While the Spartans' Signing Day was a bit understated — weather washed out the planned press conference to introduce the class, and most of the potential last-minute surprise additions fell through — that doesn't mean that it wasn't successful.


The Spartans loaded up on defensive linemen (6), offensive linemen (4) and linebackers (4) in this class, nabbing one guy for the trenches — JUCO OL Fou Fonoti — on Signing Day. Reactions to the class were mixed — ESPN rated it third, fifth by both Rivals and Scout — but for the second straight year included the state's best player, five-star linebacker Lawrence Thomas, as well as a good mix of local (six in-state players) and national talent. Traverse City St. Francis OL Kyle Lints turned down MAC scholarship offers to come to MSU as a preferred walk-on.


(List taken in its entirety from MSUSpartans.com)

Name	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown (Last School)
Jack Allen	C	6-2	262	Hinsdale, Ill. (Hinsdale Central)
Juwan Caesar	WR	6-4	205	Miami, Fla. (Miami Coral Park Senior)
Shilique Calhoun	DE	6-5	225	Middletown, N.J. (Middletown North)
Donavon Clark	OL	6-4	305	Cincinnati, Ohio (Finneytown)
Brandon Clemons	DL	6-4	265	Milford, Pa. (Delaware Valley)
Arjen Colquhoun	DB	6-1	180	Windsor, Ontario (W.F. Herman Secondary School)
Connor Cook	QB	6-3	197	Hinckley, Ohio (Walsh Jesuit)
Ed Davis	LB	6-3	215	Detroit Southeastern
Fou Fonoti	OL	6-5	295	Lakewood, Calif. (Cerritos College)
Darien Harris	LB	6-1	215	Silver Spring, Md. (DeMatha Catholic)
Joel Heath	DE	6-6	250	Cincinnati, Ohio (Mount Healthy)
Taiwan Jones	LB	6-3	220	New Baltimore Anchor Bay
Damon Knox	DE	6-5	265	Muskegon
Paul Lang	TE	6-5	235	Pittsburgh, Pa. (Mount Lebanon)
Kyle Lints	OG	6-3	275	Traverse City St. Francis
Onaje Miller	ATH	5-10	180	Lansing Sexton
Matt Ramondo	DT	6-4	285	Las Cruces, N.M. (Mayfield)
Mark Scarpinato	DT	6-3	270	Milwaukee, Wis. (Marquette University)
Andre Sims Jr.	WR	5-9	170	Snellville, Ga. (Brookwood)
Lawrence Thomas	LB	6-4	245	Detroit Renaissance
Trae Waynes	DB	6-0	165	Kenosha, Wis. (Bradford)
RJ Williamson	DB	6-1	190	Middletown, Ohio (Dunbar)

The No. 13-ranked Michigan State Spartans (6-0, 2-0 Big Ten) are looking to go to 7-0 for the first time since the national championship year in 1966 when they host Illinois for a homecoming game on Saturday. The Illini (3-2, 1-1) are coming off their first-ever win in Happy Valley last week, knocking off Penn State to turn down the hot seat for coach Ron Zook. Can they ruin Michigan State's homecoming and end the dream of a Rose Bowl appearance? Tune in 15 minutes before kickoff at 11:45 a.m. to find out my thoughts.

Join me for a live chat from Saturday's showdown for state supremacy, as No. 17 Michigan State (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten) visits No. 18 Michigan (5-0, 1-0), featuring the one-man gang, Denny (Denard Robinson) and his jets, against the ground green rushing attack of Edwin Baker, Le'Veon Bell and Larry Caper. If you don't want to listen to former Lions president/GM Matt Millen call the game on ABC, and aren't partisan enough to enjoy either radio broadcast — MSU's Jim Miller and George Blaha on WJR-AM (760), or U-M's Jim Brandstatter and Frank Beckmann on WOMC-FM (104.3) — then feel free to log on here for unbiased analysis. Or if you're a bit more partisan, and want to stop by with some trash talking, feel free to do that, as well.

Week 4 of the college football season sends me back to Spartan Stadium, where I'll be live chatting from Michigan State's noon game against an FCS (or I-AA) opponent in Northern Colorado. Join me a little before kickoff insight from my perch high above the field. It's a view that offensive coordinator Don Treadwell — who's filling in for head coach Mark Dantonio — won't have for once. In the absence of Dantonio, who suffered a mild heart attack after last Saturday's epic overtime gamble against Notre Dame, Treadwell will be on the sidelines for the game, running the Spartan ship.

