Dave Hooker has a nice introductory piece on Tennessee Volunteer running back Arian Foster, who will get his first start in place of injured back Gerald Riggs tomorrow night against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Randy Sanders couldn’t believe what he saw.

Tennessee’s offensive coordinator was in San Diego to recruit quarterback Richard Kovalcheck. The Vols were in desperate need for a quarterback in the 2003 class.

The field was loaded with talent. Kovalcheck’s teammate was tailback Reggie Bush, who is a Heisman candidate this year with Southern Cal.

Sanders, however, couldn’t take his eyes off the junior tailback on the opposing team from Mission Bay High School.

“I had no clue that there were any other prospects on the field,” Sanders said. “The way Arian played and the way he ran that night, it was pretty obvious that he was a good football player.”

On the one hand, it’s a bit disturbing to hear that Sanders had no clue that Reggie Bush was a prospect (he probably didn’t mean that), but on the other hand, it sure is encouraging to think that Foster might have the same potential as Bush.

College Football News’ breaks down Saturday’s game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the South Carolina Gamecocks. Just Sort of like old times, Phil Fulmer and Steve Spurrier are tied in the SEC East, with each of their teams 2-3.

Asked and answered are:

• Why South Carolina Might Win (the Vol offense unlikely to encounter the suspicious powdery substance);
• Why Tennessee Might Win (the Vol defense);
• Who to Watch (running back replacements for injured Gerald Riggs, Arian Foster, and perhaps LaMarcus Coker, who was going to be red-shirted)
• What Will Happen (“This isn’t going to be pretty. South Carolina’s offense will sputter ‘n’ cough, but the Tennessee attack won’t do enough to make it a blowout until late.”)

CFN likes Tennessee, 27-13.

Jason Allen on not playing against Alabama:

“It was a strange feeling,” Allen said earlier this week. “Like I said, it was my first time missing a football game, and at first it really didn’t dawn on me that I wasn’t playing, till the kickoff and the defense went on the field, and I said, ‘I’m not playing.’ It really bothered me.”

John Pennington has examined teams’ perceived recruiting successes in the past few years and compared them with those teams’ current rankings.

Here are Pennington’s top ten recruiters over the last five years and their current BCS rank:

1. Southern Cal: #2 in BCS
2. Michigan: #25 in BCS
3. LSU: #8 in BCS
4. Oklahoma: NR in BCS
5. Florida State: #10 in BCS
6. Miami: #7 in BCS
7. Tennessee: NR in BCS
8. Texas: #1 in BCS
9. Florida: #19 in BCS
10. Ohio State: #13 in BCS

Pennington’s info is much more exhaustive than the above list. His data brings to light several interesting facts. On one hand, the current top two BCS teams — Southern Cal and Texas — have excelled in recruiting, so that would suggest that there is a positive correlation between recruiting success and winning games.

On the other hand, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Tennessee have recruited well, and have been terrible disappointments so far this season. Plus, some of the other data shows the vast disparity between the current success of teams that have enjoyed about equal recruiting success.

My take is that we fans too often fall victim to the old necessary-sufficient fallacy. In order to win regularly, a school must have a certain level of success in luring top players to the team, but simply having good players is not enough. There are just too many other factors that come into play.