Do you have a better facility with recruiting rules than Lane Kiffin? Take this test and see… It’s not only Big East schools thinking about the Big Ten’s expansion plans… The best values in public colleges – guess who’s the best in the Big East?

Cincinnati loses one commit, gains another. (Cincinnati Enquirer)

The QB commit Butch Jones snagged at Central Michigan has changed his commitment – to Jones’ new school. (WZZM13.com)

Cincy’s Mardy Gilyard makes Rutgers’ Devin McCourty look not-so-hot on one drill at the Senior Bowl. (RealGMFootball.com)

Someone else is wildly impressed with McCourty. (Scout.com)

A UConn beat writer apologizes for reporting a coach was leaving and answers a bunch of other reader questions. (Hartford Courant)

A former UConn assistant takes his memories of Jasper Howard to his new gig at Georgia. (Ledger-Enquirer)

At one time, this would be The Game of Big East women’s play: the best UConn blogger gathers all the links on today’s Rutgers-UConn tip up in Hartford. (Sox & Dawgs)

Louisville picked up its fifth offensive lineman Monday. (Louisville Courier-Journal)

A Long Island linebacker’s switched his commitment from Syracuse to Rutgers. (Star-Ledger)

One of the best Rutgers bloggers has pulled up a slew of links on Scarlet Knights past and present. (Bleed Scarlet)

Breaking down new NJ governor Chris Christie’s plans re: Rutgers. (Bleed Scarlet)

USF has a Pro Bowler too. (GoUSFBulls.com)

Meanwhile a current USF DT was arrested for driving without a proper license. (St. Petersburg Times)

The salaries of Skip Holtz’s assistants are out. They’re higher than Jim Leavitt’s assistants’ salaries were. (St. Petersburg Times)

The new “Orange Shoppe”  -with its vintage memorabilia – opens at the Carrier Dome this weekend. (SUathletics.com)

The day news breaks that WVU QB Geno Smith broke his foot, QB commit Barry Brunetti reaffirmed his allegedly wavering commitment to WVU. (Charleston Daily Mail)

The most impressive QB at yesterday’s first Senior Bowl practice wasn’t Tim Tebow; it was WVU’s Jarrett Brown. (CBSSports.com)

I really wanted to see Brett Favre in the Super Bowl, but after that boneheaded across-the-body-into-traffic throw to lose the game, maybe I really don’t need to see him again… Lebanon is saying this is not suspected terrorism. Like that matters when there are 90 deaths… So much for the land of the free: Americans seeking asylum as political refugees peaked in Pres. Bush’s final year in office… Put those hankies away, Brangelina is not over…

Andre Dixon and Lindsey Witten did UConn proud at the East West Shrine game. (Sox & Dawgs)

UConn’s building itself a Florida pipeline. Funny little aside about how Bob Stoops and Greg Schiano’s VIP creds rate next to Urban Meyer’s. (Hartford Courant)

Charlie Strong’s staff is looking at other QBs, but one who committed to Steve Kragthorpe is staying committed. (Louisville Courier-Journal)

Pitt had alums on three of the four teams playing yesterday. They’ll have them on both teams at the Super Bowl in two weeks. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Was Pitt alum Clint Session talking smack about one-time Pitt teammate Darrelle Revis? (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Devin McCourty took home more hardware from Rutgers’ year-end banquet than any other Scarlet Knight ever has. (ScarletKnights.com)

Rutgers tailback Jourdan Brooks is transferring… (Bleed Scarlet)

…to Morgan State. (Scarlet Scuttlebutt)

Rutgers product Kevin Haslam really shined during Shrine Game Week. (SI.com)

Star South Carolina running back Mustafa Greene is torn between Rutgers and N.C. State: “Rutgers has said he would come in and start.” (The State)

West Virginia’s heir apparent at QB broke his foot. Again. (Charleston Gazette)

The Mountaineers’ top QB recruit, meanwhile, could be headed to Louisville instead. (The Commercial Appeal)

USF’s Kion Wilson made the official Shrine Game hometown paper’s game story. (Orlando Sentinel)

The real pre-draft jockeying began this week, with practice for the first of three college all-star games. The East West Shrine game kicks things off tomorrow at 3 p.m. at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

The Shrine Game is the oldest of the games (it has 62 NFL Hall of Famers – and Tom Brady and Brett Favre – as alumnus) and has coaching staffs the NFL helps put together. This year, the West coach is 21-year vet Marty Schottenheimer, who in 2004 was the NFL’s Coach of the Year. The seven Big East players in the game, meanwhile, have been put through their paces by Romeo Crennel, a five-time Super Bowl winner as an assistant coach.

NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock was kind enough to go over those seven prospects with me earlier. So, without further ado, here’s a look at the Big East players, what folks are saying about them down in Orlando and what their NFL prospects look like right now.

