-to-six weeks. If those doubts are the same ones holding Henderson back now -- and given Lane Kiffin's self-professed delight in snatching top recruits away from other coaches at the eleventh hour -- there's no reason Miami or Ohio State shouldn't consider him fair game again.

In case you blinked during the pregame sideshow Sunday afternoon, or during the first quarter of the Super Bowl, here are the two versions of the most hyped, controversial ad in Super Bowl history -- one saccharine, one lighthearted, both vague, non-confrontational and out to give the term "abortion" so wide a berth even Tim Tebow's looping throwing motion couldn't hit it:

If you weren't clued in to the underlying political connotations before the game, you might confuse an ostensible anti-abortion message for a commercial meant to sway the public on the virtues of motherhood and/or existence inside a vacuum. (Which makes more sense than a commercial for the Census, actually.) The most polarizing element of either spot was probably the cooing strum/xylophone soundtrack so popular in domestic pitches at the moment. As predicted, a divided nation heeded the call of spectacle, and asked in unison, "Is that it?"

If you were too bored and/or confused by the ad to validate your own beliefs or viciously malign those of others, however, you can always go to the Web site, where the social/political message is slightly more overt (but only slightly). Big marketing pushes as political bait: Welcome to the future.

Making the morning rounds.

• They're my wins, maw. I'll do the vacatin'. After nearly a solid year of haggling and appeals with the NCAA, Florida State finally, officially vacated a dozen wins from two of the worst seasons of the Bobby Bowden era, 2006 and 2007, as penance for playing ineligible players who had been caught up in a widespread cheating scandal involving an online music. The revision will take five of seven wins from the '06 team, including the Emerald Bowl triumph over UCLA, and all seven victories from the '07 campaign. Officially, Bowden finishes with 377 career wins, and none of the results being stricken from the book came over Miami, Clemson, Florida or, soberingly, Wake Forest.

For opponents that did wind up on the wrong side of the 'Noles on the field, though, sorry: FSU's wins were vacated, not forfeited, and will still count as losses on the records of the teams the 'Noles defeated. [Tallahassee Democrat]

• Hey, pundits, leave my kid alone. ESPN Los Angeles digs a little deeper into USC's bizarre recruitment of a 13-year-old quarterback from Delaware, including a defense from the wunderkind's father, David Sills IV, who said "I'm just trying to give him every opportunity that I can" as father and son hopped a train into New York City for an interview on Good Morning America. But the most interesting detail: Lane Kiffin reportedly offered the young 'un a scholarship without ever seeing him throw or apparently even meeting him in person, based on a video tape and the recommendation of personal coach Steve Clarkson, who's previously worked with SoCal prodigees Matt Leinart, Jimmy Clausen and Matt Barkley, among others. [ESPN Los Angeles]

• Raiders don't hate, they self-flagellate. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal rounded up documents confirming that Texas Tech, hoping to avoid a more direct hit by preemptively punishing itself, self-imposed minor penalties -- a reduction of a single scholarship in the incoming class, four fewer campus visits for prospective recruits over an entire recruiting period -- in response to coaches on former head coach Mike Leach's staff text-messaging prospects well after the NCAA passed a blanket texting ban in August 2007. The case remains open with the NCAA, which could still hand down a harsher sentence (almost anything short of a "puppy penalty" would be harsher), but Tech athletic director Gerald Meyers said the case had nothing to do with Leach's sudden termination in December. [Lubbock Avalanche-Journal]

• Spartans will never surrender to exceedingly minor aesthetic change. A very long, rambling letter from Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis to Spartan fans last week amounts to this: MSU is keeping its old Spartan logo as part of a wider re-branding, thanks to public backlash against the meaner-looking replacement Nike had in store for the Spartan helmets next year. The redesigned uniforms will be scaled back to include only the Swoosh's patented "rippling abs" stitching to complete the idealized Spartan motif. [Michigan State Athletics]

Quickly ... If Oregon fulfills expectations as back-to-back Pac-10 champs next fall, Chip Kelly will be in line for a big raise. ... LSU's Trindon Holliday stole the show with 209 total yards and two touchdowns, but outgoing Tennessee quarterback and combine snub Jonathan Crompton may have helped his draft stock in Saturday's Texas vs. The Nation All-Star game. (But when did Jonathan Crompton join the staff of The Nation?) ... And I thought Forrest Gump was the Forrest Gump of football?

This is a college football blog, obviously, so for full-speed Super Bowl coverage of the most obsessive order, head over to Shutdown Corner. (MJD and friends could really use the traffic). In the meantime, allow a tired, slightly dazed Saints fan a rare moment of nostalgia and unabashed hero worship.

