NATIONAL SIGNING DAY NOTEBOOK

updated 7:56 p.m. ET Feb. 7, 2007

A year ago, it was Clemson and coach Tommy Bowden getting the last laugh with tailback C.J. Spiller’s surprise selection of the Tigers over powers such as Florida and Florida State.

This time, Bowden’s father, Bobby, did the chuckling Wednesday after receiver Markish Jones switched from the Tigers to the Seminoles.

When the Bowdens, who open next season against each other in a nationally televised Labor Day night matchup, spoke later in the day, what did dear old Dad say about his tactics?

“I couldn’t understand him. He wouldn’t stop laughing,” Tommy Bowden said Wednesday. “But then again, I was laughing on C.J.”

There weren’t as many smiles with Clemson’s latest class of 22 recruits. Although Bowden snagged highly regarded defensive end Kourtnei Brown out of Charlotte, N.C., earlier Wednesday, Clemson did not get to bring in receiver Dwight Jones and running back Jo Jo Cox, reportedly for academic concerns.

“I learned a long time ago, worry about the ones you got, don’t worry about the ones you didn’t get,” Bowden said. “I’m more concerned about who we got and where we go from here.”

Clemson’s class does feature quarterback Willy Korn, who committed two summers ago and is already enrolled.

Bowl bounty
The historic back-to-back bowl seasons are paying off for Rutgers.

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Coach Greg Schiano announced a recruiting class that includes two players — offensive lineman Anthony Davis and linebacker Manny Abreu — who are considered among the best in the country at their position, along with several other players considered among the best in New Jersey.

National recruiting publications have ranked the class in the top two or three dozen in the country, and some consider it the second-best in the Big East behind Pittsburgh.

“I think it says that we’re a big school,” Schiano said. “We just haven’t been that successful on the big football stage. We’ve started that process, and now we’ve got to continue it. But it does say a lot.”

The Scarlet Knights are coming off consecutive breakthrough years: a bowl berth in 2005 for the first time in 27 years, followed by an 11-2 record, a No. 7 ranking and first bowl victory in 2006. They were ranked No. 12 in the final Associated Press poll, four years after finishing 1-11 in Schiano’s second season.

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The signing of the 6-foot-6, 350-pound Davis, who had been coveted by Ohio State and other big-time programs, was a major coup for a school that perennially has watched the best players leave the state.

Abreu was considered one of the top 10 recruits in New Jersey along with Davis and two other Rutgers signees, Mason Robinson, a running back from Somerville and defensive end Keith Newell of Trenton Central.

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