Join me for a live chat from Michigan State's once-in-a-generation game in Detroit, when the Spartans (1-0) face Florida Atlantic (1-0) for a "road" game at Ford Field on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010.

By MATTHEW B. MOWERY
Of The Oakland Press
EAST LANSING — Le’Veon Bell stepped to the podium in the postgame press conference, flashed a shy smile and said quietly, “Uh, this is the first time I’ve ever done this, so ...”
Could’ve fooled most people who were at Spartan Stadium on Saturday to witness Bell’s debut in a Michigan State uniform, watching him become the first true freshman in program history to record a 100-yard game in his first game.
He looked like a seasoned veteran up until that point.
Filling in for Larry Caper, who was held out with a minor hand injury, Bell rumbled for 141 yards and two TDs on just 10 carries, pairing with Edwin Baker to give the Spartans a pair of 100-yard rushers in one game for the first time since 2006.
Michigan State had one back top 100 yards all of last year.
“I thought I had a pretty decent day today,” said the 6-foot-2, 230 pound Bell. “I always dreamed about something like this, you know? For my first time ever coming on a college field, it was just a great experience.”
The coaches decided to keep Caper — one of their two true freshman RBs from a year ago, along with Baker — out of the lineup as a precaution, letting Bell know as early as Tuesday that he’d get a good deal of work in the season opener against Western Michigan.
“I was real nervous,” said Bell, who admitted the early notice helped build the butterflies a bit. “My first play was actually on punts, so it wasn’t that bad. I was very nervous, once I came out there. Once I got that first hit, it drove all the butterflies away.”
He and Baker didn’t have a tremendously heavy workload — combining for just 27 carries — but they were murderously effective, helping the Spartans average 8 yards per carry, and 297 total rushing yards.
“We found a variety of run plays worked. Sometimes you get into a game, and only one play will be the one that works, and your other stuff doesn’t, and we found that we could bounce from inside zone, to outside zone, to gap runs. And it was all working. Which is good, to know that we can be multiple in the run game, and keep defenses on their toes, which will help going forward,” said MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins. “If we run the ball like we did today, my job will be very easy this year.”
Everyone knew about the Oak Park graduate, Baker, who’d led the Spartans in rushing four of the last seven games last year, after the coaches had flirted with redshirting him. But Bell could become a household name just as quickly.
Coaches had been gushing about him for awhile.
“I think he’s been a pleasant surprise, as far back as the spring. When he enrolled early last spring, he immediately got the attention of the coaches, as well as his teammates, in just his natural ability,” MSU offensive coordinator Don Treadwell said. “No. 1, he has the size you’d like for a Big Ten back, but the certain things he has that we call intangibles — as you all know, you can only coach them so far — and he exhibited those out there today. He has great vision for a running back. He has excellent feet for a guy his size.
“Obviously, we’re very excited about him. We think the sky’s the limit, as we keep moving forward.”
As the staff moves forward, it will have to figure out how to sort out what’s becoming a logjam at running back again.
Despite several other players moving in and out of the rotation throughout last season, Bell and Caper were the primary workhorses as true freshmen. Bell would make a third wheel for this season. And diminutive-yet-speedy Nick Hill, from Chelsea, is another freshman who may be able to carve himself out a spot in the playing group.
That gives Treadwell and the offensive coaches the task of sorting out who will get the carries.
“One thing, if want to say you have a stable, you want to have them at running back, because there’s a lot of wear and tear in the Big Ten, with the amount of games that we play,” Treadwell said. “If anything, it can be a good problem to have enough backs to carry the load for us this year.”



Rouse done for season
Head coach Mark Dantonio announced Saturday that fullback Josh Rouse, who left the game under his own power, would be out for the season with a neck injury. Dantonio said that Rouse would have surgery on a vertebra in his neck later Saturday night.
“It was an emotional thing, I think, for our football team at halftime,” Dantonio said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to Josh at this point.”

Michigan State head football coach Mark Dantonio spoke Tuesday morning at media day, outlining expectations for his fourth season at the helm of the Spartans. Even though his team is coming off a 6-7 season — marred after the fact by the distraction of an off-campus altercation involving his players — Dantonio likes the chemistry of this year's squad, and has no problems with his team dreaming of roses.

What's been long rumored is now fact.