Of all the possible NFL stars who come out of college every year, Drew Brees -- a short, lightly recruited kid who came up in a spread offense at a non-traditional power -- didn't exactly leap off the page when he was leaving Purdue. But at least college fans remember Brees as a prolific Heisman finalist and Rose Bowl starter in his final game; I put up his greatest amateur moment because I couldn't find a college clip of key Saints teammates Darren Sharper (William & Mary), Marques Colston (Hofstra) or Jahri Evans (Bloomsburg State) if my life depended on it, or of Pierre Thomas, the hardest runner in the Super Bowl, who was lucky to make "Honorable Mention" on the All-Big Ten team and catch on as an undrafted free agent. The archives are slim on Tracy Porter, too, a second-team all-conference pick at Indiana and second round reach who just happened to pants two certain Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks in a row in the clutch to lock up a conference and then a world championship.

It's not like the Saints are a bunch of cast-offs and misfits, as most of the city and media would have you believe -- between Reggie Bush, Jeremy Shockey, Robert Meachem, Sedrick Ellis, Will Smith, Jonathan Vilma, Malcolm Jenkins and injury casualties Charles Grant and Jammal Brown, New Orleans has more than its share of first-rate college stars turned first-round picks. But Brees is the glue, the indispensable mainframe at the heart of the league's reigning Death Star of an offense, and today he wakes up as the first genuine star -- maybe a burgeoning legend, at least to the beleaguered people in his adopted hometown -- in Saints history. You could see it in him when he led his long-suffering, overmatched college mates over No. 4 Kansas State in 1998 to put Purdue in the final polls for the first time in 18 years, and past Michigan and Ohio State as a senior to break the Boilermakers into the Rose Bowl for the first time in 34 years. Before that, I know people who said they saw it in him when he led his high school team to a state championship. On the biggest stage of his life Sunday night, he was the same guy he's always been.

Not that anyone could have necessarily predicted it  -- the scrappy "it" player who flames out at the next level is so common, it's something of a cliché -- which is why Brees was snubbed by his hometown school, only a second-round pick by the Chargers, and rather easily dismissed when he suffered a major shoulder injury that ended his time in San Diego. But it was there. In fact, you might want to get used to seeing a lot more of it. Some guys are just naturals.

A season in review.

Navy sailed mostly under the radar in 2009, as usual, right up until a Texas Bowl pantsing of Missouri on New Year's Eve woke up the country to one of the best Academy outfits of the last 50 years: The Midshipmen pushed Ohio State to the brink out of the gate, initiated the Charlie Weis Death Watch by stunning Notre Dame in South Bend for the second time in three years, beat Air Force and Army for their seventh straight Commander-in-Chief's Trophy and closed it out by humiliating a Big 12 favorite on national television. The 10 wins tied a school record, and second-year coach Ken Niumatalolo quietly emerged from the shadow of his celebrated predecessor, Paul Johnson, as one of the steadiest young hands in the game.

The Good. As usual, the Midshipmen saw no good reason to put the ball in the air unless absolutely necessary, running on more plays (820) and passing on fewer (110) than any other team in the country. They beat Wake Forest in October without attempting a single pass, pureeing the Demon Deacons for 338 yards on 64 carries even without leading rusher Ricky Dobbs. And they finished off Air Force, Rice and Notre Dame -- against whom the Middies racked up 348 yards on the ground, by far the most any opposing offense gained against the Irish in the decade -- with 10 passes combined. Only two other players nationally, Stanford's Toby Gerhart and Pitt's Dion Lewis, carried the ball more often than Dobbs, and only Gerhart scored more touchdowns.

For a strictly triple option point man, though, Dobbs brought more to the downfield passing game than any Navy quarterback in years, as Ohio State found out when he hooked up with Marcus Curry for an 85-yard touchdown in the opener. That was something of a trend in the biggest games: Dobbs' only downfield completion against Notre Dame was a 52-yard touchdown strike to Greg Jones to put the Midshipmen up by two touchdowns in the third quarter of the eventual upset in South Bend, and he connected with Curry again for a 47-yard completion to set up an icing fourth-quarter touchdown against Missouri in the bowl game. When he did throw, Dobbs averaged more yards per completion (18.4) and per attempt (9.8) than any quarterback nationally except fellow triple-option gunner Josh Nesbitt at Georgia Tech, an endorsement for the system Johnson exported from Annapolis to Atlanta if ever there was one.

Read More »

Of the many, many coaches who invested time and energy in courting the talents of behemoth offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson, only a handful earned a home visit to pitch the Minnesota man-child face-to-face. And of that select few, only Ohio State's Jim Tressel had the wherewithal to come correct, Korea style:

Handing the shoes off at the door was a nice gesture, but Tressel's stocking feet, honking championship ring and anal-retentiveness may not have left quite the impression he was hoping for:

During Coach Jim Tressel’s home visit last month, he told Seantrel in great detail what his first year would be like for the Buckeyes.

