In the South, college football has three seasons -- recruiting, spring practice and the battle for No. 1. The recruiting portion is now complete.

Feb. 1 marked the end of the often bizarre and hectic recruiting season. On Feb. 1, the top high school recruits in the nation were finally allowed to put their verbal commitments on paper.

And the Nittany Lions did quite well, signing some of the best athletes in the nation.

I am not here to rank the different recruiting classes -- I will leave that to the self-proclaimed geniuses. But I will give you a hint about what to expect for Penn State.

Running back Cordell Mitchell from Corcoran High School in New York is also a member of the indoor track team. Recently, he ran the 55-meter dash in 6.15 seconds the state record is 6.1 seconds.

Tight end Cuncho Brown from Parkland High School in North Carolina is ranked among the top 100 basketball recruits in the nation, but he decided on football. Brown said he will consider playing basketball as well after he gets established academically.

Linebacker Maurice Daniels from Annandale High School in Virginia is a member of the varsity power-lifting team.

There is no doubt this class is comprised of great athletes. And there is no reason in the world why you shouldn't be excited about it.

This class is receiving as much attention as last season's class and the 1991 class that blessed us with the running back trio of Ki-Jana Carter, Mike Archie and Stephen Pitts.

Many of the nation's top recruiting services have ranked this class third in the country behind Notre Dame and Florida State.

The only reason the Seminoles are ahead of the Lions is because Bethlehem Catholic quarterback Dan Kendra jumped ship. He dropped the Lions in January and signed with the Seminoles on Feb. 1.

But it is unfair to rank the recruiting classes based primarily on how well the players did in high school. It doesn't really matter if a school signed six high school All-Americans and another only signed four. Whoop-dee-do.

No one knows how they will do in college. It's cool to say, "Hey, this guy was all-state." But now, the only thing that counts is his on-field performance in college.

One shouldn't really make a final judgement regarding a recruiting class until that class has played its final game together. When the class that contained Kyle Brady, Kerry Collins, Brian Gelzheiser, Bucky Greeley, Vin Stewart and others came to Happy Valley, it was hard to say whether it would be a success.

But looking back at the accomplishments the members of this class achieved, it's safe to say this was a good class.

And the Lions have the world's greatest recruiter in Coach Joe Paterno.

When Penn State joined the Big Ten, people said the move would affect the Lions ability to recruit. Obviously, it has not.

How can anyone say no to JoePa?

The Lions did a helluva job recruiting, even though they lost Kendra. Let's put this whole ordeal to rest and realize the Lions got some pretty damn good players and should expect to challenge for many Big Ten titles and national championships.