MSU and Tom Izzo announced Tuesday night that they've parted ways with talented-yet-undermotivated guard Chris Allen.

"It's been no secret that Chris Allen's been in a tenuous position since the spring. There were multiple obligations that Chris had to meet in order to return for his senior season," Izzo said in a press release. "While he did make progress through the summer, he has failed to meet all the obligations and will not be a part of our program this fall."

The Georgia native started 32 games in his three-year Spartan career, including 27 a year ago, when he averaged 8.2 points per game, and was MSU's best 3-point option. With one year of eligibility remaining, it's probable that Allen will transfer to another Division I school, sit out a season, then finish his eligibility.

That's exactly what Izzo's release suggested.

"I know he's going to be a great player. He deserves another chance to play basketball somewhere, but it's in everyone's interest that it be somewhere other than Michigan State," the coach's statement said. "Like every player, he has to mature a little bit. I think a year away from the game will be beneficial for his development as a person and a player."

Allen was part of the uber-talented backcourt with roommates Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers, but drew Izzo's ire (and a suspension) on the eve of this spring's Big Ten Tournament. All three had their run-ins with Izzo, but Allen's status remained the haziest, even as he tried to repair the relationship with his coach and teammates this summer.

It's unclear what the last straw was, but the player didn't seem to blame anyone but himself.

"Coach was straight-forward with me about what I needed to do to remain a part of the team," Allen said in the same press release. "Unfortunately, I didn't meet all the obligations. I have enjoyed my time at Michigan State and I appreciate all the support from my fans, and everyone associated with the program. It's unfortunate things didn't work out, but I'm leaving on good terms with my teammates and coaches."

The Michigan State Spartans locked up one of the stars of their camp from last week, getting a verbal commitment from Windsor (Ontario) WF Herman safety Arjen Colquhoun on Monday, giving the 2011 class a round 10 members.

Unrated by Rivals.com, but a two-star prospect according to Scout.com, Colquhoun is a lanky 6-foot-1, 180-pound defensive back/wide receiver who reportedly ran a sub-4.5-second 40-yard dash at the MSU camp, standing out with his ball skills. The multi-sport star also returns kicks.

While there is obviously a quality (not to mention rules) difference between high school football in Canada and the U.S., WF Herman has produced a couple of quality DBs in the past: current Duke CB Chris Rwabukamba and St. Louis Rams safety O.J. Atogwe.

Citing sources close to the negotiations, a Missouri radio station — WHB (810-AM) in St. Louis — reports that the Big Ten is on the verge of extending invitations to four schools: Nebraska, Missouri, Rutgers and Notre Dame.

The Big Ten's intention to expand has been one of the top ongoing stories of the year in college sports and, given the depth and breadth of speculation on the topic, none of the schools named by the report's author, Kevin Kietzman, are remotely shocking. The timing is slightly curious, however, since the Big Ten's plans can't be finalized until the league's presidents and chancellors meet at the start of June.

While both Big 12 schools issued immediate responses, the dismissal from Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman of the validity of the report ("None whatsoever," he told the Lincoln Journal Star.) was much stronger than the response from Missouri.

Rutgers issued a press release from AD Tim Pernetti, saying "We are a proud member of the Big East Conference. It is not our place to speculate on any reports on the expansion plans of any other conference."

As per usual, Notre Dame refused to comment at all.

Assuming Kietzman's sources are right, adding all four would put the Big Ten at 15 schools, well within the range set out as possible by commissioner Jim Delany. But it would still leave the conference with an odd number of schools, and likely seeking one more addition to even out the numbers.

Here have been my thoughts all along:

If indeed the expansion is driven by football only, it's likely that the additions won't include either Missouri or Rutgers, despite the fact that those two schools would give the conference a way into the TV markets in St. Louis and New York. Missouri has had a small taste of success under former Toledo coach Gary Pinkel, but nothing that's been sustained. It's the same for Rutgers under Greg Schiano, despite the life he's breathed into that moribund program in Piscataway. (Heck, it even got him an offer of the U-M job, which he turned down).

Nebraska makes sense, because the Cornhuskers are — well, Big Red. Every bit as tradition-laden as Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State. Despite its recent crash (thank you, Greg Robinson), the Syracuse program has a ton of tradition of its own — from Jim Brown and Ernie Davis to Donovan McNabb and Dwight Freeney. Then there's the bonus of the rock-solid basketball program.

