THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS AL.COM ♦ OUR HOME ONLINE ** COMING SUNDAY 2009 NASCAR Sprint SPORTS Cup season preview THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2009 SECTION C COLLEGE BASKETBALL | UAB cruises to victory over Tulane 9C THE BUZZ 2C ❘ GOLF 3C ❘ NBA 10C ❘ DIGEST 10C FOOTBALL RECRUITING SIGNING DAY 2009 ALABAMA FOOTBALL AUBURN FOOTBALL Tide’s class dazzles AU lands playmakers Tide repeats as “Maybe publicly you don’t know what guys are going to Last-minute additions ONE-MINUTE MADNESS Rivals’ champion do,” the Alabama coach said, “but I had a pretty good idea flesh out class of 26 Ray Melick and Kevin By IAN R. RAPOPORT when I went to bed what Scarbinsky video: Can Gene News staff writer most of the guys were going By CHARLES GOLDBERG Chizik succeed recruiting to do.” News staff writer nationally? Go to al.com/ TUSCALOOSA — Alabama recruiting enthusiasts likely If he closed his eyes Tues- AUBURN — Tommy Tuberville sports/birminghamnews went to bed on Tuesday day night peacefully, he ar- spent last season complaining Au- burn needed more playmakers. Gene night wired for a long Na- rived to announce 25 signees Auburn signed 26 players Wednes- Emory Blake in a positively giddy mood. Chizik may have found them day to go along with two who en- tional Signing Day that Chooses A day that began in rocky Wednesday. rolled in January. But the buzz among promised endless drama. Auburn over Thirteen decisions con- fashion when Hargrave of- The new Auburn football coach not the Auburn faithful was about the high-flying cerned the Crimson Tide, fensive tackle Bobby Massie only delivered one of the biggest un- last-minute additions of Blake and Texas Tech and most involving blue-chip spurned the Tide for Ole NEWS STAFF/LINDA STELTER committed names on his recruiting Benton. prospects, even more cap- Miss ended with Alabama’s board in receiver Emory Blake of Aus- Colorado. able of wildly swinging the breathtaking sweep of the Carver-Montgomery’s tin, Texas, but one of the national Chizik and his staff’s connections emotions of a fan base. top available prospects. Brandon Moore enjoys the shockers when receiver DeAngelo in the Southwest paid off. Not Nick Saban. He slept spotlight after signing with Benton of Bastrop, La., signed with serenely. See ALABAMA Page 3C Alabama on Wednesday. the Tigers. See AUBURN Page 3C Recruits can TOP 10 RECRUITING CLASSES OF 2009 Rivals.com Scout.com ESPN/Scouts, Inc. MaxPreps/Tom Lemming play recruiting 1. ALABAMA 5. Texas 1. Ohio State 4. UCLA 1. LSU 5. Florida 1. LSU 5. ALABAMA 2. LSU 6. Florida State 2. LSU 6. Texas 2. ALABAMA 6. Georgia 2. Ohio State 6. North Carolina 3. Ohio State 7. Michigan 3. ALABAMA 7. USC 3. Texas 7. Miami, Fla. 3. Texas 7. South Carolina game, too 4. USC 8. North Carolina 4. North Carolina 8. Georgia 4. USC 8. Florida State 4. USC 8. Georgia GADSDEN 9. Georgia 9. Oklahoma 9. Ohio State 9. Florida veryone else may have worried 10. Florida 10. Penn State 10. Michigan 10. Miami, Fla. about which scholarship offer Also Also Also Also EPensacola running back Trent 18. AUBURN 15. AUBURN 25. AUBURN NR. AUBURN Richardson was going to accept Wednesday afternoon, but not Gad- sden’s Dre Kirkpatrick. “Trent?” Kirkpatrick said, about an hour before Richardson’s long- awaited 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 Ala- bama, too. He’s been all over me about going to Alabama.” LSU fans might have been hold- ing their breath about the decision of receivers Rueben Randle and DeAngelo Benton, but not Kirkpa- trick’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 com- pare notes. And tell each other what they’re hearing. See MELICK Page 3C AP, BEN TWINGLEY/PENSACOLA NEWS JOURNAL RAY 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 MELICK Wednesday in Pensacola. Tide sweeps top of state’s crop as more than 150 reporters, camera- Gadsden City duo men, teachers, coaches, students and family members awaited his decision. INSIDE THUMBS UP He walked in with several relatives highlights big day in tow and sat down in his black pin- Biographies of Alabama Indiana men’s stripe suit, his dreads hanging down signees / 4C basketball. The By DOUG SEGREST, JEFF SENTELL, close to the microphone. MIKE BOLTON and ENEA ZHONGA Despite rumors he would break his Recruiting notebook / 4C Hoosiers finally News staff writers commitment to Alabama, the drama Blazers add surprise signee picked up their faded quickly. Some family members For the second straight year, the Ike / 5C first Big Ten dominoes fell in order, all pointing to wore crimson. And when Mobile quar- victory, 68-60 over Tuscaloosa. terback A.J. McCarron, a Crimson Tide Biographies of Auburn Iowa on Wednesday. The From Tana Patrick in Stevenson, to signee, arrived at the Escambia High signees / 6C library the announcement was appar- Hoosiers are now 1-8 in Big Ten Gadsden City’s dynamic duo of Dre Samford’s Sullivan enjoys Kirkpatrick and Kendall Kelly to big ent. play. Placing a houndstooth hat on his being choosy for class of man Brandon Moore in Montgomery, 2009 / 5C Alabama solidified its recruiting class head, Richardson chose Alabama over THUMBS DOWN with a clean sweep of the state’s top Florida and Louisiana State, saying his Troy class heavy on remaining uncommitted prospects. relationship with Crimson Tide play- defensive linemen and David Beckham. And to top things off, the Tide got ers, including Julio Jones, made his de- backs / 7C word of another major commitment — cision easier. The international What wasn’t easy for Richardson Doug Segrest’s Inside soccer superstar this one, a reconfirmation — from the South’s top running back prospect, was calling Florida coach Urban Meyer Recruiting / 8C said Wednesday and LSU’s Les Miles to inform them of just across the state line. National recruiting SPECIAL his decision. that he wants to roundup / 8C leave the LA Galaxy and stay with Bastrop-Louisiana High School’s “It was tough, man,” Richardson TRENT RICHARDSON said. “You get all these other schools AC Milan. Beckham came to the DeAngelo Benton pulls in a pass tagging along. But they (Alabama) re- Find more Galaxy less than two years ago, McCarron gives it away during the 2006 playoffs. Benton cruited me first. recruiting news at vowing to take soccer to a new PENSACOLA — Trent Richardson signed with Auburn on al.com/recruiting level in the U.S. sat behind the Escambia High banner Wednesday. See SWEEP Page 3C.