Rivals Top 100 for 2010: Where Are They Going?

After reviewing the Rivals Top 100 for this year, it's an easy call to say loud and clear that SEC football is set for the next four years, and probably well beyond. The Big 12 and the PAC 10 are well prepared, as well.

Rivals and Scout spend endless capital and invest thousands of man hours reviewing tape and visiting high school campuses to rank the best high school players across this great nation. In fact, the story The Blind Side is a spin off of the process of evaluating high school recruits.

This year, like years past, the Rivals Top 100 list has been adjusted at year end to not only include summer and spring camp evaluations, the high school season and individual performances, but also the performances in high school playoffs and all-star games.

Twenty six of this years Top 100 high school athletes have reached or maintained the status of the five-star athlete. The remaining 74 are four-star quality. Of the Top 100, 83 of the athletes are already committed to a program.

Lets take a brief look at where these athletes plan on attending school.

University of Florida: Ten commits

University of Alabama: Eight commits

University of Southern California: Eight commits

University of Texas: Seven commits

University of Georgia: Five commits

Tennessee: Four commits

LSU: Four commits

Oklahoma: Four commits

Texas A&M: Three commits

Auburn University: Three commits

Florida State: Three commits

Schools making the list of honorable mention (one or two commits) include Penn State, California, Arizona, Washington, WVa, Michigan State, Michigan, UNC, NC State, South Carolina, Notre Dame, UCLA, BYU, Missouri, Oregon, Clemson, Nebraska and Ohio State.

Breaking it down to regions, the SEC will infuse the already strong talent pool with at least 36 of the Top 100. The Big 12 will add 16, the PAC 10 will add 14 of the four and five-star talents in 2010.

From there, the number of athletes from the Top 100 moving into any one conference dramatically drops. The Big 10 will add four of the Top 100 to their conference pool and the remainder will be spread amongst the Big East, The ACC and Mountain West.

The remaining 17 uncommitted four and five-star athletes will change the final picture to some degree, but many are looking to attend top schools in the SEC, Big 12 and PAC 10, as well.

Better than 30 percent of the Top 100 athletes have already committed to SEC schools. The University of Florida and The University of Alabama not only have top recruits, they have top recruits in positions of need. These two schools, along with the University of Texas are well ahead of others in the recruiting game.

Is it any wonder why they ranked so high at the end of this year? Each of these schools have recruited Top Five classes for the past two seasons and are still the most desirable destinations for top quality high school prospects.

Taking this into account, one must give credit to the Chris Petersen's, Gary Patterson's and the Kyle Whittingham's that take their programs to greater heights than expected by others, year in and year out. It certainly speaks to great coaching.

One must also give a great deal of credit to the two and three-star athletes that elevate their game once they enter the college ranks. Many wear the proverbial "chip on their shoulder" and dare someone to knock it off.

There are certainly casualties that occur along the way. They occur throughout the ranks from five to two-star. Casualties are related to attrition from grades, injuries and difficulty adjusting to college life.

Then there are those who get exposed with flaws in character when they don't have someone protecting them 24-7 and suffer a penalty imposed by the law. These athletes are given a shot to elevate their position in life yet some do not overcome the process that allowed them to develop bad habits and poor judgement.

Lastly, as a fan and avid observer of the game, there are the intangibles that change how players interact. Some teams seem to have players that develop those desirable qualities quicker than others. Coaches like to attribute his development to the process that their program puts the player through during development of the student athlete.

Looking across the landscape of college football, one thing is for certain. A championship team is hard to come by, year after year. The SEC has done well in the BCS era but every year other teams rise to the challenge and give it a great run to the finish.

Next month, as these young high school athletes make their final decisions, it will be the first step toward the 2010 season. Keep your eye on signing day. Somewhere buried in the mix is the next Javier Arenas, the next Toby Gerhardt and Ndamukong Suh. These are the athletes that make the game so much fun to watch.

They are the ones that have the lesser rating, but they will rise to the top by their second or third year knowing they had what it took when no one else believed. Try to pick one out and follow his career. He just may be playing for your school.