Saban excels

 Every coach claims to have a great national signing day. Alabama coach Nick Saban actually does — every year.

 By lunchtime yesterday, Saban had most of his latest highly rated recruiting class locked up.

 “He’s the best at (recruiting) in the country,” said Tom Lemming of CBS Sports Network. “Over the last five years, nobody has been better at it than Nick Saban.”

 The Tide swept through the South to reload with 26 signees. Alabama went to Baltimore to get wide receiver Cyrus Jones, to Lynchburg, Va., for defensive tackle Korren Kirven — one of the few late additions — scooped up eight players from Georgia, three from Florida, picked up a quarterback, Alec Morris, from Texas, and even dipped into LSU territory to grab highly regarded safety Landon Collins from Geismar, La.

 Collins’ selection of Alabama over LSU last month on national TV was memorable for his mother’s vocal disapproval (“Tigers No. 1,” she said, eyes rolling at her son’s choice). Yesterday, with mom by his side, Collins signed his letter of intent.

Sticking with Penn State

 New Penn State coach Bill O’Brien gave credit to the recruits who stuck with their oral commitments to the Nittany Lions.

 It would have been easy for them to join the roughly half-dozen prospects who left for other schools in light of the upheaval surrounding the program since November.

 Instead, just more than half of Penn State’s 19-member class is composed of holdovers who initially committed to O’Brien’s predecessor, the late Joe Paterno, a foundation that O’Brien said allowed the new regime to target fresh prospects who were the “right fit” for Happy Valley.

 “That was a real testament to their mental toughness and their ability to stick it out,” O’Brien said. “I give them all the credit in the world. I can’t wait to start coaching and working with them.”

 Recruiting services had Penn State’s class ranked anywhere from 39th to 50th in the country and middle of the pack in the Big Ten.

 Anthony Stanko, an offensive lineman from Howland, Ohio, is a recruit who stayed. He initially committed to Penn State last March.

Stanko said O’Brien made a big impression on him over his message about family and work ethic.

“I never really swayed away from Penn State. I’ve always stuck with it because I knew (the scandal) really didn’t affect Penn State, at least the kids that are there now,” he said. “When I went (on a visit), no one talked about it much. When I visited, I was able to rest easy knowing it wasn’t a big impact on the players right now.”

 O’Brien lost out on quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg, a son of Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg. He took back his oral commitment and signed with Florida.

Michigan in top 10

 Recruiting analysts ranked Michigan’s class among the top 10 in the country and have it rivaled only by Ohio State in the Big Ten.

 When coach Brady Hoke was hired last year, he said there were about 16 linemen on scholarship instead of the nearly 30 he would like on his roster.

 The Wolverines signed four offensive and five defensive linemen.

 Offensive tackle Kyle Kalis of Lakewood, Ohio, is regarded as the No. 1 player in Hoke’s second class. Kalis was bound for Ohio State, but switched his commitment in the wake of the memorabilia-for-cash scandal that led to coach Jim Tressel being forced to resign.

 Michigan signed nine instate players and nine from Ohio, although they weren’t recruited electronically.

 “I don’t Facebook, I don’t Twitter, I don’t email,” Hoke said. “If I want to talk to you, I’ll call you up and we’ll talk.”

Big catch for Mizzou

 Missouri didn’t need to leave the state to make the biggest grab of all on signing day, getting a letter of intent from the nation’s most celebrated prospect, receiver Dorial Green-Beckham from Springfield, Mo.

 Green-Beckham, born in St. Louis and adopted by a family from Springfield, Mo., made the hometown fans happy by signing with the Tigers.

 At 6 feet 6 and 220 pounds, he already looks like an NFL prototype, comparable to stars such as Calvin Johnson and Andre Johnson.

 He whittled his choices down to Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri in January.

 “I felt like they’ve (Missouri) been there since Day One,” Green-Beckham said.

 Missouri first offered him a scholarship at the age of 15.

Florida Trojans

 With NCAA sanctions kicking in at USC, Lane Kiffin had 10 fewer scholarships to hand out this year.

 Although the quantity is down, the quality of the Trojans’ class was not, and Kiffin’s crew made a couple of big scores in Florida.

 Defensive end Leonard Williams from Daytona Beach, Fla., and receiver Nelson Algholor from Tampa, Fla., chose the Trojans.

 After announcing his decision on ESPNU, Algholor said he was looking forward to catching passes from Matt Barkley, who decided to return for his senior season.

Snubbing the Irish

 Maybe the most surprising signing day flip-flop came from receiver Deontay Greenberry of Fresno, Calif., who backed off of a long-standing oral commitment to Notre Dame and signed with Houston.

 Greenberry made a late visit to Houston, but was still considered a lock to end up in South Bend, Ind., as one of the top prizes of coach Brian Kelly’s class. His cousin, cornerback Tee Shepherd, already has enrolled at Notre Dame.

 Instead, Greenberry is off to Houston to play for new coach Tony Levine, whose Cougars will use a pass-heavy offense.

Longhorns get a top back

 For the second straight year, Texas coach Mack Brown signed one of the most highly regarded running backs in the country, landing Johnathan Gray from Aledo, Texas, to go with last year’s freshman sensations, Joe Bergeron and the other Mack Brown.

 The Longhorns swooped in late to pick up linebacker Torshiro Davis, who is from Shreveport, La., and had committed to LSU.

LSU class lacking

 For the first time in four years, LSU does not have a recruiting class ranked in the top 10 in the country by many of the outlets that specialize in recruiting analysis after some coveted prospects got away.

“Recruiting was a little unusual this year. … Lessons were learned as to how we will go forward,” coach Les Miles said.

Notable

Florida fans might be worried about some of the recruits that got away from the Gators, but coach Will Muschamp was able to secure a strong class that included Lakewood, Fla., defensive end Dante Fowler, who switched his Florida State commitment to Florida. … Stanford landed two of the best offensive tackles in the country, beating out USC for Kyle Murphy of San Clemente, Calif., and Nebraska for Andrus Peat of Tempe, Ariz. Peat’s brother, Todd, plays for Nebraska. … California was headed toward a top-10, maybe top-five, class before defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi left the staff to join Steve Sarkisian at Washington. It helped the Huskies land blue-chip defensive back Shaq Thompson of Sacramento, Calif.

— Associated Press