Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.That splash of cold water Big Ten programs felt on signing day was called the Urban Meyer Rules. Whatever Meyer did in those first hours and days after he took the job and how he closed OSU's class — seizing it from the ashes — set some of the league's contenders on edge. Nebraska coach Bo Pelini is no fan of recruiting hoopla, but he doesn't stoop to carp about it or Meyer, and maybe years of recruiting in the SEC and Big 12 — a sneakier, snakier league by a mile — have...

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Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.Bo Pelini had his jaw set, voice rising. That look. "Notre Dame's got nothing on us," he said to Jordan Westerkamp. By all accounts, Pelini is a low-pressure recruiter. And throughout Nebraska's courting of the most prolific receiver in Illinois state history, he'd been just that. But on the night of Dec. 15, as Westerkamp chewed on whether to visit the Fighting Irish, Pelini was animated in Westerkamp's house.

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Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.Don't just ignore the elephant in the room. Offensive tackle Andrus Peat chose Stanford over Nebraska (and his defensive tackle brother Todd, and his cousin and 2012 commit Avery Moss). And that decision stings. "As I understand, It went down to the last few seconds beforehand," coach Bo Pelini said. He found out when you did. A potential All-American is heading to The Cardinal Farm for "school" and "fit" and all the other things you say when you don't want to admit, well, Stanford is closer,...

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Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.Two years, two Peats ... and almost too much drama. The only difference was that this one didn't go Nebraska's way. Touted offensive tackle Andrus Peat went relatively deep into national signing day before picking Stanford over the Huskers. The added punch in the gut was that the Nebraska staff basically found out along with those watching his announcement on ESPNU.

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Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.Familiar teams landed the most highly-touted faces in 2012. The top 10 classes according to 247Sports offer few huge surprises, aside perhaps, from Urban Meyer raising Ohio State's class from ashes in mere weeks to one of the Buckeyes' best ever. Alabama is No. 1. Texas is there. As are Georgia, Florida, Florida State and Oklahoma. Miami's ridiculously big class of 33 puts it in the picture. Those teams have been fodder and foil for Nebraska since the 1960s.

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• Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information. McKewon: Turning up the heat in...

Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.It's nice to see Urban Meyer making new friends. At Wisconsin on Wednesday, Bret Bielema held a signing day press conference. The name Kyle Dodson came up. Dodson is a massive offensive lineman from Cleveland who committed to Wisconsin last summer. Then Meyer took over at Ohio State. Now Dodson is a Buckeye.

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Omaha Burke coach Paul Limongi said much of his football program's recent success has to do with the sense of brotherhood and unity on the Bulldogs. Jordan Nelson, Carson Collins and Mitch McCann proved how thick it is Wednesday. All three Burke seniors signed paperwork to walk-on next season at Nebraska. Each turned down some Football Championship Subdivision and NCAA Division II scholarship offers to take a shot at playing at the highest level in their home state.

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Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.The more Nebraska coach Bo Pelini watched Tommy Armstrong's senior season at Cibolo (Texas) Steele High School, the more he liked the quarterback. Good thing the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder was already committed to the Huskers for the 2012 recruiting class. "He's everything we thought we were going to get," Pelini said at Wednesday's signing day press conference.

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247Sports.com helps break down the Big Ten recruiting battles, with key information about each team's signing day haul.

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Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.The recruiting experts have their ratings and ranks, but that only measures talent and potential. These 25 Big Ten recruits not only have talent, but opportunity to play, assistants who can coach them up and the ability to make at least a two-year impact at their schools. The World-Herald selected at least one recruit from each school (in alphabetical order).

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Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.The momentum that Nebraska saw building Wednesday morning took a hit a few hours later as the national signing day decisions continued. And a big hit. Highly-ranked offensive tackle Andrus Peat of Tempe, Ariz., announced on ESPNU that he was signing with Stanford. It cost the Huskers a possible punctuation mark to its 2012 recruiting class that would have included some national recognition.

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• Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information. McKewon: Turning up the heat in...