Here are a couple of Signing Day snipets from Stewart Mandel, who used to be my go-to guy for college football before BN. I actually met him in a bar in NY, watching Howland lose yet again at Washington. Luke Winn showed up and I recognized him too, much to the disbelief of his friends there.

In fact, I found out about BN from Stewart Mandel, who had linked up a poll from BN where 80% of Bruins Nation disapproved of the job Karl Dorrell was doing (this was after the loss to the crappy Seminoles team in the nut bowl). Yeah that was 6 years ago...

Anyway, enjoy this:

Most significant development: UCLA's rise. Last year, I lauded Jim L. Mora's impressive haul considering his lack of prior recruiting experience. This year, the Bruins showed that 2012 was no fluke. UCLA's late additions of four-star dual-threat quarterback Asiantii Woulard (Winter Park, Fla.) and four-star defensive end Kylie Fitts (Redlands, Calif.) -- the latter a onetime USC commit -- capped off what became the Pac-12's top class. "If you'd have told me a couple months ago they'd finish ahead of USC, I'd say you're nuts," said Farrell, who lauded the program's reach into regions outside of the West Coast.

Spot on. And this is just delicious (emphasis mine):

Biggest implosion: USC. While credit is due to Lane Kiffin and staff for signing a national-best five Rivals' five-star prospects, the Trojans lost a staggering seven previously committed players from what, at one point, was considered the nation's No. 1 class. Even with the addition of touted quarterback Max Browne (Sammamish, Wash.), it's been a rough year -- especially considering one former four-star pledge, defensive end Jason Hatcher (Louisville), decided he'd rather play for Kentucky. USC's total of decommitments is a lot for any school. It's particularly troubling when USC can only offer 15 scholarships per year. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Trojans only had 13 signees, and it's unlikely that all will pan out.

A couple of guys like Browne or defensive tackle Kenny Bigelow may well become All-Americas. But it takes a lot more bodies to compile an elite team.

Damn you media! If only you just didn't make such a big deal out of recruiting!

Funds drying up at Southern Cal, excitement growing in Westwood.

Go Bruins!