By MaxPreps' Stephen Spiewak

Keivarae Russell, the nation's No. 138 recruit, committed to Notre Dame Thursday afternoon, according to the Seattle Times.

The 6-foot, 182-pound running back from Mariner (Everett, Wash.) chose the Fighting Irish over home-state Washington.

"Notre Dame, as far as athletically and academically, you can't beat it," Russell said. "Once you get a degree from Notre Dame, you're basically set for life."

Russell's commitment comes just two days after Notre Dame narrowly lost out on the nation's No. 1 recruit Gunner Kiel, whocommitted to LSU.

Landing two top running backs was a priority for Notre Dame this recruiting cycle after only reeling in Cam McDaniel in the previous recruiting cycle. It pursued both Keith Marshall and Byron Marshall but came up short for each.

Russell joins Ohio running back William Mahone, a power runner who should complement Russell nicely.

In helping Mariner to a 5-5 season, Russell earned first team all-state honors in Washington's Class 4A.

Posted by Bryan Fischer

Steve Kragthorpe helped snare quarterback Gunner Kiel for LSU.

 With Kiel off the board, what does Notre Dame do?

 Wide out Jehu Chesson is looking forward to going to Michigan.

- Good breakdown of the standouts from the first day at the Rising Seniors Bowl.

Arizona State's new coaches are making some progress in recruiting.

 A season recap for Maryland commit Isaac Goins.

 Oklahoma has recently entered the picture for running back David Smith.

Posted by Bryan Fischer

After decommitting from Indiana and delaying his decision several times, Columbus (Ind.) quarterback Gunner Kiel has finally pulled the trigger and committed to LSU.

"I can't wait to play in the SEC," Kiel told 247Sports. "A lot of people call it the NFL of college football and it will be an exciting time. It would mean a lot to be a starting quarterback in such a great conference at a great school. I really love the players and the coaching staff. They were all great to me on my visit and seemed very welcoming."

Ranked as the top signal-caller in the class of 2012 and number two overall recruit by Maxpreps, Kiel holds scholarship offers from just about every program in the country, including Alabama, Oklahoma, Michigan, USC and others. He surprised plenty of folks by committing to Indiana in late July and new head coach Kevin Wilson but opened things back up in October. He quickly scheduled official visits to each of his finalists, Notre Dame, LSU and Vanderbilt.

"To be honest I'm just reevaluating my decision," Kiel told CBSSports.com at the time. "I just want to go out and see other places and see if IU is the right place."

The 6-foot-4, 215-pounder threw for 2,517 yards and 28 touchdowns this season while also rushing for 11 scores. He led Columbus East to an 11-2 record his senior year and was named Indiana's "Mr. Football" by the Indianapolis Star.

Kiel's brother, Dusty, is a sophomore at Indiana and his uncle, Blair, played at Notre Dame.

The strong-armed and aptly named Gunner will enroll early in Baton Rouge after playing in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on January 7th.

The commitment of the top quarterback in the country is another big boost for the Tigers class of 2012, which now sits at 22 commits. LSU took three quarterbacks with last year's class and Kiel figures to battle talented junior college transfer Zach Mettenberger for the starting job upon arriving on campus. Prior to Kiel's pledge, Les Miles' next recruiting class was ranked 9th overall in the MaxPreps team rankings.

Posted by Bryan Fischer

Wednesday, December 21st is the first day Junior College players can sign with schools across the country and the faxes are already in for several commitments. Here's a list of each SEC team and who has signed or is expected to sign paperwork soon. This is for the early period only.

Arkansas

Los Angeles Harbor C.C. (Calif.) defensive end Austin Flynn

Alabama

Eastern Arizona C.C. (Ariz.) cornerback Travell Dixon

Auburn

None.

Florida

East Mississippi C.C. (Miss.) defensive tackle Damien Jacobs

Georgia

Coffeyville C.C. (Kan.) offensive lineman Mark Beard

Kentucky

East Central C.C. (Miss.) defensive back Kory Brown

LSU

None.

Mississippi

Coahoma C.C. (Miss.) offensive lineman Darone Bailey
City College of San Francisco (Calif.) offensive lineman Pierce Burton
Copiah-Lincoln (Miss.) defensive back Dehendret Collins

Mississippi State

East Mississippi C.C. (Miss.) defensive end Denico Autry
Gulf Coast C.C. (Miss.) offensive lineman Dylan Holley
Butte C.C. (Calif.) offensive lineman Charles Siddoway

Missouri

None.

South Carolina

None.

