In recruiting, it's usually all about what's for sale, not who's selling. Greg Schiano knows this. Hey, he's the head coach of Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights haven't been to a bowl since 19-flipping-78. So, is it any wonder Schiano regularly sees the likes of Miami, Iowa and West Virginia, among others, raid his bountiful New Jersey turf?

Schiano has to cast a wide net in his pursuit of talent. Like most schools, Schiano conducts camps on campus during the summer. But he doesn't stop there. If a player can't come to his camp, he'll take the camp to the player.

Any school can do it, but big boys such as Michigan and Texas don't need to. Rutgers does. So the past few years, Schiano has conducted a camp in South Florida, a fertile talent base that he's familiar with from his days as a Miami assistant.

Earlier this offseason, Oklahoma State held a camp in Dallas. "(Oklahoma State) saw 200-300 kids who might not have been able to make the trip up 1-35 to Stillwater," says Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Jeremy Crabtree. "For the school, it's good because they get to see more kids who might not be able to afford to attend a camp on campus. The schools go to where the talent is."

Schiano and others already have made plenty of offers. Signing day is six months away, but recruiting is building steam as fall approaches. Now that the camps are in the books, Crabtree answered questions about the competition for the class of 2006.

TSN: Who's off to a hot start?

CRABTREE: Any talk of recruiting has to start with Texas. Mack Brown has made a concentrated effort to get the top players in Texas. I've heard some talk that Mack didn't like the way recruiting finished for them last year, with the whole Ryan Perrilloux thing. It was a soap opera, and they lost him (to LSU) in the 11th hour. So maybe it was time for Brown to go out there and re-exert his dominance. They have one quarterback in the bank (Sherrod Harris of Arlington, Texas) but would love to get Mitch Mustain out of Arkansas.

TSN: Any surprises?

CRABTREE: I like what UCLA has done. The last three years, they sort of have been the No. 3 team in the pecking order in California, behind USC and Cal. Coach (Karl) Dorrell has made it a point not to be behind the 8-ball this year. They have attacked the offensive line. Anyone who saw the Las Vegas Bowl saw the Bruins get beat up front. It was amazing to see how much more physical Wyoming was.

TSN: How important are the camps?

CRABTREE: A lot are nothing more than glorified unofficial visits. Sure, they'll get instructed and coached, but it's more about getting the kid on campus and showing him around. If a kid the school wants is at their camp, they make sure he gets special coaching. They make sure the blue-chip recruit is in the front of the line for drills. Give him a few extra reps on drills. Pull him aside when the other kids are taking a water break, talk to him and tell him things he may want to work on.

TSN: What position looks the strongest?

CRABTREE: We really like this offensive line class. Andre Smith of Alabama is arguably the best player in the nation. He just gets after it. He's one of those Will Shields-guard kind of guys. It'll be interesting to see Alabama and Auburn battle for him. They will try like heck to keep him from leaving the state. Florida got a good one in Carl Johnson of North Carolina. Maryland kept Antonio Logan-El in the state. He's another interior guy who gets after it every single play.

TSN: Who is the best player?

CRABTREE: Percy Harvin of Virginia. He'll play receiver. He's a lot like (Ohio State's) Ted Ginn. Harvin has that little extra gear that Ginn has. He's faster and taller than Derrick Williams (last year's No. 1 recruit). And Harvin comes to play in big games. I like that. You can't coach that gamesmanship.

TSN: How is new Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis performing?

CRABTREE: He already has two good ones in running back James Aldridge of Indiana and quarterback Zach Frazer of Pennsylvania. Notre Dame has been aggressive instead of sitting on its laurels. Charlie Weis was out there (in the spring) a lot more than your typical head coach. That wasn't Tyrone Willingham's style. He did a good job when he got in the homes of kids. Weis is a workhorse. They've done a good job telling kids that this isn't a quick fix. They tell kids they are one of the guys they are depending on to turn this thing around. The recruits know they won't win 10, 11 games right out of the box.