Connecticut Running Back Andre Dixon (6-0, 200)

Reports out of Orlando have identified a decent buzz about Dixon. CBS Sports’ Chad Reuter wrote that his quick feet have made him one of the week’s risers and the experts at DraftGuys.com highlighted his efforts in each of their daily practice reports. Mayock said that will all be very important as right now, “there are a bunch of running backs that kind of fit into the same mold as him. He has average speed and there’s nothing that really screams about him. It’s hard to distinguish yourself when you’re in that category.”

Dixon does have a strong first step, he runs with good pad level and his footwork has absolutely improved. He knows where and how to cut and his production this year (1,093 yards, 14 touchdowns) was irrefutable.

Projection right now: Fifth Round  (more…)

The newest Senator uses his victory speech to try to get a date for his basketball-playing daughter; she laughs it off… This telethon features some heavy hitters… The end of Wall Street as we know it…

Brian Kelly got the kid to commit to UC last summer. Will he now get him to commit to Notre Dame? (Cincinnati Enquirer)

The Bearcats will have three Senior Bowl participants this year. (GoBearcats.com)

Charlie Strong’s making believers out of high school kids. (The L Yes! Report)

Is Strong the best hire of the off-season? (Dr. Saturday)

If Rutgers fires Fred Hill, the coach with nine Big East wins – in four years – will walk away a very rich man. A fascinating look at his contract and what Rutgers could be on the hook for. (Scarlet Scuttlebutt) 

The Jim Leavitt-Joel Miller story is not going away. Still. (Tampa Tribune)

Meanwhile, USF could be losing a DT commit. (Tampa Tribune)

Is West Virginia a football school or basketball school? (Times West Virginian)

Breaking down all the recruiting in the league thus far. (ESPN.com)

It’s finally officially announced: P.J. Fleck is Rutgers’ new receivers coach. The Star-Ledger says Fleck’s already settled into his office and holding a meeting with his new charges and a Northern Illinois fan has already given the move its best affirmation: he’s moaning about Fleck’s departure.

Fleck spent the last three years coaching NIU’s wideouts and is essentially a lifelong Huskie.

He’s a native of Sugar Grove, Ill. and was a four-year star at NIU. He was a senior captain on NIU’s 2003 10-2 team, the one that beat Maryland and Alabama. He caught 77 passes for 1,028 yards that year, he spent the next two years with the San Francisco 49ers and in 2006, he signed on as a grad assistant at Ohio State. He went back to NIU in 2007 and in 2008, when the Huskies made a coaching change, the new coach not only kept him, he made Fleck his recruiting coordinator.

Fleck was apparently recommended by George McDonald, the Browns wide receivers coach who spent one week in that position for Rutgers – until Mike Holmgren lured him back with a raise. McDonald was supposed to, and Fleck now does, replace Brian Jenkins, who left for Bethune-Cookman’s head job.

I’m late on this and I apologize. Louisville coach Charlie Strong finished out his offensive coaching staff this week with the hiring of wide receivers coach Ron Dugans and quarterbacks coach Mike Groh.

Dugans spent the last three years coaching wideouts at Georgia Southern. He was a two-year grad assistant at alma mater Florida State before that and he spent five years playing in the NFL, with the Bengals and Texans, before that.

Groh, meanwhile, comes to Louisville apparently without ego. Groh was a graduate assistant at Alabama last year after three years as the offensive coordinator at Virginia. That’s right, he led the entire offense of a major conference school and then, when his father (Al Groh) was instructed to fire him, he went down to Tuscaloosa, signed up for grant-in-aid and into master’s level courses. (The elder Groh and Alabama coach Nick Saban were both on Bill Belichick’s Browns staff in 1992, Saban as d-coord and Groh as linebackers coach.)

Before that coordinatorship, Groh put in two years coaching UVa’s wideouts and then three as quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator. His first year with the signal-callers, he had Matt Schaub – who just took Tom Brady’s spot in the Pro Bowl – completing 69.7 percent of his passes en route to 2,952 yards. The next year Groh helped transition Marques Hagans from a receiver to QB and when Hagans graduated the next year, he did so with 4,877 yards.

These are certainly impressive hires. Now here’s a random little fact about these two: When Dugans was a freshman wide receiver at Florida State and Groh was a senior quarterback at Virginia, Groh led the Cavaliers to a 33-28 win over a then second ranked and undefeated FSU team. UVa ended FSU’s 29-game win streak over ACC teams and earned a share of the conference crown that year. Of course, Dugans went on to play in three national title games – winning one – after that, so I’m guessing there won’t be all that much trash talking in the coaches’ locker room.

