Alabama — again — is the champion of the recruiting world.

The Crimson Tide pulled off one of the day’s biggest surprises — nabbing LB Rashaan Evans from Auburn High School — and distanced itself from the field in the recruiting rankings.

Alabama was atop the team rankings in each of the four major recruiting sites: 247Sports, Rivals, ESPN and Scout.

From there, results varied, but it was obvious that it was another day for the SEC to stick out its chest.

The conference had seven teams in 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN rankings. LSU, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Auburn, Georgia and Florida were the ones cracking the top 10.

Outside the SEC, Ohio State and FSU were consensus top-5 classes.

Here’s how the top 10 looked from each site:

247: Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, FSU, Texas A&M, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Notre Dame

Rivals: Alabama, LSU, Ohio State, FSU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Georgia, Florida, Auburn, Notre Dame

ESPN: Alabama, LSU, FSU, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Florida, Ohio State, Auburn, Georgia, Miami

Scout: Alabama, Tennessee, FSU, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, LSU, Miami, Auburn, Florida

MCDOWELL TO MSU DRAMA


The drama appears to be over.

Southfield (Mi.) defensive end Malik McDowell officially committed to Michigan State at a signing ceremony at his school on Wednesday morning, choosing the Spartans over Michigan, Ohio State and Florida State. McDowell is rated by 247Sports.com as the No. 38 player in the country, the No. 2 strongside defensive end in the country and the top player in the state of Michigan.

McDowell’s recruitment rapidly developed into one of the more intriguing soap operas around the country in the past week or so. Long thought to be a Michigan lean — the defensive end grew up a fan of the Wolverines — he reportedly began favoring rival Michigan State, and appeared set to become another fearsome piece in coach Mark Dantonio’s stellar defense.

But it emerged on Monday that McDowell’s parents weren’t too keen on the idea of their son playing for the Spartans. His mother, Joya Crowe, told the Detroit Free Press that she didn’t want to see Malik at Michigan State because “something happened” during McDowell’s recent official visit to East Lansing, on which Crowe wouldn’t elaborate; Sports Illustrated reported that Malik had a conversation with Spartan players about not going to class, which is what turned off his mother.

Greg McDowell, Malik’s father, also told the Free Press that he hoped that McDowell would leave the state (which would mean him choosing the Buckeyes or Seminoles), so that he could avoid the type of “distractions” that he believed would come with playing for the Spartans.

But Wednesday, McDowell went with his heart and chose Michigan State. Leading up to the announcement, it appeared that the elder McDowell was more on board with a potential MSU pick than previously believed.

Situations where parents refuse to support a recruit's decision can be pretty sad, so hopefully McDowell's mother is on board as well.

After the announcement, McDowell told reporters that he knew where he wanted to go for a couple weeks and that while he listened to his family's input, he still made his "own decision."

"I felt like (Michigan State) can get the best out of me," said McDowell, who added the recruiting process was "really stressful."

McDowell becomes the eighth player rated four stars or higher by 247Sports to joinMichigan State's class, which 247 currently grades as the 31st-best class in the country and the fourth-best in the Big Ten.

Still, later Wednesday, according to Rivals.com's Mike Farrell, McDowell had not sent his signed letter of intent to the Michigan State coaches, which is what would officially end his recruitment. Apparently, the document McDowell signed at his announcement was just a plain piece of paper.

It's currently unclear if the delay in sending his letter is simply because McDowell hasn't gotten around to it/is planning on sending it later on, or if there is still disagreement within his family about his college choice.

Joe Rexrode of the Detroit Free Press  reported that McDowell said earlier he wasn't planning on sending his letter at all today, meaning it is likely the former situation. But there could be more developing.

Since McDowell is below the age of 21, he needs one parent's signature in order to validate his letter of intent. That means that even if his mother is not on board with his decision, as long as his father is (which appears to be the case), then McDowell would be able to sign with Michigan State with no issues.

The situation brings to mind the story of Alex Collins last year, whose mother didn't approve of his choice of Arkansas, and Cyrus Kouandjio in 2011, who committed to Auburn but then vacillated on signing day, ultimately choosing rival Alabama.


 


JACKSON CHOOSES USC


The No. 1 high school recruiting prospect in the state of California will stay there for his college football career. Adoree’ Jackson committed to USC on National Signing Day, and right away elevates the Trojans’ signing class to an elite level.

Jackson, 5-10 and 172-pounds from Gardena (Calif.) Junipero Serra, chose USC over Florida, LSU and UCLA.


DUPRE HEADS TO LSU


From the beginning of wide receiver Malachi Dupre's recruitment, LSU coach Les Miles and his staff made the local star out of John Curtis High School in New Orleans a top priority. On national signing day, those longstanding efforts paid off when Dupre picked the Tigers at a press conference at his school, shown live on ESPNU.