WASTING NO TIME

Of the nation's top 25 players from the class of 2006, six have orally
committed to a college before the first game of their senior seasons.

Name (overall rank)      Pos.     Ht./Wt.    High school/town

Chris Wells (4)           RB      6-2/228    Garfield/Akron, Ohio
Brandon Graham (5)        LB      6-2/235    Crockett/Detroit
Sergio Kindle (6)        LB/RB    6-3/220    Woodrow Wilson/Dallas
Matthew Stafford (10)     QB      6-2/212    Highland Park/Dallas
Michael Goodson (17)      RB      6-0/198    Klein Collins/Spring,
                                               Texas
Justin Anderson (19)      OL      6-4/315    Irwin County/Ocilla, Ga.

Name (overall rank)      College choice

Chris Wells (4)          Ohio State
Brandon Graham (5)       Michigan
Sergio Kindle (6)        Texas
Matthew Stafford (10)    Georgia
Michael Goodson (17)     Oklahoma State
Justin Anderson (19)     Georgia

Source: School sports

INSIDE DISH

By MATT Hayes

It's beginning to 100k as though Nebraska which is TE Matt Herian will redshirt this season, which is not good sign for new QB Zac Taylor. Herian is the Huskers' best receiving threat and one of the top five tight ends in the nation, but he continues to have problems rehabilitating a fractured leg. He hurt the leg in last year's Missouri game and has had two surgeries since. He is beginning to run for the first time in eight months, but if rehab continues through fall camp and into the first month of the season, redshirting is the likely option. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese defiantly says the league is on the "upswing" and that this season will be the most exciting in the league's history. Don't buy it. The league's postseason situation is a mess, and its nonconference scheduling potential is even worse. Other than the automatic BCS berth, the bowl tie-ins are about as exciting as a November game between Cincinnati and South Florida. The Big East barely held on to a portion of the Gator Bowl (rotating some years with the Sun Bowl) and is hoping for new bowls in Toronto and New York City to add some bulk. The proposed bowl in Toronto in 2006 would match the Big East against a MAC team. Tranghese hopes New York City secures a stadium deal for the NFL's Jets and that owners of the new stadium petition the NCAA to host a bowl game. Meanwhile, the league's eight teams wilt have five nonconference games available when the season expands to 12 games in 2006.Tranghese is interested in a "scheduling alignment" with Army and Navy and possibly a non-BCS conference to fill the schedules. That's some upswing. * One problem with instant replay is its use in nonconference games. Because every conference has its own variation of the system, many games could end up with no replay use. That said, it's good to see that Iowa and Iowa State are in the process of working through the obstacle. The annual rivalry will be played in Ames this season and will use BigTen officials and the BigTen replay system, but a Big 12 "observer" will sit next to the BigTen replay official in the skybox. The following season, when the game is played in Iowa City, Big 12 officials and the Big 12 replay system will be used--with a BigTen observer monitoring. * Had enough of Urban Meyer-mania? Apparently, SEC coaches have. The coaches' preseason all-SEC team was released last week, and Vanderbilt QB Jay Cutler was the first-team selection ahead of Florida's Chris Leak. Interesting to note that Leak passed for 1,353 more yards and 19 more touchdowns than Cutler did last season. Cutler is a talent and likely will be drafted next April. But he has no business being ahead of Leak on the first team-or any other team, for that matter. * Though it's easy to focus on the recruiting class of 2006, don't forget this name for 2007: QB Jimmy Clausen. The younger brother of current Tennessee QB Rick Clausen and former Vols QB Casey Clausen, Jimmy has dominated summer camps against rising seniors. Only a junior, he was offered a scholarship by Southern California earlier this month and has been called the "LeBron James of football" by California quarterbacks tutor Steve Clarkson.

Early leaders

Yes, signing day isn't until February 1, 2006, but it's never too early to start keeping score on which team is winning the race to assemble the nation's best class. Rivals.com's Jeremy Crabtree's early top 10:

1. Texas

2. Notre Dame

3. Georgia

4. Clemson