Continuing the early football recruiting trend, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Virginia, UCLA and Vanderbilt have gained outstanding commitments.

The Georgia Bulldogs have a verbal from one of the nation's top prospects in linebacker/defensive lineman Marquis Elmore of Folkston-Charlton County, Ga., over Florida State, Auburn and Alabama. Others were Florida, Georgia Tech, Tennessee and Ohio State.

The Wolverines, headed for a top recruiting class, have added touted defensive lineman Dave Spytek of Waukesha-Memorial Catholic, Wis., over 15 offers, including Purdue, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Ohio State, Iowa and Michigan State. Michigan earlier gained commitments from top running back David Underwood of Madisonville, Tex., over Texas A&M, Texas, Nebraska, UCLA, LSU and Syracuse; and offensive lineman Brett Trott of Murfreesboro-Oakland, Tenn., who also considered Ohio State, Alabama and Tennessee.

Notre Dame has its second commitment in defensive lineman Jeff Thompson of Mishawaka-Penn, Ind., over Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Northwestern and Virginia.

Virginia has a verbal from one of the nation's top tight end prospects in Patrick Estes of Richmond-Benedictine, Va. Estes picked the Cavaliers over 30 offers, including ones from Florida State, Ohio State, Tennessee and Notre Dame.

UCLA added to its collection of three Top 150 prospects with a commitment from 300-pound offensive lineman Ed Blanton from Napa, Calif. California, USC, Michigan, Notre Dame and Northwestern were in the race.

Vanderbilt has its first verbal in highly regarded running back Matthew Tant of Pegram-Harpeth, Tenn., over interest from Penn State, Arkansas, Tennessee, Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State, among others.

Thirty-one of the Top 150 football prospects in Class 2001 have already verballed.

Big Ten:
One of the top offensive linemen in the nation, Blake Larsen of Atlantic, Iowa, has decommitted from Iowa. He has offers from Michigan State, Notre Dame, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska, Colorado, Miami (Fla.), Virginia and Tennessee. Michigan is also in the running.

Tight end Andree Tyree of London, Ohio, has picked the Ohio State Buckeyes. Others were Boston College, Minnesota, Northwestern and Maryland. Redshirt-freshman offensive lineman Matt Zahn will transfer from Ohio State to Marshall.

Tight end/offensive lineman Josh Tomsheck of Strongville, Ohio, has picked Purdue. Others were Rutgers, Indiana, Michigan State, Kentucky, LSU and Notre Dame.

Former Michigan running back Ray Jackson is expected to start at Cincinnati and offensive guard Jason Brooks is first-team at West Virginia. Ex-Northwestern offensive tackle Blake Henry is now listed on the second-team at Wake Forest.

Michigan State quarterback/athlete Bradlee Van Pelt has been released from his scholarship and may transfer to Hawaii. The Spartans' second-team spring practice quarterback, Dan Larlham, a redshirt freshman from Cleveland-Walsh Jesuit, Ohio, earlier announced that he will transfer to a Division III school.

Big 12:
Defensive back Braden Johnson of Euless-Trinity, Tex., has become the sixth verbal for Texas. Johnson drew early interest from Texas A&M, TCU, Notre Dame, Kansas State, Kansas, Rice, Tulane and Arkansas.

Reserve tight end Matt Bledsoe will transfer from Colorado to Western Oregon and will be eligible to play quarterback this fall.

West Virginia has a commitment from quarterback Travis Jones of Hurricane, W.Va., over Clemson. Others were Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Purdue and North Carolina State.

ACC:
Duke has its third commitment in receiver/defensive back Alex Green of Hyattsville-Northwestern, Md., over interest from Michigan State, Kentucky, Boston College, Ohio State and Maryland.

Linebacker/running back Kennie Covington of Laurinburg-Scotland County, N.C., chose North Carolina State. Also showing interest were Virginia and North Carolina. Others were Clemson, Maryland and Kentucky.

SEC:
The Tennessee Vols received a commitment from offensive lineman Guillaume Dumont of Montreal-Vanier, Canada, who is expected to play this fall.

Starting junior receiver Maurice Flournoy has been dismissed at Mississippi.

Pac-10:
Washington has signed quarterback Ryan Porter of Highland, Calif./San Bernardino Valley College, Calif., for this fall. Porter had verballed to Michigan State before switching.

Offensive lineman Keith Ornelas of Los Angeles-Loyola, Calif., has picked California. He chose the Bears over interest from Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, Illinois, Arizona, Oregon, USC, UCLA, Washington and BYU, among others.

Arizona has a commitment from quarterback Matt Belsche of Show Low, Ariz., over interest from USC, Arizona State, Oregon, Washington State, BYU, San Diego State and Oklahoma, among others.

Arizona State has commitments from defensive backs Joey Smith and Jason Shivers, both from Phoenix-South Mountain, Ariz.

Top 10 guard Carlos Hurt of Alief-Elsik, Tex., has committed to Louisville over Arizona.

Guard Keith Langford of Crowley-North Crowley, Tex., verballed to Mississippi. Others were Baylor, Miami and TCU.

Syracuse has a verbal from outstanding guard Billy Edelin of Hyattsville-DeMatha, Md.

Reserve forward Tate Decker will transfer from Wake Forest to a non-Division-I school. Decker had transferred to WF from Missouri.

Rutgers has signed Kaspars Cipruss of Riga, Latvia, who is considered the best young center in Europe for his age group. Cipruss drew interest from Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, UNLV and Boston College.

Graduated senior reserve center Colin Ducharme will not return to Virginia. Ducharme had been granted an extra year after missing most of the 1998-99 season with a broken ankle.

Notre Dame guard Mike Monserez of Cincinnati-Moeller, Ohio, will transfer after playing in all 37 games as a freshman. He averaged 2.2 points.

Eastern Michigan has signed forward James Jackson of Pittsburgh-Perry Traditional Academy, Pa.

Forward Jake Sams of Mt. Zion, Ill., has committed to Indiana State.

Bill Hodge is the executive editor and director of recruiting coverage at FANSonly.com. For daily columns on prospects, commitments and signings, plus databases, go to FANSonly.com's Recruiting Page.