The other three I'd keep an eye on are Pitt, Cincinnati and West Virginia. All three are competitive in the toughest conference in basketball, the Big East — arguably every bit as accomplished as Syracuse since Carmelo Anthony pulled his one-and-done act — and have been light years better on the gridiron lately.

While some have argued the Big Ten's intention to try to break into the New York market (and I'm not sure how Syracuse or Rutgers would pull that off, to be honest), maybe a more realistic plan would be to consolidate the conference's hold on the recruiting-rich states of Pennsylvania and Ohio — the closest thing the North has to the fertile recruiting grounds of southern states like Florida, Texas and Louisiana.

The addition of Penn State in the 1990s gave the Big Ten a foothold in Pennsylvania, and Pitt would not only finally give the Nittany Lions a natural in-conference rival, but would also lock up the western half of the state.

Follow that same logic with Cincinnati, which would give the Big Ten the top two programs in the state of Ohio, and a stranglehold on the BCS-level programs in the state (no offense to the MAC schools).

Sitting between those two additions — and mere miles from the borders of both Pennsylvania and Ohio — is West Virginia, the addition of which would cement the inclusion of its archrival, Pitt.

With the four additions from the Big East forming half of a new eight-team division, you could easily slide Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Michigan State in alongside. That would leave a western division of Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, Indiana and Purdue.

None of the traditional rivalries (with the exception of the Little Brown Jug) would be severed, and there wouldn't be any weird geographic anomalies. It would also perfectly set up an east/west showdown in a conference title game (like that's not the ENTIRE reason behind expansion).

Those eight-team divisions could even be further subdivided, if you wanted to go with semifinal games, as well:
Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, Indiana
Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Cincinnati
Penn State, Pitt, West Virginia, Syracuse.

Obviously nothing's set in stone until the powers that be in the Big Ten agree on a plan, but that's just my idea for what they should do.

Dwaun Anderson got to live his dream when the junior guided Suttons Bay to the Class C finals at Breslin Center in March.


"I knew as we got further into the tournament, I was going to have to step my game up," Anderson told the Traverse City Record Eagle after a 30-point, 13-rebound performance in a quarterfinal win over Rudyard. "I just tried to turn it on. It's been my goal (to play at the Breslin Center) since I was young and first started watching high school basketball."


Now, Anderson has figured out a way to be able to play at Breslin Center a lot more, as the high-flying, 6-foot-3 shooting guard committed to the Spartans on Wednesday, giving MSU a pair of top-rated shooting guards in the 2011 class. Detroit Southeastern's four-star guard, Brandan Kearney, has been committed since November.


Anderson averaged 20.6 points and 10.7 rebounds in the final three games of the spring for the Norse, which culminated in a 59-43 loss to Melvindale ABT in the Class C championship game.

The minute Michigan State linebacker Greg Jones decided to stay in school for his senior season, it became obvious how slim the pickings were for draftable players from the state. Before Michigan DE Brandon Graham's stellar postseason pushed him into the middle of the first round, it was eminently possible that the entire state could be shut out of the first day of the NFL's new three-day draft format.

While the Big Ten had the second-most players (34) selected of any conference, only four of those were from Michigan or Michigan State. It's a pretty good argument for the people who insist that John L. Smith was recruiting MAC-level talent in his years at MSU, and those that insist that Lloyd Carr left the cupboard bare at U-M.

Even with Graham's selection at No. 13 by the Eagles, it was still nearly 36 hours before another player from one of the major universities in the state would come off the board. Small-school workout warrior Jared Veldheer of Hillsdale was picked in the third round by Oakland on Friday, but punter Zoltan Mesko was the next player with ties to the state drafted, midway through the fifth round, shortly before noon on Saturday.

Central Michigan's record-setting duo of QB Dan LeFevour and WR Antonio Brown  were the next two to go off the board, 14 picks apart in the sixth round, then the Raiders nabbed a pair of defensive backs — Michigan State's Jeremy Ware and Michigan's Stevie Brown — with seventh-round picks.

Michigan cornerback Donovan Warren, who entered the draft early, was not selected, and signed a free-agent contract with the DB-rich New York Jets. He's not alone in that ignominy: Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Sneed, once considered a sure-fire first-round pick, went undrafted and was signed by Tampa Bay, while LaGarrette Blount, the troubled tailback from Oregon, signed with the Titans.

