RECRUITING NOTEBOOK

By Jeremy Crabtree

updated 9:20 p.m. ET July 23, 2008

July traditionally is one of the slowest months for recruiting news, but the past few weeks have been extremely busy — especially with events such as the FBU Top Gun Showcase Camp, the EA Sports Elite 11, Florida’s Friday Night Lights, Florida State’s Seminole Showtime Camp and LSU’s camp.

The Top Gun Camp featured one of the best collections of elite prospects ever assembled, and there were a few standouts even among the group of four- and five-star prospects.

Most observers agreed running back Christine Michael of Beaumont (Texas) West Brook was the most impressive overall player in the camp. He glided through bag drills, showed great hands catching the football and dominated in one-on-one and seven-on-seven drills, all abilities that definitely could push him even higher in the rankings.

“He’s got outstanding speed and quickness,” said former NFL standout Lorenzo White, who coached the running back group for FBU. “The guys we’ve got here are supposed to be elite, and he’s really, really shown that he’s one of the best in the country. You hear about these guys and you always wonder if they’re really as good as everybody says. He’s all that they’ve talked about. I liked all the kids in our group, but he was the most impressive.”

Five-star receiver Randall Carroll also was a big-time attention-grabber. Carroll, from Los Angeles Cathedral, was easily the fastest player on the field. Carroll is one of the top sprinters in California, but he’s not a track guy playing football. Carroll is a football player who loves to blow past defenders with his breakaway speed. He also showed good hands for a speed demon.

“This camp was a great challenge for me because I was banged up a little bit and there was a tremendous amount of talent out here,” Carroll said. “I was pleased with how I performed, sure, but I’m always my biggest critic. I know I have to do better when the season gets here.”

The Elite 11 is just in its second day, but a few players already have stood out — including Mission Viejo (Calif.) High’s Allan Bridgford and Tampa Plant’s Aaron Murray. Bridgford won the Golden Gun Award on Monday for being the most accurate passer of the day, and Murray had great consistency throughout the day. He finished second in the accuracy contest, and showed he’ll be able to make all the throws on the next level.

Florida’s camp also was loaded with plenty of talent, and the prospect with the best reviews was running back Trent Richardson of Pensacola (Fla.) Escambia.

“Richardson is well put together and looks very powerful and strong, especially in the upper body,” recruiting analyst Jamie Newberg said. “He runs well and was surprisingly quick and not stiff for his size. Richardson also caught the ball well. We’re going to have some serious discussions about him being a five-star player.”

Most agreed the top prospect at Florida State’s second annual Showtime Camp was Gadsden (Ala.) City five-star cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick, the No. 13 prospect in the nation. He answered any and all challenges and demonstrated why he is considered among the best players in the nation.

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