Henderson’s father described the talk as "pretty long-winded." Afterward, Tressel mentioned to the Hendersons that he was always told he talked a lot.

"He's so informative and so to the point and so much about business, that it was a little boring," Sean Henderson said.

One thing Lane Kiffin definitely is not: Boring. He's also not a championship coach with a proven track record of building and sustaining one of the most consistent programs in the country. But where's the excitement in that? Given Kiffin's fast finish and the largely disappointing crop at Ohio State, far more top recruits are looking for the adrenaline rush only a coaching transition under the specter of looming NCAA sanctions can provide.

Making the morning rounds.

• Double the Tebow, double the media angst. If one Tim Tebow anti-abortion ad during the Super Bowl can get the culture warriors frothing, what are they going to do with two? USA Today reports this morning that the Christian group behind the much-hyped Tebow spot during Sunday's big game, Focus On the Family, has also bought pregame airtime for a second commercial starring Tebow and his mother, Pam, which will air four times before kickoff. Focus On the Family CEO Jim Daly also told the paper the organization's original submission for an in-game ad was rejected by CBS, leading to a toned-down version with "a bit of humor in it." The network accepted the revised version, because who doesn't love abortion comedy? [USA Today]

• Because no one should change their minds about anything, ever. Nick Saban didn't exactly stump for an early signing period Wednesday after losing the highest-ranked commitment in Alabama's incoming class, five-star safety Keenan Allen, to California at the eleventh hour. But he did hammer players who "commit" to a school early, only to back out, leading the Birmingham News' Kevin Scarbinsky to propose a new "Nick Saban Rule" for Alabama or the SEC to put commitments in writing, thereby preventing late defections. (Despite the fact that Allen's decommitment was due to a change in family circumstances when half-brother Zach Maynard decided to leave Buffalo, not some flaky whim.) Scarbinsky doesn't talk about an "early signing period" either, specifically, but his proposal amounts to the same thing: Let schools lock up recruits earlier than the first Wednesday in February. [Birmingham News]

• Humbled Willy Style. Former Clemson quarterback Willy Korn, a cautionary tale from signing days past after failing to even win the starting job with the home-state Tigers, said Thursday he's officially transferring to Marshall, wrapping up a solid stretch run by new Herd coach Doc Holliday that also included a rare pledge from a four-star prospect (Florida safety Brian Robinson) and three late defections from Holliday's old stomping grounds, West Virginia. Korn, one of the most hyped incoming quarterbacks of the class of 2007, will be able to play this fall because he graduated Clemson in just two-and-a-half years and is already enrolled in a graduate journalism program in Huntington. [The State]

• Sam from Ork. Former Oklahoma Hesimanaut and soon-to-be top draft pick Sam Bradford is already at the Super Bowl, though he had to agree to be locked in some sort of futuristic isolation cell by Gatorade:

The Gatorade "Bod Pod" allegedly "analyzes body composition" of its occupant. Sam appears to be at least 50 percent awkward.

Quickly ... Injury-plagued Auburn cornerback Aairon Savage was granted a sixth year of eligibility after suffering season-ending injuries each of the last two seasons. ... Old Big East rivals Syracuse and Boston College will resume their series this fall. ... The Austin American-Statesman reviews Texas' needs for the 2011 recruiting class, which should be locked down in, what, a month? ... And hack columnist impugn the integrity of Demar Dorsey at their own peril.

Last year, a fairly ridiculous story made the rounds wherein Lane Kiffin, then the new head football coach at Tennessee, reportedly offered a scholarship to 14-year-old Evan Berry, younger brother of UT All-American Eric Berry and soon-to-be high school freshman, who reportedly accepted. Now at USC, Kiffin apparently figured on Thursday that was setting the bar a little too low -- why target eighth-graders, after all, when you can get to them in seventh grade:

According to the Wilmington News Journal, Bear, Del., seventh-grade quarterback David Sills committed Thursday night to accept a football scholarship from USC.

The 13-year-old, who attends Red Lion Christian Academy, told delawareonline.com "my heart was beating so fast" when he talked to Kiffin.

Red Lion high school varsity coach Eric Day confirmed that Kiffin recently offered the teen a scholarship, and that Sills committed, according to the Wilmington paper.

I offer this brief pause to allow you to stop laughing and/or crying. OK, we good?

Onward: Sills is a camp kid, already molded and polished enough to star in at least one earnest promotional video set to a Fountains of Wayne song for his high-priced private coach, Steve Clarkson (or, as he prefers to refer to himself, "Steve Clarkson, Dreammaker"). If he were to eventually join the Trojans, he'd enter as a member of the class of 2015, five full seasons from now. In the meantime, he hopes to pass the seventh and eighth grades and begin studying for his driver's license, among more lurid pursuits.

