The reporters and columnists at the Honolulu Star Bulletin newspaper have been busy covering the Hawaii baseball team that just won the Little League World Series this afternoon In Pennsylvania, but columnist Dave Reardon had time to write an excellent column on Manti Te'o, the five-star linebacker from Punahou High who is being recruited by virtually every top program in the country.

Reardon says BYU and USC are in a virtual dead heat for the star, and any other school getting him -- with the possible exception of UCLA and Norm Chow -- would be considered an upset.


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National recruiting analyst Tom Lemming ranks the top 10 college football recruiters in the followiing article that we've cut and pasted below. Lemming was in Provo in the spring and does a very thorough job on the national recruiting scene.

Because Lemming ranks former Utah coach Urban Meyer as one of the top 10 (and somehow believes it is difficult to recruit to Utah) I got curious and decided to look back at the two signing classes that Meyer inked (2003 and 2004) in the Februarys that he was in charge of Utah's recruiting.

A lot of people believe that Meyer won with Ron McBride's players and didn't recruit all that well while he was here.

Here they are. You be the judge:

2003 Utah Signees

Name High School/JC Pos. Ht. Wt.

David Dirkmaat Fresno (Calif.) CC OT 6-7 260

Jonathan Fanene College of the Canyons (Calif.) DL 6-4 300

Gerald Fletcher El Camino JC (Calif.) DB 5-10 175

Steve Gordon Mesa (Ariz.) CC DB 6-0 190

Matt Kovacevich Palomar JC (Calif.) P 6-1 185

Paueli Tamasoa Long Beach CC (Calif.) DT 6-1 295

Reza Williams San Bernardino Valley College LB/DE 6-3 240

Jerome Wright Antelope Valley CC WR 6-0 175

Kyle Brady Tooele HS WR 6-2 210

Martail Burnett Jordan HS (Los Angeles) DB 6-3 218

Tony Castaldi St. Bonaventure HS (Simi Valley, Calif.) DL 6-3 235

Kyle Gunther Camarillo (Calif.) HS OL 6-4 265

Thomas Huff Camelback HS (Phoenix) WR 6-4 200

Joe Jiannoni La Quinta (Calif.) HS LB 6-1 220

Joe Johnson Palm Desert (Calif.) HS WR 5-8 175

Mike Liti Foothill HS (Santa Ana, Calif. RB 5-10 205

Alex Puccinelli Notre Dame HS (Toluca Lake, Calif.) DE 6-2 225

Bryce Scanlon Evanston (Wyo.) HS LB 6-2 225

Ryan Smith Bishop Amat HS (Diamond Bar, Calif.) DB 5-10 165

Eric Weddle Alta Loma (Calif.) HS DB 5-11 185

2004 Signees

Utah signees

Player Position School Height Weight

Terrance Apted OL Fagatuio HS (American Samoa) 6-5 280

Brent Casteel RB Antioch HS (Calif.) 5-11 195

Robert Conley OL LaMarque HS (Texas) 6-3 315

Randy Faletoi DT McKinley HS (Hawaii) 6-2 290

Quinton Ganther RB Citrus CC (Calif.) 5-10 200

Afa Garrigan DB Kahuku HS (Hawaii) 6-2 190

Desmond Hanohano WR St. Louis HS (Hawaii) 6-5 210

Tim Harris DB Fort Scott CC (Kan.) 6-0 190

Brian Johnson QB Baytown Lee HS (Texas) 6-2 190

Jordan Johnson RB/WR Mesquite Poteet HS (Texas) 6-2 195

Paul Kruger QB Timpanogos HS 6-5 235

Matt Mason DB Bakersfield HS (Calif.) 5-9 161

*Pate Moleni DL Hunter HS 6-1 239

Eugene Oates DB Fort Scott CC (Kan.) 5-11 175

John Peel WR Scottsdale Chaparral HS (Ariz.) 6-2 185

Adarrious Ross DB Culver City HS (Calif.) 5-9 165

Paul Soliai OL Coffeyville CC (Kan.) 6-5 330

Bryce Scanlon DE Evanston HS (Wyo.) 6-2 245

*Chad Smith RB Lehi HS 6-0 180

**Nik Sonntag DL Oregon State 6-4 245

Ray Stowers RB Iolani HS (Hawaii) 6-1 205

Aaron Straiten WR Antioch HS (Calif.) 6-3 193

Fano Tagovailoa DB Coffeyville CC (Kan.) 6-0 191

Kelly Talavou DL Idaho 6-0 318

Justin Weatherall-Walker WR/DB West L.A. CC 6-1 200



Here's Lemming's article:

I've been covering college football recruiting for 31 years and nobody does it better than USC's Pete Carroll. He heads my list of the top 10 recruiters in the head coaching fraternity, which includes Illinois' Ron Zook and Notre Dame's Charlie Weis.

Carroll has great charisma. He doesn't have great facilities to show to recruits and the USC camps is located in Watts, not Beverly Hills. But USC has more talent than a few NFL teams. His third-string players are better than many first-stringers on other Pac-10 teams. Success breeds success and USC, located in one of the richest of all breeding grounds for high school talent, keeps reloading every year.

Here are the other leading recruiters, listed alphabetically:

Tommy Bowden, Clemson: He has learned a lot from his father Bobby, who built a great program at Florida State and was one of the great recruiters of the past. He has done an exceptional job of recruiting out-of-state. An underrated recruiters, he has done an excellent job in Georgia and Florida.

Tim Brewster, Minnesota: He has recruited two good classes in a row. In fact, last year's class was the school's best in 30 years. When he was an assistant, he always ranked with John Blake of North Carolina as one of the two best recruiters in the country among the assistant coaches. He has landed two of the best running backs in the class of 2009 and has been selling a new state-of-the-art stadium that will be ready next year.

Mack Brown, Texas: Like Pete Carroll, he has a great natural resource base. But three coaches before him couldn't get it done in the Longhorn State. Now he gets anyone he wants in Texas. He has a winning personality. He is an underrated coach. He sells great facilities, the best in the country along with Ohio State.

Phil Fulmer, Tennessee: He slips under the radar most of the time but he has the ability to recruit out-of-state. That's important because Tennessee isn't a good state for football. He always is under criticism because it is the nature of Tennessee football. Called "Fat Phil," he has the ability to persuade out-of-state kids to come to Knoxville.

Urban Meyer, Florida: He was successful at Utah, where it was tough to recruit, and he is successful at Florida, where it is easy to recruit because he has great natural resources, better than any other state. He is relentless, has a take-no-prisoners attitude. He lives for recruiting. He used to text message 200 kids a day. The youngsters of all the leading recruiters, he learned early that you can't win consistently without great talent.

Nick Saban, Alabama: He is a carbon copy of Meyer. At Michigan State, he was a great recruiter. He went head-to-head with Michigan and won at times. At LSU, he put a fence around Louisiana. Now he is doing the same thing at Alabama. He is a non-stop recruiter and innovator who is one step ahead of the NCAA.

Jim Tressel, Ohio State: Very underrated, he belongs with the elite coaches. He is in the national title picture every year, even more than Woody Hayes. He has great natural resources to choose from and has an almost complete hold on Ohio. But, like Carroll, he is very good nationally. Kids feel comfortable with him.

Charlie Weis, Notre Dame: Last year's 3-9 record tarnished the image but he has recruited three top 10 classes in a row--7, 3 and 2.Some critics say he is arrogant and hard to deal with but that certainly isn't the case when he is recruiting. He is smart, to the point, relentless and very personable. Kids love him.

Ron Zook, Illinois: He turned around Illinois' program with his charm and personality and recruiting skills. He has a bull-in-a-china-shop attitude, relates to his players,communicates well with anyone and is very aggressive. Illinois always has been a tough sell--it has been known more as a basketball school by many--and Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Purdue and Northwestern are closer to the Chicago' recruiting base than Illinois is. But Zook has been smart enough to bring in recruiters like Mike Locksley who knows the Washington D.C. area. And he has done a good job in Florida, where he made his reputation as one of the nation's foremost recruiters.