The first Wednesday in February, better known to recruitniks as National Signing Day, is less than a week away. A number of the top flight recruits have already made their intentions known, but there are still a number of ongoing recruiting battles to keep an eye on.
Running back is always the first place to look for fantasy owners. Freshmen backs have the quickest path to stardom. Malcolm Brown (#1 RB Rivals, #2 RB Scout, #2 RB ESPN) has already given his verbal commitment to Texas and will certainly give starved Longhorn fans and fantasy owners something to salivate about.
But there are a few big fish that are still weighing their options. Isaiah Crowell (#4 RB Rivals, #1 RB Scout, #1 RB ESPN) out of Columbus, Ga is the highest-rated back on the board. Crowell will be visiting in-State Georgia this weekend. He was at Alabama last weekend and plans a trip to Auburn on the 28th.
You have to think being from Georgia favors the Bulldogs. However, never count out the school with the last visit.
The other back to watch is New Jersey's Savon Huggins. Huggins finished up his visits with Rutgers last weekend and he is expected to make a decision on Friday.
Again location would tend to sway toward the Scarlet Knights, but North Carolina, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Auburn are also under consideration.
The most hotly-contested recruiting battle of them all, however, is for defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. Now before you click the little 'x' button on the top right corner because he's not a skill position player, take a look at his highlight reel.
Of course, it does look like Clowney is playing against JV teams, but it's not his fault for being the biggest and the strongest. You can almost see the terror in the eyes on his victims as he is about to run them over.
Clowney comes with the same hype as Da'Quan Bowers in 2008. South Carolina is believed to be the team to beat, but your typical cast of SEC schools like Alabama, Florida and LSU are also in the mix. Even Clemson -- who will be saying goodbye to Bowers -- is set to host Clowney this weekend. Clowney is also expected to delay his decision until after NSD, giving fans in the South another couple of weeks of Facebook stalking and message board banter.
We will obviously have more in the days leading up to NSD and once the ink dries on the Letters of Intent. So stay tuned, recruiting coverage has only just begun.