Leading off today: Not that it's unprecedented, but there's no love for New York in some of the more well-known national high school football rankings. USA Today, ESPN and MaxPreps are all out with their pre-season rankings, and no New York teams show up.

   Duncan (S.C.) Byrnes High is USA Today's national No. 1, followed by Euless (Texas) Trinity, Monroeville (Pa.) Gateway, Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco Prep and Long Beach (Calif.) Poly Prep. The paper's regional top 10 does not include any New York teams. Maryland and Pennsylvania lead the way with three representatives apiece.

   The ESPN Rise Fab 50 list likewise contains no New York schools. They have Trinity ranked No. 1 and Byrnes at No. 10. MaxPreps also has Byrnes at No. 1, with Trinity eighth and no New York teams in the top 25.

   MaxPreps, by the way, has been way out in front of other national sites by compiling capsule previews on top teams in every state. Some of their state-by-state rankings seem based a bit more on reputation rather than reality -- it's not likely that a Class D team can really be the fourth-best squad in the state -- but the effort is commendable.

   Their early top 10: (1) Aquinas, (2) West Genesee, (3) Gates Chili, (4) Walton, (5) Buffalo St. Francis, (6) Orchard Park, (7) Monroe-Woodbury, (8) Liverpool, (9) William Floyd, and (10) Fayetteville-Manlius.

   Hot-button topic: Justin Rodriguez of The Times Herald-Record in Middletown recently took on a topic that attracts a fair amount of attention: recruiting at the club level. Just about anywhere you go, you'll find summer-league coaches stepping on toes while trying to assemble their teams.

   As the reporter points out, players are swayed by the prospect of travel and nicities like new uniforms and equipment.

   "It happens all the time and there is a lot of hatred out there about this happening," said Les LaFrance, president of the BC Eagles AAU basketball team. "Everyone does it, and if they say they don't, they're lying. It happens up here more than the city because there aren't as many good players."

Also available online Partial list of football scrimmages

   As Rodriguez points out, organizations often prohibit tampering within their own leagues but do not have such restrictions when it comes to attempting to attract talent from other leagues. He also cited an example where one basketball coach more or less turned over his roster to another coach who was already courting his players. The coaches eventually teamed up to assemble a championship-level team.

   But that's the exception and not the rule. One of the lingering issues -- and a flash point for parents -- is that every addition of a new hotshot player results in reduced playing time for other athletes on the roster who might be paying anywhere from $150 to $1,000 per summer to participate.

   Kickoff Classic: Here's the schedule for this year's installment of the Kickoff Classic, the annual football showcase at the Carrier Dome.

   Friday, Sept. 5: Sandy Creek vs. Bishop Grimes, 7 p.m.

   Sunday, Sept. 7: Ithaca vs. Oneida, 10 a.m.; Horseheads vs. Carthage, 12:30 p.m.; Binghamton vs. Fayetteville-Manlius, 3 p.m.; and Westhill vs. Bishop Kearney, 5:30 p.m.

   Extra points: St. John's has a verbal commitment in basketball from 6-foot-4 Omari Lawrence, who will be attending South Kent (Conn.) High this year after previously playing for St. Raymond's, The Daily News reports. He averaged 18.2 points for St. Raymond's last season and was eighth-team all-state in Class AA. . . . The nation's most touted graduating girls basketball player will attend the home-state University of Delaware this fall, surrendering a scholarship to UConn. Elena DelleDonne, who left UConn during her first week of summer classes there, said she didn't feel she could give a 100 percent commitment to the sport at this time.

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