Another local product, Michigan State's Blair White, knows all about beating long odds after going from walk-on to the Spartans' leading receiver last season.
UPDATE: Trevor Anderson joined former MSU teammates White and kicker Brett Swenson as an undrafted free agent signed by the Colts. Western Michigan QB Tim Hiller is also in the Colts' rookie camp this week.


DRAFTED PLAYERS
Round 1, pick 13 — Michigan DE Brandon Graham, drafted by Philadelphia
Round 3, pick 5   — Hillsdale OT Jared Veldheer, drafted by Oakland
Round 5, pick 19 — Michigan P Zoltan Mesko, drafted by New England
Round 6, pick 12 — Central Michigan QB Dan LeFevour, drafted by Chicago
Round 6, pick 26 — Central Michigan WR Antonio Brown, drafted by Pittsburgh
Round 7, pick 8   — Michigan St. CB Jeremy Ware, drafted by Oakland
Round 7, pick 44 — Michigan S Stevie Brown, drafted by Oakland

UNDRAFTED PLAYERS

Michigan

RB Carlos Brown — New Orleans

WR Greg Mathews — Chicago

RB Brandon Minor — Chicago

OG David Moosman — Arizona

OT Mark Ortmann — Carolina

CB Donovan Warren — New York Jets

Michigan State

PK Brett Swenson — Indianapolis

CB Ross Weaver (Southfield) — Miami

WR Blair White — Indianapolis

Central Michigan

WR Bryan Anderson— New England

CB Josh Gordy — Jacksonville

DE Frank Zombo — Green Bay

Others

Cincinnati FS Aaron Webster (Birmingham Groves) — Houston

Grand Valley State OT Nick McDonald — Green Bay

Saginaw Valley State DT Rob Callaway — Detroit

Wayne State RB Joique Bell — Buffalo

Western Michigan QB Tim Hiller — Indianapolis

Margo Jonker's program has always been predicated on the production of her top players in her 31 years at the helm of Central Michigan University's softball team, so it was no surprise that she needed — and got — a little help from two of her top hitters in what turned out to be a historic day on Thursday.

Down a run to visiting Michigan State, and hitless through three innings, CMU got record-setting home runs from both Christina Novak and Pontiac Notre Dame Prep grad Molly Coldren to earn a 5-1 win for Jonker, the coach's 1,000th career victory.

Jonker became the 11th coach in Division I softball history to pass the milestone.

“It’s darn tough to beat. It’s a perfect day for softball,” Jonker told Jim Lahde of the Mount Pleasant Morning Sun (read his full coverage here and here). “I feel very fortunate for all the players that chose to come to Central Michigan University over the (last) 31 years to allow this to happen. It just says a lot about the program so I’m very proud.”

Novak's solo shot in the fourth was the 17th in her four-year career, setting CMU's all-time record. Coldren's solo homer in the sixth, which provided insurance, was her ninth, giving her sole possession of the school's single-season record.

The Michigan coaching staff appears to be hitting Oakland County heavy this spring, having already gotten a verbal commitment from Birmingham Seaholm wideout Shawn Conway, and recently extending a scholarship offer to Madison Heights Madison's blazing-fast Valdez Showers.

Showers, who has a listed 40-yard dash time of 4.27 seconds according to Rivals.com, already has scholarship offers from three other Big Ten schools — Michigan State, Wisconsin and Northwestern — as well as Cincinnati — which has had kept a pipeline open to southeast Michigan under Brian Kelly and now Butch Jones — and a pair of MAC schools in Toledo and Central Michigan.

In addition to Conway and corners Greg Brown — from Charles Woodson's alma mater, Fremont (Ohio) Ross —  and Cass Tech's Delonte Hollowell, the Wolverines recently got a commitment from four-star Plymouth Canton DE Brennan Beyer.

When Trey Zeigler first arrived in Michigan, he was arriving from Los Angeles, where he'd already separated himself as an up-and-coming basketball star. And he was going to Mount Pleasant, population 25,000, where his father Ernie had just become the new men's basketball coach at Central Michigan University.

It wasn't just his big feet that marked the eighth-grader as a potential big fish in a little pond.

Shoot, the two high school basketball coaching staffs in town even got into a minor squabble in the audience at his father's introductory press conference, arguing over who was going to get Trey, once he entered high school.

Highly-sought after doesn't even begin to explain it.

