College Football's Sleeping Giants

Nick Saban has won three National Championships and has become the face of college football.  

Many programs try to get to the level of Alabama and look for coaches like Nick Saban, but few are able to replicate their success.  This list outlines the college programs that are up and coming or have shown signs that they will, or might, be a force in the coming future.  

The teams on this list either have potential to be recruiting powers, have amazing facilities or have some other element that makes them relevant.

Arizona State

The Sun Devils have a prime location in their favor.  The Arizona weather is beautiful.  Arizona State has a mass appeal to potential students just on the weather alone.  

Arizona State offers a phenomenal campus life that is currently ranked amongst the best in the nation. Their facilities are amazing.  They have outdoor grills, and the dorm buildings look like resorts.

The fact that they are in Arizona gives them the option to pull kids from Texas and California.  If Arizona State could generate a presence in the Southeast (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, etc), they could get scary good real quick.  

Also, the national appeal makes it easy to recruit there.  Think of it this way: If Brian Cushing can leave North Jersey for USC, and Greg Olsen can leave NJ for Miami (FL), it shows that the best kids will go to the best programs—regardless of distance.

Kentucky

The black uniforms are a nice start.  

If Kentucky has one thing going for it, it would be hoops.  If the football team could use the basketball team for recruiting purposes, then do it.  Schedule recruits to come to a Kentucky hoops game, and let them know that this is what you envision for the football team.  

Kentucky has a large source of funding and has great athletic facility.  There is a strong sports tradition at Kentucky, and now it is time for the football team to get in on it.  

Kentucky is in a great recruiting spot.  They can go into Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Florida, Georgia, Texas—pretty much they can recruit all over the 50 states.  

They play in the SEC. Joker Phillips is a young HC and is starting to turn things around there for the WIldcats.

Louisville

Charlie Strong took over the Louisville Cardinals program and had high hopes.  The former UF defensive coordinator has kept his Florida ties strong, and that is evident in the Cardinals' recruiting classes with Strong.  

Strong and the Cardinals had a chance at the Big East title with Miami-native Teddy Bridgewater as the QB, and he was only a freshmen last year.  Keith Miller, Gerrod Holliman and Nick Dawson are all 4-star recruits that are coming in with the 2012 class.

Strong is a disciple of Lou Holtz and Urban Meyer. The list of Louisville alumni that have played or are playing in the NFL is a long one. Some of the notables are Tom Jackson, Elvis Dumervil, David Akers, Ray Buchanan, Deion Branch, Kerry Rhodes and Johnny Unitas.  

Strong has the program going in the right direction.

South Florida

They beat Notre Dame at Notre Dame. I get that Notre Dame isn't what it used to be, but that is still a huge win for a program that sees a lot of in-state talent go to Notre Dame.  

They are located in the Tampa area and can offer lifestyle like none other.  South Florida has the major advantage of being in Florida and getting to see all the talent the state has to offer.  

With the Big East future up in the air, South Florida has the ability to go to another conference (ACC or SEC) or go independent.  Going independent could be risky, but they could set up games against UF, FSU, UM, FIU and FAU and never leave the state.

With a ton of other colleges in realistic traveling distance, it isn't a bad idea to explore.  

South Florida is starting to lure top talent also, as evident with Rivals' 4-star recruits Sean Price, TE and D'Vario Montgomery (WR).  There is so much talent that USF will land some good ones just based on the Law of Averages.

North Carolina

Hakeem Nicks. Julius Peppers. Lawrence Taylor. Dre Bly. Jeff Saturday.  Those are the names of some of the UNC football legends.

Recently the program has strung together solid recruiting classes. UNC will offer Quentin Coples, Zach Brown, Tydreke Powell and Dwight Jones to the NFL Draft in April.  

UNC is a basketball school historically, but don't be surprised if they really take off now on gridiron.  

Larry Fedora, the new HC, landed huge talent during his time at Southern Miss.  Fedora landed DeAndre Brown, who was thought to be the next big-time WR.  Brown had a nice career at Southern Miss, and Fedora was able to bring in other highly touted 3 and 4-star recruits.  

Fedora is now a part of a huge school, and the expectations are high.  Fedora should be able to bring in the best high school athletes.  

Fedora was able to snag great athletes at non-BCS conference school, but he now has all the tools to bring in the best.  The biggest appeal of the school is Michael Jordan. Even though he didn't play football, he is admired by athletes of all sports.

Northwestern

The Wrigley Field Game.  I know a lot of people hated it, but I loved it.  The game proves that there is a fire around Big Ten football in Chicago.  

Northwestern has tough academic requirements, but that hasn't hurt Notre Dame in the past and hasn't been too much of a burden for Stanford in recent years.  

Northwestern is in the Chicago area and has a huge draw.  The huge draw comes not only from the media presence in Chicago but from what the city offers.  Chicago is home to huge businesses and can offer players the chance to put themselves in a great position once football is over.  

The school's tough academic reputation will solidify the degree an athlete will walk away with. Northwestern has been champion or co-champion of the Big Ten three times since 1995 and bowl eligible seven of the last eight seasons.

Pat Fitzgerald, a Northwestern legend, is the HC and only 37 years old.  Fitzgerald is from the Chicago suburbs and has done a good job of finding talent to bring to the Wildcats' program.  

This year includes Kyle Prater, Greg Kuhar and Ifeadi Odenigbo.  Prater is a former 5-star recruit that went from the Chicago area to Southern Cal.  He had injury issues at USC and has decided to come back home.  Kuhar and Odenigbo are both 4-star kids from Ohio.  

Two other recruits to keep an eye on for the Wildcats in future are Traveon Henry and Malin Jones. Henry is a safety from Fort Lauderdale, FL.  Henry is listed at 6'1" and 200lbs and is the 33rd-best safety in the country.

Malin Jones played at the historic Joliet Catholic Academy program.  Jones shared the backfield with Ty Issac at JCA, but Jones still managed to be rated as 26th-best RB in the country.  Jones checks in at 6'2" and 190lbs and is a quick big.

UCLA

Jim Mora, Jr. is set to give college football a try in Los Angeles after a failed NFL experiment.

Sound familiar?

It sounds as if UCLA is borrowing a page out of the USC playbook.  USC went out and hired Pete Carroll and had great success while Carroll was at the helm.  UCLA is in Los Angeles and has seen its football program down in the dumps.  

UCLA and its fans are hoping that Mora can duplicate the run at USC, and I think it will work.  Mora has already landed Devin Fuller.  Fuller is an elite athlete that will most likely be used at QB.  Fuller reminds me of Pat White, the former QB at West Virginia.  

California is loaded with talent, and UCLA has a solid tradition to restore.  

Mora brings NFL experience, and that is huge in the world of recruiting these days.  Many blue-chip athletes bite on NFL bait during recruiting, and, if Mora can sell the NFL bait he has, then it should be good years to come for Bruins fans.

Kansas

Another basketball school, but Weis can recruit.  We saw the classes he put together at Notre Dame, and we know QB's want to play for him because of the Tom Brady connection.  He brings Super Bowl rings to a Kansas program that is surrounded by some of the best Junior College teams in the country.

Weis brings a strong recruiting presence in Florida and the Midwest, but if he can set up shop in Texas there may be the perfect storm a brewin' in Lawrence, Kansas.  There is no defense played in the Big 12, and that is good for Weis. Weis can land top talent, and, if he can put together a high octane offense, he could win in the Big 12 very quickly.  

Weis has already landed three transfers.  Dayne Crist, formerly of Notre Dame, will run the offense for Weis immediately.  Jake Heaps, a BYU transfer, will learn under Crist for a year, and then he will run the show.  Heaps was highly touted out of high school.  

The Jayhawks found someone to catch the ball, too, with Justin McCay jumping ship from Oklahoma.  The best thing Weis could do is raid the NFL for coaches.  If Weis is able to assemble a coaching staff with an extensive NFL background, then that would only add to his recruiting savvy.