National Signing Day: NFL draft history for five-star recruits

National Signing Day is Wednesday, and the hoopla surrounding it makes it seem like Christmas in February for college football fans.

Signing lists will be perused, and there will be crowing about the great players each coaching staff reeled in. There will be especially loud crowing about five-star recruits who signed.

But being a five-star recruit is no sure thing when it comes to college stardom, much less NFL stardom. We went back and looked at each Rivals.com five-star recruit from 2002 (when their rankings started) through the 2011 class.

Here’s what we found:

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National Signing Day: NFL draft history for five-star recruits

Will Muschamp hired as Auburn"s defensive coordinator

Will Muschamp, who was fired as Florida’s coach last month, will remain in the SEC as Auburn’s new defensive coordinator.

"He’s one of the best in the business, if not the best in the business," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said of Muschamp at Saturday’s introductory news conference.

Muschamp’s last official day at Florida was Nov. 29, when he coached the Gators in their loss to Florida State, which means he spent less than two weeks out of work. Numerous reports indicate his salary will be $1.6 million, meaning he will be the highest-paid assistant in college football. He reportedly also was a candidate for the Houston head-coaching job.

"We’ve been pretty good where we’ve been, but we’ve also had a bunch of good players," Muschamp said Saturday of the defenses he has coordinated.

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Will Muschamp hired as Auburn"s defensive coordinator

Houston fires head coach Tony Levine after only three seasons

Houston trainer Tony Levine was fired Monday after three seasons in the institution, including two that featured winning records.

Levine was hired following the 2011 season, when Kevin Sumlin left to coach Texas A&M. Levine had been the Cougars’ receivers coach. Houston was 21-17 in three seasons under Levine, including 7-5 this season and 8-5 last season; the Cougars were 5-7 in 2012.

The Cougars will meet Pittsburgh in the Jan. 2 Armed Forces Bowl with defensive coordinator David Gibbs — the son of longtime NFL offensive line coach Alex Gibbs — as the interim coach.

Houston becomes the 12th FBS school which is going to have coaching change this year.

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Houston fires head coach Tony Levine after only three seasons

Reports: Michigan AD Dave Brandon to step down Friday day

Beleaguered Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon apparently will step down Friday day.

The school has scheduled at 1:30 p.m. ET news conference, and various media reports have Brandon stepping down.

Brandon, 62, has become the ADVERTISEMENT since 2010. He’s a Michigan alum and was the chairman of the board of Domino’s Pizza when he was hired by Michigan.

He hired Brady Hoke as football coach, and Hoke undoubtedly is to the hot seat. The time of Brandon’s resignation could throw the anticipated Michigan training investigation into chaos, as it will be hard to engage a fresh trainer without that trainer understanding who his supervisor will be.

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Reports: Michigan AD Dave Brandon to step down Friday day

Nick Saban"s house paid for by Alabama booster foundation

It is worth it to be a successful Alabama football coach.

In spades.

Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban will make $6.9 million in base pay this year, the most successful training contract in the school game. But not long after he won his third national tournament for the Crimson Tide in January 2013, the Crimson Tide Foundation bought Saban’s Tuscaloosa house for approximately $3.1 million.

And did not ask for the keys.

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Nick Saban"s house paid for by Alabama booster foundation

Political advertisement compares Lane Kiffin to state representative

College football at its worst can be a dirty match.

But never quite as filthy as politics.

>> Where’s Alabama in CFB 24/7’s Top 25 Power Rankings?

As Alabama travels to Tennessee this weekend, offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin is likely to make his first return to the Knoxville, Tenn., campus since unceremoniously bolting the Volunteers’ head coaching job after only one season for the same function at Southern Cal.

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Political advertisement compares Lane Kiffin to state representative

Todd Gurley runs for career-high 208 yards for Georgia

Georgia running back Todd Gurley set an emphatic stamp on his location as college football’s top running back Saturday with a commanding performance against competing Tennessee in a 35-32 Bulldogs win.

He rushed to get a career-high 208 yards and two touchdowns on 28 carries. But just as significant as his stat totals was this: when the Bulldogs wanted him most, with Tennessee within three points in the fourth quarter, Gurley was at his absolute finest.

The UGA coaching staff rested Gurley commonly in the middle portion of the sport, giving freshman Sony Michel activity in the very first half and another freshman, Nick Chubb, wide-ranging amount of time in the 2nd half after Michel went out with the injury. The effect was a Gurley who seemed just as unique in the fourth quarter as he did in the very first.

And that is exactly what a fresh Gurley looked like using the match still in doubt:

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Todd Gurley runs for career-high 208 yards for Georgia

Florida"s Will Muschamp atop hot seat trainers list

We Are still in September and there already is one training vacancy (SMU). While it is incredibly improbable another occupation will come open this month, there are likely to be a dozen or so that come start this season — and odds are, the jobs that come open will be on this list.

We Are not saying every one of these men will go, but trainers are hired to be fired as well as the job security of those 10 are the most tenuous among the 128 trainers in the FBS positions. By no means, however, is this a whole record of the hot seat trainers. All these are only the men to the hottest seats this week.

This list will probably be updated on a weekly basis as trainers’ fortunes rise and fall.

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Florida"s Will Muschamp atop hot seat trainers list

Ask 5: Top up-and-coming coaches outside "Power 5" leagues

College football has been fertile ground for future NFL head coaches. Just look at the recent NFL success of former college head coaches Pete Carroll (coming off a Super Bowl-winning season with the Seattle Seahawks), Jim Harbaugh (coming off a third consecutive appearance in the NFC Championship Game with the San Francisco 49ers) and Chip Kelly (coming off an NFC East title in his first season with the Philadelphia Eagles).

All three of them came from high-profile Pac-12 programs, but you don’t necessarily have to look at the highest levels to identify the next up-and-coming coach. Keep in mind that Kelly spent time at New Hampshire before going to Oregon, and Harbaugh was head coach at the University of San Diego before going to Stanford.

With that in mind, I reached out to five NFL executives and asked them for a hot coaching candidate outside of the "Power Five" conferences. Here’s what they had to say:

Executive 1: Mark Hudspeth (Louisiana-Lafayette)
"He really seems to have the pulse of his team, but he doesn’t micromanage. He’s a creative offensive guy and he can recruit. That’s not an easy place to win and he’s done just that."

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Ask 5: Top up-and-coming coaches outside "Power 5" leagues