Flash forward four years, and every college coach in America was after the 6-foot-5 shooting guard, ranked among the nation's best players by all the recruiting services. His father's old boss, UCLA coach Ben Howland, wanted Zeigler to come back to La-La Land. Before directing the Blue Devils to another national title, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski first got directions to one of Zeigler's games. MSU's Tom Izzo figured Zeigler could be the next in a line of great Saginaw Valley League players to don the big green Spartan 'S,' while Michigan coach John Beilein thought Zeigler would be the perfect fit in Maize and Blue to replace the recently-departed Manny Harris.

One guy didn't really sell his program hard to Zeigler: His own dad.

"My dad was hands-off the whole time, just being a dad. He went on most of the visits with me, and he just looked at it from a dad's standpoint, where he thought I'd fit best," said the younger Zeigler, shortly after making the announcement of his college choice on live TV from a lawyer's office in Southfield, "and when it came down to it, the last month is really when he started telling me how much he wanted me to be here. So that helped a lot, letting him let me figure things out on my own."

What he figured out — eventually — was something that would have come as a complete shock to the 15-year-old that first came to Mount Pleasant: Staying put was a pretty good option.
"I'll be honest with you — I never really thought this was an option," said Zeigler with a laugh.

Until now.

Zeigler's announced choice of CMU, unveiled when he pulled a maroon cap on his head on ESPNU, will be confirmed this morning, when he signs his National Letter of Intent at a second ceremony at his high school.

It took a lot for Zeigler to turn down the offers from all the big schools, especially some of the in-state powers he'd come to admire in his time in Michigan.

"Michigan is a great program, and I love coach Beilein and coach (Mike) Jackson, and they did a great job with recruiting me — and if my dad wasn't a coach anywhere, that's probably where I'd be," Zeigler admitted.

His story is eerily similar to that of his close friend, Ray McCallum, the star point guard from Birmingham Detroit Country Day. McCallum turned down offers from bigger programs to play for his own father at University of Detroit Mercy, filming his own ESPNU segment in the same TV studio just minutes before Zeigler.

For the full story of how the two families — fathers and sons — made their way through the awkward recruiting process together, stay tuned to the college section of TheOaklandPress.com.

Listen to Zeigler's comments from Wednesday's event below.

Just hours before the NCAA's late signing period for men's basketball opens, and it looks like both of the state's sought-after unsigned guards — Birmingham Detroit Country Day's Ray McCallum Jr. and Mount Pleasant's Trey Zeigler — are going to stay home.

Literally.

Both of the players are in the unique situation of being the sons of Division I basketball coaches: University of Detroit Mercy employs Ray McCallum Sr. as its head coach, while Zeigler's dad, Ernie, is the head coach at Central Michigan University.

And as of Tuesday night, it looks like both players are going to join their father's program, rather than take offers from bigger (and some would say better) programs.

The Mount Pleasant Morning Sun reported that Zeigler will make his decision official on television Wednesday afternoon, then sign at the high school on Thursday, while McCallum will sign his paperwork — cementing a poorly-kept secret of his intentions — at a law firm in Southfield Wednesday. Both signings will be televised on ESPNU on Wednesday: McCallum at 4:10 p.m. and Zeigler at 4:40.

The two players, who are friends and teammates on the camp circuit, have parallel stories. Both moved to a new state in high school — Zeigler from California and McCallum from Indiana — and both have had the unique experience of being not only a sought-after top recruit, but also being recruited by their own fathers.

McCallum, ranked as the 25th-best recruit by Scout.com and the 60th best by Rivals.com, was deciding between offers from Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, UCLA, Miami (Fla.), Minnesota and Notre Dame, while Zeigler (No. 35 Scout/No. 26 Rivals) was contemplating Michigan, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Duke, LSU and Miami (Fla).

Skeptics have tied each of the sons to their fathers' career coattails, hinting that the fathers might benefit most from having their sons stay at home. Rumors have linked McCallum Sr. with other coaching jobs — where he could take his son without a transfer penalty — while critics have insinuated that the elder Zeigler's contract extension with CMU, agreed-upon last week but finalized on Tuesday, was linked to his son's commitment. If anything, the extension may have been the deciding factor for Trey, rather than vice-versa.

There might be some disappointment from fans of bigger schools in the state — both U-M and MSU were hoping Zeigler would fall in their laps late — but this seems to be a win-win situation for both families. Both programs get a boost of publicity — as well as a top-notch player — and neither kid has to look his father in the eye and say, "Your program isn't good enough, Dad."