Dupre, a tall, rangy, explosive athlete, is rated as the No. 3 wide receiver in the country and the No. 30 player overall by 247Sports.com. He picked LSU over Florida State, Alabama, Ole Miss and UCLA.

In the last two weeks. Dupre took official visits to FSU, Ole Miss and UCLA, and in between hosted LSU coach Les Miles and the coaching pair of Nick Saban and new offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin from Alabama.

While it always seemed likely Dupre would stay home and choose to play for LSU, this still marks a big coup for Miles and the Tigers, considering the big-name schools that were in hot pursuit. With the additions of Dupre and five-star linebacker Clifton Garrett, who also joined the Tigers on signing day, LSU currently has the No. 3 recruiting class in the country according to 247Sports. The big prize of the class is running back Leonard Fournette, the No. 2 player in the country and another local product out of New Orleans.


BIG-TIME DE PICKS DAWGS


For the longest time, Norcross, Ga., defensive end Lorenzo Carter seemed likely to end up at Florida. He reportedly was favoring the Gators as early as last summer, and his first official visit was to Gainesville, almost four full months before he took his next official trip.

But sometime during Florida's disastrous 4-8 season in 2013, Carter's interest began trending away from coach Will Muschamp's team and toward the home-state Georgia Bulldogs. On Wednesday, Carter made it official, picking Georgia over Florida, LSU and Florida State at a press conference held at his high school and televised on ESPNU.

In Carter, coach Mark Richt has landed one of the elite edge rushers in the country. The 6-foot-5, 235-pounder is rated by 247Sports.com as the second-best weak-side defensive end in the country and the No. 20 player overall.

The writing was on the wall for this decision. Carter took his final official visit of the process just last weekend to Athens, and his mother, Lisa, told Michael Carvell of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the visit was an "11" on a 1-10 scale.

The most notable item from that AJC story is what happened after Carter returned from his visit. On Monday morning, as Lisa Carter tells it, the family began discussing Lorenzo's final decision — and his cell phone wouldn't stop ringing. So, Lisa went ahead and got his number changed, and per Lorenzo's wishes, his new number was given only to his immediate family members and his grandmother.

With that out of the way, Carter was free to ponder his choice with much less stress, a process that ended with his decision to join the Bulldogs. Carter told ESPNU that Richt did a great job of recruiting him, and that the hire of new defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt from Florida State was also impactful.

"I decided to stay home, represent my state and hopefully bring a national championship back to Georgia," Carter said. 	With Carter's commitment, 247Sports ranks Georgia's class as the eighth-best in the country (and sixth-best in the SEC). And while the Bulldogs managed to sign just three of the top 10 players in the state of Georgia, the ones they did sign are three of the best, with Carter, No. 2 in the state, joining No. 1 player Nick Chubb, a running back, and No. 5 Malkom Parrish, a cornerback.


TROJANS GET JUJU SMITH


John "JuJu" Smith, the No. 20 overall player in 247Sports' Class of 2014, committed to coach Steve Sarkisian's USC Trojans over Alabama, Ole Miss, Ohio State and Oregon.

"The new coaching staff was great," the 6-1, 207-pound Smith said on an interview on ESPNU. "Coach Sark has came in, great coaching staff, great program. I love this tempo of offense and defense. USC has been my dream school since Day 1. My family is USC fans, and I just love it to death. Fight on."

Smith is listed as an athlete, and will likely play either safety or receiver.

With Smith's commitment, USC figures to have a top-10 recruiting class in Sarkisian's first year guiding the program. Lane Kiffin was fired in September, and Ed Orgeron finished the year as interim coach.


FSU LOSES HARRIS, BUT HAS BIG DAY


Last month, Florida State won the BCS championship.

Today, the Seminoles will have one of the nation’s top recruiting classes.

But it won’t have quarterback Treon Harris, who had been committed to the Seminoles since July 8.

On Wednesday morning, the 4-star, dual-threat quarterback had a change of heart and committed to FSU rival Florida.

Harris spent the past three weekends taking official visits to Florida (Jan. 17), Auburn (Jan. 24) and Miami (Jan. 31).

Harris (5-11, 180) is a quarterback but can play multiple positions. Florida also signed Will Grier at quarterback and Grier is already on campus. If Harris wants to see the field early, he could look at receiver.

But that only dampened the day a little for the Seminoles, who landed WR Ermon Lane and DT Derrick Nnadi on signing day.

Contributors: Ken Bradley, Ben Estes, Rana Cash, Roger Kuznia