I maintain, as I did last year when I wrote about the younger Berry, that the usual recruiting parlance of "offers" and "commitments" is rendered virtually meaningless when extended to players too young to have taken a varsity snap. It's almost a contradiction in terms, like a four-sided triangle or something. Coaches aren't allowed to extend official, written scholarship offers until Sept. 1 of a player's junior year in high school -- still three-and-a-half years away for Sills. Even though the scouting process begins much earlier than that for many players, any story that employs the offer/commit language prior to that point is only serving a publicity-seeking sideshow, a grotesquerie of a process that's grotesque enough to begin with. It's no coincidence that both incidents of unabashed middle-school stalking in the past year have been attributed to college football's resident carnival barker, Kiffin, who will push any button for a headline but can't even promise with a straight face that he will be at USC in five years. (Has anyone asked Evan Berry about his "commitment" to Tennessee since Team Kiffin hightailed it for L.A. last month?) That's all Sills' "commitment" is: A weird, slightly disturbing and ultimately empty headline.

In the meantime, USC has landed its first commitment for the class of 2011 from a local player with three seasons of high school play under his belt. That one I'm willing to acknowledge, but in the recruiting business, nothing's in the bank until a signature is on the page.

- - -
Top photo of Kiffin with assistants Monte Kiffin, James Cregg and Ed Orgeron via Sports Illustrated's excellent gallery of the recruitment of Seantrel Henderson.

Other popular Yahoo! Sports stories:
• Danica Patrick preps for prime time
• NFL stars reveal secret training trick
• The Saints star who almost didn't make it

At UCLA, maybe more than anywhere else over the last decade, all success is relative. For example: Rick Neuheisel's second full recruiting haul Wednesday was the Bruins' best in ages, a top-10 class in the estimation of every major service. The recruits include a dozen touted locals and the first five-star signee of Neuheisel's tenure, Oregon defensive end Owamagbe Odighizuwa, who also delivered signing day's most impressive Oscar speech before putting on a Bruins cap. UCLA snapped up late signatures from USC targets Dietrich Riley and Josh Shirley in the afternoon, which they added to the standing commitments from SoCal natives Anthony Barr, Cassius Marsh, Malcolm Jones and Jordon James, all whom ranked among Rivals' top 200 overall prospects nationally. Except for the glaring absence of a quarterback following one-time commit Brett Nottingham's late defection to Stanford, the group as a whole might have been greeted as a breakthrough on the trail after a pair of good-not-great efforts in Neuheisel's first classes in 2008-09.

But by the other crucial measure in L.A., proximity to USC, even a step forward in any other context isn't necessarily getting the Bruins any closer to the Trojans' ballpark in terms of sheer talent on hand:

The first thing those numbers should show -- and expect the preseason polls to reflect this, to an extent -- is that the Bruins have no more excuses for feeling satisfied with 6-6 seasons that end with a close game against a MAC also-ran in the EagleBank Bowl.

Read More »

Quick, Florida fans: Raise your hands if you can name your new defensive coordinator without looking. The two of you with your hands up, congratulations on your obsession. The rest of you, don't worry about filling up those valuable brain cells yet, because you won't be coming across George Edwards' name again anytime soon:

Less than a month after taking Florida’s defensive coordinator position, George Edwards is leaving to take the same position with the Buffalo Bills, a UF coach confirmed to the [Orlando] Sentinel.

Edwards was officially hired by Urban Meyer on Jan. 8 and now leaves the day after the Gators signed one of the best defensive recruiting classes in history.

The Bills made the move official a few minutes ago. Very courteous of Edwards -- who hopped up to Gainesville from the Dolphins and hasn't coached a down in college since 1996 -- to delay his departure until after the Gators inked that chart-topping crop, which includes Rivals' No. 1 defensive end, No. 1 and No. 2 defensive tackles, No. 3 inside linebacker, No. 3 and No. 4 cornerbacks and No. 2 safety, for starters. He served his role -- [Dial highly-rated recruit] "I am the defensive coordinator. The staff is not in chaos." [Dial next recruit, repeat] -- exceptionally well.

Urban Meyer's long-awaited leave of absence is scheduled to begin today and run through spring practice, roughly, leaving it to offensive coordinator Steve Addazio to take over day-to-day operations around the office -- including, presumably, re-filling the position Charlie Strong presided over so effectively for the last five years. As East Division rivals Georgia and Tennessee can attest from their angst-ridden coordinator searches over the last month, takers can be hard to come by this time of year.

Of course, Urban can put off the "vacation" thing if they need him to hang around a little longer. He doesn't mind. Really. He doesn't, if Steve doesn't feel comfortable making that kind of decision ... OK, seriously, Meyer's back. Let's get to work. (Who had "six hours" in the latest leave of absence pool? Hint: This guy!)