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Alabama, Texas rank high in recruiting

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Alabama and Texas were among the apparent big winners Wednesday on the first day high school football players could sign collegiate scholarship agreements.

Rivals.com, one of the entities that closely follows the recruiting of high school athletes, ranked the Crimson Tide and Longhorns 1-2 in the race to gather leading players from across the country.

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Although conference and national championships do not automatically follow the signing of a top recruiting class, the annual collection of football talent is closely watched aspect of college football.

Defending national champion Alabama signed 14 four-star players as ranked by Rivals.com, including running back T.J. Yeldon.

"I say this every year, but recruiting is not an exact science," Alabama Coach Nick Saban said. "No one knows for sure how these players are going to develop in the future. That's certainly something we work hard on here, as coaches and teachers, is to help these players develop."

Texas, which settled for an 8-5 campaign last season after winning only four games in 2010, had two five-star commitments.

One of those was running back Johnathan Gray, who scored more career touchdowns (205) than any other player in high school football history. He had 51 career 100-yard games and rushed for 10,908 yards in his four years at a suburban Fort Worth high school.

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Florida, Ohio State and Stanford rounded out the top five recruiting classes as ranked by Rivals.com. Florida State, Michigan, USC, Miami and Oklahoma were ranked sixth through 10th.

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