NEW YORK — These days, the Alabama-LSU rivalry is revved up year round.
The Tigers and Tide tussled for the top spot in the recruiting rankings Wednesday, with Nick Saban and Alabama closing strong and even getting one Louisiana star — wide receiver Kenny Bell of Rayville, La. — to switch from purple and gold to crimson and white on recruiting day.
As if LSU fans needed another reason to seethe about Saban — the former Tigers coach who needed just two seasons in Tuscaloosa to wrest the SEC West away from Les Miles’ team.
Alabama went 11-2 last season and played for the Southeastern Conference championship, while LSU disappointed and finished 8-5 the season after winning the national championship in 2007.
On signing day, LSU and Alabama went at it again.
and Allen Wallace of and SuperPrep Magazine gave Alabama their top spots, both just ahead of LSU.
LSU was No. 1 in the Scouts, Inc./ESPN rankings, with Alabama second. Tom Lemming of CBS College Sports also had LSU on top, with the Crimson Tide fifth.
Few coaches are as relentless as Saban and Miles when it comes to recruiting.
“They both have similar styles in that it’s fight to the whistle,” Bobby Burton of said. “Both of them really take it seriously from start to finish. They both need to keep each other at bay.”
Prized running back Trent Richardson of Pensacola, Fla., picked the Tide over Florida and LSU.
“If he had gone (to LSU) I might have switched LSU to No. 1 instead of Alabama,” Wallace said. “That’s how close it is at the top.”
The other schools vying for the top spot were mostly the usual suspects: Southern California, Texas and Ohio State.
Florida coach Urban Meyer didn’t have many scholarships to hand out — most of his national championship team will be back next season — but what his class lacked in quantity it made up in quality.
One newcomer to the top-10: North Carolina, with coach Butch Davis. The Tar Heels haven’t had this type of recruiting success since Mack Brown was in Chapel Hill in the late 1990s.
Coach Rich Rodriguez’s first season at Michigan was a 3-9 debacle, but his first recruiting class drew top-10 rankings.
And one of the best running back prospects in the country decided NOT to sign a letter of intent. Bryce Brown of Wichita, who has given a verbal commitment to Miami, said he plans to mull his decision over for a few more weeks. Oregon and Kansas State are apparently still in the running.
