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They may have lost the National Championship to Texas, but any doubts about USC continuing its run on top of the collegiate should be put to bed immediately. And when it comes to recruiting for 2006, the best in college football appear destined to continue to be at the top of polls.

When the final hours of recruiting ended, USC had rallied to overtake Florida for the "2006 recruiting class national championship." Though USC could not sign the Number one offensive or defensive lineman, the Trojans managed an exceptionally strong finish during the last hours of Letter-of-Intent Day and picked up some superb skill players to offset the loss of key individuals from this year's team.

An unprecedented total of thirteen of the website, Scout.com National Top 100 team, have now signed to play for USC. Among the many top recruits are wide receiver Jamere Holland from Taft High School in Woodland Hills, quarterback/safety Garrett Green from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, running back Kenny Ashley, from Venice High School, and Long Beach Poly safety/linebacker Alfred Rowe.

The USC numbers may also not be complete. At this time the number three running back on Scout.com, Keiland Williams, remains unsigned and is reportedly strongly considering USC. The Trojans have already received commitments from a bevy of running backs including Stafon Johnson, Emmanuel Moody, Stanley Havili and Ashley.

Florida, under head coach Urban Meyer, also had an exceptional recruiting year. The Gator's were able to come up with seven members of the Scout.com National 100 list. They are quarterback Tim Tebow of St. Augustine, Florida, wide receivers Percy Harvin from Virginia Beach, Virginia and Jarred Fayson of Tampa, Florida, offensive lineman Carl Johnson of Durham, N.C., linebackers Brandon Spikes of Shelby, N.C. and A.J. Jones from Tampa, Fla. and safety/wide receiver Jamar Hornsby out of Jacksonville, Fla.

And defending National Champion Texas came in number three on the list. Incredibly, most Longhorn commitments came prior to the start of the 2005 regular season. If Texas loses its outstanding quarterback to the pros, the team has secured the talent of quarterback Jevan Snead of Stephenvile, Texas to offset some loss of depth at the position. Also, Texas signed a number of other athletes from Texas including wide receiver/cornerback Ken Beasley from Orange, linebacker Sergio Kindle of Dallas, defensive end Eddie Jones out of Kilgore, and offensive tackle J'Marcus Webb from Mesquite.

And the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame parlayed the success of new head coach Charlie Weis to land the fifth ranked class overall. The Irish landed the top offensive line class in the country featuring Sam Young and Dan Wenger, both of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and Matt Carufel from St. Paul, Minnesota. Notre Dame also landed some top skill players as well in running back James Aldridge of Merrillville, Indiana along with cornerbacks Darrin Walls of Pittsburgh, Pa. and Raeshon McNeil from Mocksville, N.C.

After a poor year in 2005, Notre Dame appeared to strengthen the team's weakest areas, an offensive line that was senior laden and a defensive backfield that gave up yards in chunks. With Brady Quinn set to return at QB, the Irish also acquired an effective understudy in Demetrius Jones from Illinois.

Rounding out the top ten recruiting classes were Georgia at number four, Penn State sixth, followed by LSU, Oklahoma, Auburn and Michigan. Texas, USC, Penn State, LSU, Notre Dame and Georgia all finished in the Top Ten of the 2005 AP poll. Of those teams in the top ten recruiting polls, only Michigan failed to finish in the top twenty five of the final AP poll.