Friday Morning Dawg Bites, January 6, 2012.

So about the Under Armour Game. Two takeaways: First, before you ask "where did _____ commit to last night, I was just too busy watching The Secret Circle", he committed to Alabama. No matter who he was. Even if his mother didn't want him to:

That's not entirely true of course, as Banneker safety Chaz Elder committed to South Carolina as expected and tailback Wes Brown committed to Maryland (I assume because Randy Edsel is a wizard of some sort). But Alabama did pick up Collins and bluechipper Cyrus Jones and now looks like a lock for the consensus top recruiting class in the country according to those who rank such things. By the way, here's a look back at Rivals' rankings of the top recruiting classes in 2008, the players who would currently be seniors and redshirt juniors. Comparing it to the current BCS rankings is, well, instructive.

Second takeaway? Herm Edwards and Steve Mariucci tried desperately to get a new generation maimed last night, such that QBs were actually switching sides during the game so they could keep playing. Herm Edwards did so in the most Herm Edwards way possible, by running a variety of Rube Goldberg plays designed for split second execution. When run by high school kids with 3 days of practice, they repeatedly went off like malfunctioning Sidewinder missiles. Also in classic Herm-inator style, enough of those missiles hit targets he wasn't aiming for to claim a decisive victory.

I'm glad to hear that this is being taken care of. I'm also fine with the focus on longevity over amount of compensation. Truthfully, I'm probably more concerned about Grantham being cherry-picked by an NFL team than another college. If that's the case we won't be able to compete dollar for dollar anyway. Grantham's old boss Wade Phillips is making $2.1 million per year as the defensive coordinator for the Texans, and if Grantham went back to the NFL as a "Defensive Line Coach/Assistant Head Coach" or some other such he'd probably be looking in the $1-1.4 million range.

Speaking of NFL Assistants, Patriots Bill O'Brien may or may not be the new coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. But if he is, it'll only be on a part time basis until the Patriots are done with their season. The Nittany Lions have had a part time head coach for the last decade. What can another month hurt? You know, besides their recruiting class. Black Shoe Diaries is understandably cautious. After the past couple of months I don't blame them one bit.

Rumors also continue to swirl that Auburn tailback Michael Dyer is headed with Gus Malzahn to Arkansas State, further fueling my belief that Jonesboro, Arkansas must be a helluva lot more fun that I thought it was.

Finally, it's not the most awesome website ever, but if the free market suddenly became corporeal and started drunk surfing the internet at 2 a.m.,this is where it would spend those last 30 minutes before passing out in a blind stupor.