Get ready for even more unabated vitriol during campaigns… Who wouldn’t want $45 million to go away?… Shocker here. The bigger shocker is that Elizabeth is STILL with him… Cindy and Meghan oppose John, very publicly…

Recruiting expert Tom Lemming’s take on who’s piling up the best prospects. (Hartford Courant)

Charlie Strong’s building a pipeline from the Sunshine State up to Louisville. (ESPN.com)

Five breakout players from this past season; two did their arriving in the Big East. (Dr. Saturday)

The league’s “most bankable winner.” (Dr. Saturday)

Pitt needs a linebackers coach. (MLive.com)

Kenny Britt was back at Rutgers yesterday. (Scarlet Scuttlebutt)

Kenny, meanwhile, just posted bail for a childhood friend accused of… murder. (Hudson Reporter)

Are Tim Brown and Devin McCourty being disrespected? (Daily Targum)

Wow. South Florida actually targeted another Big East coach early in its hiring process. (Tampa Tribune)

Could Jason Pierre-Paul be going to Tim Tebow’s home town? (Tampa Tribune)

Skip Holtz’s former players say his current ones are lucky. (St. Petersburg Times)

Jarrett Brown’s in the Senior Bowl. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

A look at the Big East’s top coaches of the past decade. One guess at who’s on top. (ESPN.com)

Part of doing the roundup every morning is getting to read the different things beat writers note. Two months ago, the St. Petersburg Times’ Greg Auman did what I thought was a cool story on the proliferation of players with a Haitian heritage at South Florida. The Times took that fabulous picture, to the right, and Sabbath Joseph’s spirited pride came through clear in Greg’s story.

This past weekend, as I watched Jonathan Vilma and Jacques Cesaire’s PSA asking for relief funds, I of course thought back to the Bulls. With students back on campus yesterday, South Florida’s administration generously put me in touch with a few of these young men whose families hail from Haiti. Take a read:

Every spring, Sabbath Joseph scans South Florida’s recruit list for Haitian names.

When Mistral Raymond came in from Iowa, Joseph cornered him in the Bulls’ locker room, welcomed him as a zoe (read: Haitian) and carried out an ersatz knighting.

Joseph tosses out Creole on the Bulls’ game field and he regularly harasses his teammates of less distinct bloodlines, “You’d run faster if you were Haitian.” He talks a mean game of nationalistic pride and redshirt freshman Jon Lejiste always thought it was a trip. Until this week.

When it became a saving grace.

“It’s all our parents’ homeland,” Lejiste said. “We always joke about our own little Haitian circle, but now, we really see how close-knit we are.” (more…)

This poor country can’t catch a break… Far as I can tell, this Globe columnist is comparing electing Scott Brown to a drunken hook-up… Good thing the White House isn’t ever going on the market. I hope…

Three of the 21 coaching changes in the FBS thus far this season have been in the Big East. Mark those three an A+, A- and A-. (SI.com)

Cincinnati’s three Senior Bowl participants. (The News Record)

As good as Cincinnati’s been, Butch Jones could make them better. (The Bleacher Report)

Pulling out Todd McShay’s thoughts on UConn DE Lindssey Witten. (Sox & Dawgs)

UConn has its January enrollees on campus. And a very likely desire to join the Big Ten. (Hartford Courant)

Get well soon, Coach Calhoun. (ZagsBlog.com)

Charlie Strong picked up an 11th commitment, bringing Louisville’s total to 26. (Louisville Courier-Journal)

It’s not too soon to express pleasure at the job Strong’s doing. (The L! Yes Report)

A thorough run-down of the season of every Scarlet Knight in the NFL. Except for the three still playing. (Bleed Scarlet)

Checking in on Rutgers’ commits. (Bleed Scarlet)

Rivals’ Rutgers beat writer Bobby Deren could have himself a bestseller. (Daily Targum)

Sabbath Joseph used to joke about Haitian players taking over South Florida. Time like this, there’s only comfort in their shared bloodlines. (SNY.tv)

It’s not only the football players: hoops star Melissa Dalembert can’t raise money like her brother Sam, but she’s asked all her teammates to weed clothes for donating out of their closets. (St. Petersburg Times)

Meet the Bulls’ new assistants. (GoUSFBulls.com)

A USF executive athletic director went ahead and said it: a lot of agents lie when they “leak” that their clients are coaching candidates. (St. Petersburg Times)

Syracuse will get tailback Delone Carter back next year. In a shocker, Mike Williams won’t be back. (Syracuse Post-Standard)

Is Marshall-West Virginia really that big? (Times West Virginian)

Doc Holliday’s family will still wear West Virginia gear. (Charleston Daily Mail)

Mohamed Sanu enrolled at Rutgers last January. Ten months later, he was the Scarlet Knights’ MVP. Is it any wonder these kids aren’t waiting for the rest of their recruiting class?

2010 signees Betim Bujari and Frank Quartucci both started classes at Rutgers today, as did Hoftsra transfer Matt McBride.

Bujari is a 6-foot-4, 295-pound guard out of Secaucus High. He’s one of Rivals’ top five linemen in the state, and top 50 guards in the country, he committed to Rutgers way back in 2008 and he’s a native of Albania.

Quartucci is also 6-4, 295, though he was a three-year starter at tackle at Hamilton West High down in South Jersey. His senior year, his team averaged 210 rush yards a game – in no small part because of him.

McBride already has a year of college ball under his belt. The 6-6, 280-pound Long Island native spent last year at Hofstra. Because Hofstra dropped its football program, and because McBride redshirted the year, he’ll be eligible immediately and have four years left at Rutgers.