College Football's Big Day

Today is a huge day in college football, as HS players will be signing their letters of intent and committing to various college football programs across the country. So far, there are early returns as to who is going where, and the numbers are interesting. Of the 100 "top" recruits as listed by USA Today, 79 already have committed. Of those 79 players, 78 of them have committed to schools in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC (the lone holdout has committed to BYU). Those 78 players have committed to a total of 31 schools. Which means, of course, that many schools in many of the BCS conferences have yet to land a Top 100 recruit.

And Notre Dame has yet to land one too.

The big winners thus far:

Nebraska (7 Top-100 recruits)
Tennessee (7)
Iowa (6)
Michigan (5).

Here is a breakdown by conference so far:

ACC (11 Top-100 recruits)

Florida State -- 2
Maryland -- 1
Miami -- 3
N.C. State -- 1
Virginia -- 2
Virginia Tech -- 2

Big Ten (18)

Illinois -- 1
Iowa -- 6
Michigan -- 5
Ohio State -- 3
Penn State -- 2
Wisconsin -- 1

Big 12 (18)

Baylor -- 1
Colorado -- 1
Nebraska -- 7
Oklahoma -- 4
Texas -- 4
Texas A&M -- 1

Pac-10 (10)

Arizona State -- 1
Oregon -- 1
Southern Cal -- 4
UCLA -- 1
Washington -- 1
Washington State -- 1

SEC (21)

Arkansas -- 1
Auburn -- 3
Florida -- 4
Georgia -- 4
LSU -- 1
Mississippi -- 1
Tennessee -- 7

And, of course, there's BYU, with its one recruit.

Many programs are holding their collective breaths to see which of the remaining Top 100 might matriculate at their schools. For the most part, they'll know by the end of today.

Iowa, Nebraska and Tennessee fans already have to be happy, as their schools have done very well. Many of the rest will judge how well they did in this year's recruiting quest by how well they do today.

Grown men chasing after 18 year-old kids. All about a game.

Given the country's (aging) demographics, let's all hope that when we're old and gray that we don't wish that the energies spent on wooing kids with football prowess weren't better spent on kids with the brainpower and creativity to help solve the ills of the world.

Don't get me wrong, sports are a lot of fun, a great diversion, and we're all interest in lists. We're all interested in seeing who goes where, and among the most interesting things we like to look at are these lists say 8 years later, in a "where are they now?" retrospective. How many from among the recruiting list I linked to will make it to the NFL? How many will star? How many will have off-the-field problems that will cause them never to get meaningful playing time in college? How many will get hurt? Who will be the megastar?

So stay tuned today and see where the remainder of the Top 100 kids are going. And also circle the names of less-heralded recruits who are going to your favorite school.

Because one of those guys is bound to be a star in the NFL, even if the recruiting gurus may not think so today.