What's up with football recruiting?

ESPN pointed out last fall that commitments were coming earlier and earlier in football, with increasing early (January) enrollments for signees.  Maybe we Spartans got spoiled with those early recruiting commitments and the queue toward MSU in

Michigan

and

Ohio

.  And, we’ve had Coach Izzo’s early successes in hoops too with and juniors choosing to be Spartans. 

 

However, this year I don’t see the early football commitments that I remember MSU, OSU, UM and eventually PSU, experienced last year. This year Rivals shows lots of names considering MSU…more than last year I’m pretty sure…but typically with just gobs of other schools.  Nationally, it seems H.S. Class of 2010 recruits are commonly entertaining 15-20 teams.  Personally, I’d feel like I was herding cats.

 

For us I guess it’s good news that only a very small number in our rich recruiting neighborhood have glanced at MSU and then gone elsewhere.  But,

Warren

’s Austin White surprised me with a commitment to

Iowa

.  Yes, it’s a sufficient program, and I’m generally Hawkeye-neutral or even supportive as Big Ten rivals go.  But, I’m not sure what the draw would be compared to MSU, or other offers he had for that matter.  He looks like a great kid, but

Iowa

is not going to have another Shonn Greene to carry them again anytime soon.  Devin Gardner was in UM’s pipeline for a long time, so no surprise there.  Anyway, here are the 2010 commitments according to Rivals:

 

MSU – 1

Illinois

- 2

Indiana

– 0

Iowa

- 2

Mich.

– 8 (still loads up early via the their greased marketing machine)

Minnesota

- 4

Northwestern - 0

Ohio

State

– 4 (an early-load team for many years now; lots of

Ohio

kids now waiting for offers)

Penn

State

- 2 (typically slower than OSU, but plenty effective by signing day)

Purdue - 0

Wisconsin

– 1

 

Elsewhere, just a few of the big ESPN marketing-machine names look like they may be winding down by July this year:

 

Alabama

– 8

Florida

– 10

FSU - 3

Georgia

- 3

LSU – 7

Oklahoma

– 7

Texas

– 21 (the huge exception; virtually a finished class already)

USC – 3 (a very slow start for USC)

 

Generally, it just seems like commits are slower in general compared to last year at this time for MSU, and probably regionally or even nationally.  I curious when you think things should start to heat up this year on those levels?   And, specifically, when should we see MSU commitments start to roll in?