With National Signing Day now officially less than two weeks away, the real recruiting season begins.  Never mind the empty promises that have been thrown at recruits for well over a year now.  Teams are entering crunch time. 

While many fans rely on the six letter network for their recruiting information, SECRivals leans on the most trusted recruiting service on the internet: Scout.com.  We are not taking a personal shot at the rivals.com network, but truthfully, the star ranking procedures and some of the people whom are performing the rankings should raise some eye brows.  If you could take the message boards from the rivals network and combine that with Scout.com's ranking experts and resident analysts, you would have the perfect recruiting service.

It is strictly a personal matter of choice.

With the recruiting finish line coming into view, where does Scout currently rank each SEC team?  To say the least, the SEC is cleaning house in recruiting (so far).  Now can the teams can get the players to sign on the dotted line?  Granted, there are always some signing day surprises, but rest assured, this should be a banner season for the league.

The SEC has strong representation on the NFL Pro Bowl team.  The Pro Bowl, to be played the week before the Super Bowl on January 31st, will be the 'kick-off feature' running up to the Super Bowl.

Eleven former SEC players were selected for the Pro Bowl:
SEC East - Six Selections
Champ Bailey (Denver), Georgia
Percy Harvin (Minnesota), Florida [kick returner]
Peyton Manning (Indianapolis), Tennessee
Jason Witten (Dallas), Tennessee
Sidney Rice (Minnesota), South Carolina
Jonathan Stinchcomb (New Orleans), Georgia

SEC West - Six Selections
Le'Ron McClain (Baltimore), Alabama
Alan Faneca (NY Jets), LSU
Jay Ratliff (Dallas), Auburn
DeMeco Ryans (Houston), Alabama

We wanted to take the time to welcome some friends of ours to the Bloguin Network. 

If you already read Left Over Hot Dog, then you already know what we are talking about.  If this is your first time of hearing about them, book mark them and make them part of your daily read.

LOHD is one of the most outstanding SC (take that ya left coasters) Gamecocks blogs on the internet.  Full of passion and top notch writers, LOHD will fulfill your every Garnet and Black need.

Welcome aboard guys!

Also, do you run a sports blog?  Independent blog?  We were too.  Let me tell you, we hve never been more happy to have switched to a network.  The Bloguin gang is the easiest group of people to work with in the world.  We have never looked back since moving.

Unhappy with the not-so-fantastic results that you are achieving from your 'high caliber' network that you are already in?  Come on over, we have a spot for you.

Here's the deal:  Bloguin will give you a fresh re-design and set you sail using Joomla as the back bone.  Need something?  Ask and ye shall receive.  Plus, the network is filled with top notch bloggers than already know the in's and out's of getting your blog positioned in the search engines.  We've got you covered.

What do you have to do?  Blog.  Yep, that's it.  Be a solid blogger that blogs on a consistent basis ... and you are already doing that ... hard, eh?

Seriously, send me an e-mail via my 'Contact' link and ask all of the questions that you want.  We want you in here.  Like I said, all ya gotta have is the heart to write.

Thanks to the affiliation that Bloguin has forged with the folks at Notice Software, SECRivals.com is now available on your Smart Phone via one of the apps.

If using an IPhone, simply click here to get the app:  Link

If you are using Android, keyword search "SEC Rivals" in the app store

More info can be found here:  Link

That is all there is to it!

We love e-mail.  If you ever have any questions regarding the SEC, NCAA recruiting rules, or a general sports question, we will always do our best to help you out. I received this e-mail yesterday:

"Football recruiting is confusing as heck.  What are the different time periods that are used and what are some of the loop holes".
---J.M. Anniston, Alabama

OK, J.M., that's an excellent question!

In the NCAA recruiting season (which ends with National Signing Day on February 3rd), there are four distinct, solid 'periods' that are well defined: