AUBURN: Jermarcus Ricks (6-4, 280), a defensive tackle from Colbert County (Ala.) High, visited Auburn last weekend. He committed to the Tigers over Alabama Thursday night. His brother is Tiger sophomore linebacker Courtney Harden. Darrell Roseman (6-3, 235), a defensive end from Clearwater Dunedin, has committed to the Tigers.

ARKANSAS: Mitch Mustain (6-2, 190), the heralded quarterback from Springdale, Ark., has re-committed to Arkansas. Notre Dame coach Charlie Weiss quit recruiting him because the Irish are going to stand behind their quarterback commitments—Chicago’s Demetruis Jones and Pennsylvania quarterback Zach Frazer--and hope to get California junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen next season. Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas were Mustain’s final three schools. Hog backup quarterback Alex Mortensen has decided to stay at Arkansas after his father, Chris, the NFL analyst, said he would transfer to Georgia Southern. Former Hog quarterback coach Roy Wittke has landed at Arizona State in a similar capacity. Backup quarterback Cole Barthel has transferred to Arkansas Tech, where he can play immediately.

FLORIDA: Four- star prospect Orlando Franklin (6-6, 290), an offensive lineman from Delray (Fla.) Beach, visited Florida this past weekend. He will also visit FSU and Miami in the next two weeks. All three coaching staffs will visit him this week. Ian Symonette (6-9, 320), an offensive lineman from Houston Texas St. Pius X, said his visit to Florida went well. His favorite visits so far have been to Florida and Miami. He is visiting LSU next weekend. Antonio Logan-El (6-4, 307), an offensive lineman from Forestville, Md., visited Florida also. His list has narrowed to Maryland, Florida, Penn State and Tennessee. He is player No. 49 on the Rivals100. C J Spiller (5-10, 190), a running back Union County (Fla.) High, visited Florida over the weekend. He was at Clemson Monday and will visit Miami this weekend and FSU the following weekend.

A J Jones (6-1, 182), the linebacker from Tampa (High) Middleton, verbally committed to Florida. Mon Williams (6-2, 192), a running back from Mesquite, Texas, will visit Florida this weekend. His mother will be with him on visits to Texas A & M and Florida. She did not visit with him on trips to Colorado and Oklahoma State. Rivals.com rates him as the 14th best running back in the nation. Jacques Rickerson (5-10, 176), a cornerback from St. Augustine (Fla.) High, said he is still committed to Florida despite rumors that he might be backing off after a visit last week to West Virginia. Florida commitment and Rivals100 member Damian Williams (6-1, 180), a receiver at Springdale High in Arkansas, reconfirmed his commitment to Florida. Arkansas coaches have tried hard to recruit him in the past few days. Gator commitment and four-star prospect Dustin Doe (6-0, 206), a linebacker from Live Oak Suwannee (Fla.) High, is making his official visit this weekend. Knowshon Mareno (5-11, 205), a running back from Middleton, N.J., is visiting Florida this weekend and Virginia Tech next weekend. He has already visited Georgia. Ole Miss commitment Allen Walker (6-2, 200), a receiver/safety/athlete from Oliver Branch, Ms., is visiting Florida this weekend. He is considered the best player in Mississippi. He said he is now a 60/40 Rebel commitment.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Daron Rose (6-5, 310), an offensive lineman from Tampa Jefferson (Fla.) High, visited South Carolina this past weekend. He visits Florida this weekend. Rose is down to Michigan, FSU, Florida and South Carolina. FSU is his last visit on Jan. 27. Pierre Andrews (6-2, 286), an offensive lineman from Charlotte (N C) Independence, committed to the Gamecocks. LSU had offered him. Vandaral Shackleford (6-0, 191), a linebacker from Riverdale Ga., committed to South Carolina over North Carolina, Duke and Vanderbilt. Olufemi Ajiboye (6-2, 290), a three-star defensive lineman from College Park, Ga., also committed over Virginia Tech, Michigan State, Illinois and others.

GEORGIA: Brent Brewer (6-2, 187), a receiver/safety from Tyrone Ga., Sandy Creek High, visited Georgia this past weekend. He enjoyed the visit, but would like to visit FSU and Mississippi State. Stafon Johnson (5-11, 200), a safety/running back from Dorsey High in Los Angeles, Calif., will visit this weekend. He is down to Washington, Southern Cal, Georgia and Tennessee.

LSU: Free safety LaRon Landry is staying at LSU for his senior season. Landry was told that he would have been a second to third round draft pick. He also said an ankle injury would have slowed him down for the NFL workouts. LSU defensive line coach Karl Dunbar has accepted an offer by Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress to join his staff.

OLE MISS: Brent Schaeffer (6-2, 190), a quarterback from the College of Sequoias in Calif., makes his decision known on Friday. He is down to Ole Miss and N C State. Assistant coach Hugh Freeze has been named the recruiting coordinator. Hayward Howard (6-4, 300), a defensive tackle from Eastern Arizona Community College signed a letter of intent. Defensive lineman Dedrick Clark will not return to the team. Offensive coordinator Dan Werner said he would not have taken the Ole Miss job, if he were going to be micromanaged the way he was at Miami. Kentrell Lockett (6-4, 212), a four-star defensive end from Hahnville, La., chose Ole Miss over Alabama, Arkansas and Texas Tech. He is the No. 7 ranked weakside defensive end in the nation according to Rivals.com. Jonathan Cornell (6-2, 210), a linebacker from Glendora, Calif., verbally committed to Ole Miss over USC, UCLA, Oregon, Arizona State and Washington.

TENNESSEE: Brent Vinson (6-2, 180), a four-star receiver from Hampton, Va., has committed to the Vols. Quintin Hancock (6-2, 182), a receiver from St. Augustine (Fla.) High committed to the Vols. He chose the Vols over Nebraska, Maryland and Georgia Tech. Rivals.com rates him as the No. 47 receiver in the nation. Defensive tackle Tony McDaniel decided to declare for the NFL draft last Friday after he was served with an $800,000 lawsuit from Tennessee student Deshaun Goodrich for punching him in the face during a pickup basketball game. Goodrich had four broken bones in his faces after the incident. Tim Hawthorne (6-2, 199), a four-star receiver from Homewood High in Alabama, is no longer being recruiting by Florida. He is still looking at Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Louisville. He plans on making his decision public on ESPN Jan. 30. Cody Pope (6-5, 268), an offensive tackle from San Diego, has committed to the Vols.

FLORIDA STATE: Kevin McNeil (6-3, 235), a defensive end from Camden County Ga., has committed to FSU. He was also looking at Georgia and Louisville. Quarterback Wyatt Sexton said in a release that he has given up football at FSU due to advice from his doctors and his desire to earn his MBA. Doug Thacker (6-2, 245), a strongside defensive end from Sanford (Fl.) Seminole High, committed to FSU on Thursday night. He was a Virginia Tech commitment. Patrick Robinson (5-11, 169), a cornerback/receiver from Miami Gulliver (Fla.) Prep, is down to Florida and FSU. He will announce his decision on Jan. 25. He visits Florida next weekend. Dekoda Watson ( 6-2, 206 ), a defensive end/linebacker from Aiken, S.C., has FSU in his list of favorites that also include South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia Tech after his weekend visit. Quarterback Xavier Lee had his right shoulder scoped Friday. He should be ready for spring practice. Alabama commitment Ricardo Wright (6-2, 215), a linebacker from Dr. Phillips (Fla.) High, did not commit to FSU at his team’s football banquet. Some recruiting analysts thought Wright could change his mind and commit to FSU. He visited FSU this past weekend, but did not change his mind. Former defensive back Joe Manning has landed at City College of San Francisco. Brandon Warren (6-2, 230), a defensive end from Alcoa, Tenn., was visited by five FSU coaches Wednesday night including Bobby Bowden. Michigan commitment and Rivals100 member Greg Mathews (6-2, 189), a receiver from Orlando (Fla.) Edgewater, is visiting FSU this weekend. Marcus Ball (6-0, 204), a five-star linebacker from Stone Mountain, Ga., received a visit this week from Bowden. Offensive lineman Matt Meinrod expects to hear about his status of a possible sixth year of eligibility by tomorrow. He fractured his left fibula and dislocated his left ankle against Wake Forest.

MIAMI: Receiver Ryan Moore and defensive lineman Baraka Atkins told Coach Larry Coker that they would return for their senior season. Boston College commitment Darius Bagan (6-2, 225), a linebacker at Wallington, N J, Queen of Peace High School, is visiting BC this weekend. He is down to Miami and BC. Coker is considering making Randy Shannon also the linebackers coach along with his coordinator responsibilities. Quarterback Kyle Wright said he was going to watch film of every game last year. Wright frustrated coaches last year who wanted him to throw shorter passes to open receivers instead of downfield plays that had a lower success rate percentage.

CLEMSON: Junior defensive end Gaines Adams is returning to Clemson for his senior year. He led the team in quarterback sacks and tackles for loss. Defensive end Xavier Littleberry has been kicked off the team for violating team rules. He is a suspect in an assault and indecent exposure incident at the bowl game hotel. Kevin Alexander (6-3, 218), a linebacker from Union (Fla.) County, has committed to the Tigers. He is the No. 22 rated outside linebacker in the nation according to Rivals.com. Alexander is Clemson’s top linebacker target.

GEORGIA TECH: Recruiting coordinator David Wilson has resigned two weeks before signing day. Also, tight ends coach Tommie Robinson also quit to pursue other opportunities.

VIRGINIA: Al Groh has hired former Colorado offensive line coach Dave Borbely in the same capacity. Mike London has been hired as the Cav defensive coordinator. He was the defensive line coach for the Houston Texans. London was on Groh’s staff before taking the Texans job.

SOUTHERN MISS: Golden Eagle coach Jeff Bower has been given a two-year extension through the 2009 season. Bower, the dean of coaches in C-USA, has had 12 straight winning seasons at Southern Miss.

UCF: Negotiations have begun for a contract extension and a raise for coach George O’Leary. The amount of the contract could be near or above the one million dollar range. South Florida coach Jim Leavitt recently received a raise to that mark.

RUSH PROPST: The Hoover High head coach has pulled his name out consideration for the Valdosta High job. Propst has a 92-8 record at Hoover. He makes over $87,000 per year at the school. Valdosta High was going to pay him more than $100,000 per year and no teaching was required.

BRENT BEAIRD IS A SPORTS WRITER FOR THE CLAY COUNTY LINE IN ORANGE PARK, FLA., HE ALSO WRITES FOR RIVALS.COM, SAMSPORTSLINE.COM AND GATOR BAIT MAGAZINE. HE CAN BE HEARD ON ESPN 1460 ON MONDAY AND THURSDAY AFTERNOONS ON THE RUMBLE WITH MIKE DEMPSEY AND TOM MCMANUS.