Tennessee

Gulf Coast C.C. (Miss.) defensive end Darrington Sentimore

Texas A&M

Gulf Coast C.C. (Miss.) defensive back Otis Jacobs

Vanderbilt

None.

Posted by Bryan Fischer

Top quarterback Gunner Kiel will pick among Notre Dame, LSU and Vanderbilt by Christmas.

 Receiver Brett Bartolone picked up an offer from Washington State.

 Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze is playing catch up in recruiting.

 Mark Richt's contract extension at Georgia could help recruiting.

 Defensive end Jonathan Bullard will pick among Clemson, South Carolina and Florida.

 Kansas State's success this season won't change Bill Snyder's recruiting approach.

 Recruiting is a tricky situation for West Virginia.

 Penn State coaches are telling recruits to keep their options open.

 Nebraska and Maryland landed JUCO cornerbacks.

 Michigan extended offers to a couple of 2013 prospects.

Posted by Bryan Fischer

As soon as Mike Sherman was let go as head coach at Texas A&M, many speculated that Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin would take the drive up highway 6 and take over. That's exactly what will happen, with CBSSports.com's Bruce Feldman confirming that Sumlin had accepted an offer to be the Aggies next coach on Saturday morning.

Sumlin, 47, understands the culture in College Station and knows how to recruit there. He worked under R.C. Slocum at the school and was an assistant on Bob Stoops' Oklahoma staff before moving on to Houston. Sumlin took over for Art Briles and led the Cougars to two 10-win seasons and two division titles while compiling a 35-17 record.

As Feldman notes, Sumlin has the reputation of being a good motivator, player's coach while maintaining discipline. Sherman left him some talent as the Aggies move to the SEC next season and a top 10 recruiting class for 2012. In addition to hiring a good staff, the first task that Sumlin has to do is hit the recruiting trail and try and keep the pieces for February together.

At the moment, there have only been a handful of defections following Sherman's firing and it's doubtful there will be many more. MaxPreps has A&M's class ranked ninth in the country with top players such as quarterback Matt Davis, linebacker Jordan Richmond and running back Trey Williams. After securing everybody's pledge over the next few weeks with in-home visits, Sumlin will have to go about filling the rest of the class out. He knows Texas high schools very well and can bring in a few players who maybe hadn't considered the Aggies before.

Going forward, it's obviously a step up in terms of a job. Conference USA to SEC is quite a leap on the field. Off the field, Sumlin knows the lay of the land and will have that added selling point of playing in the country's best conference. He likely will try to lock down the talent-rich Houston area and it should be fun to see how he does against Texas and other powerhouses such as LSU on the recruiting trail.

The facilities are there in College Station, it's a solid program and now they have a pretty good salesman. It shouldn't be too hard for Sumlin to save the 2012 class and hit the ground running in 2013.

Posted by Bryan Fischer

Alabama will play LSU in the national championship game and it appears they've already scored more often than they did in the teams first match up. The Tide reached into Tigers territory on Wednesday to pull a commitment out of Bastrop (La.) linebacker Denzel Devall.

"I just felt like it was a great fit from the get go," Devall told TideSports.com. "I like the system, the school and everything about it. Just everything about it. From all the programs, the academic programs, Coach (Nick) Saban, the coaching staff...it's the place to go if you want to be successful."

The 6-foot-2, 240-pounder held offers from Arkansas, LSU, Oklahoma and Texas A&M among others. A big fan of Saban's since his days with the Tigers, Devall has no divided loyalties with the home state team after making his commitment public.

"I'll take my official visit the weekend after we beat LSU in the national championship," he said.

Devall gives the Crimson Tide 22 verbal pledges for the class of 2012 and he becomes the fifth linebacker.

Posted by Bryan Fischer

Alabama will play LSU in the national championship game and it appears they've already scored more often than they did in the teams first match up. The Tide reached into Tigers territory on Wednesday to pull a commitment out of Bastrop (La.) linebacker Denzel Devall.

"I just felt like it was a great fit from the get go," Devall told TideSports.com. "I like the system, the school and everything about it. Just everything about it. From all the programs, the academic programs, Coach (Nick) Saban, the coaching staff...it's the place to go if you want to be successful."

The 6-foot-2, 240-pounder held offers from Arkansas, LSU, Oklahoma and Texas A&M among others. A big fan of Saban's since his days with the Tigers, Devall has no divided loyalties with the home state team after making his commitment public.

"I'll take my official visit the weekend after we beat LSU in the national championship," he said.

Devall gives the Crimson Tide 22 verbal pledges for the class of 2012 and he becomes the fifth linebacker.