Dealing with the recruiting rush has become a yearly challenge for Ryan head coach Joey Florence.

Denver Broncos defensive end Jarvis Moss, Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Derek Lokey and former blue-chip quarterback James Battle are among the dozens of players who have come through his program on their way to the highest levels of football.

That experience helped Florence handle the traffic jam in his office last week.

“[Louisiana Tech head coach] Sonny Dykes showed up and had several of his coaches with him,” Florence said. “We also had Baylor, Iowa State and Northwestern in at the same time. We have it down to where we have CDs and personal profiles made up for all the kids each coach is interested in. We are ready when they come in.”

Several coaches in the Denton area have experienced a similar crunch over the past few months while ushering perhaps the area’s finest group of college prospects in history through the recruiting process.

A total of 13 players in the Denton area are expected to sign scholarships with Football Bowl Subdivision schools today.

The group includes four players who are ranked in either the Rivals.com list of the top 250 college prospects in the country, or Scout.com’s list of the top 300 players nationally. Of those players, six are headed to schools in the Big 12, one of the premier conferences in the country that dominates the region.

“The talent level in the Denton area this year is really remarkable,” said Barton Simmons, the Southeastern/Texas recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. “When you look at it in relative terms, there is more talent in that one area than there is in the entire state of Arkansas, if you go by our rankings. It has a comparable talent level to states like Tennessee and Kentucky.”

The Denton area has two of the top quarterback prospects in the nation in Scotty Young of Ryan, who has committed to Texas Tech, and James Franklin of Lake Dallas, who has already enrolled at Missouri. Young and Franklin are considered to be among the top 20 prospects at their position nationally.

Guyer defensive tackle Taylor Bible, who Rivals.com has rated No. 98 in its overall national top 250, is headed to Texas.

Denton has always featured top talent, but this season the towns that surround the city are also loaded. Franklin’s former Lake Dallas teammate Daryl Williams is headed to Oklahoma to play on the Sooners’ offensive line. Pilot Point offensive lineman Cam Feldt is set to sign with Arkansas.

“You can find good running backs anywhere,” Simmons said. “But that’s not the case with quarterbacks, and there are two great ones right there in Scotty Young and James Franklin. Lineman bodies are even harder to find, and with Cam Feldt and Taylor Bible, the Denton area has got two pretty special ones.”

That top-end talent and the depth of this year’s recruiting class are what set it apart from previous years.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that this is the best crop the area has ever had,” Florence said. “I don’t remember a time since I have been here that we have had as many college players in the area.”

A football factory

Lake Dallas head coach Mic-hael Young has as good a perspective as anyone in the region when it comes to the talent level in the Denton area and how a remarkable class came together.

Young developed Franklin and Williams at Lake Dallas while competing in the same district with Denton’s three schools.

Like several coaches and players in the area, he attributes the quality and depth of this year’s recruiting class to several factors.

“The quality of the kids, the communities they play in, and the youth leagues where they learn the game in are very good,” Young said. “Those are big parts of the reason there are so many quality kids in the area. They get involved in football early on.”

The best example of the commitment the area makes to its high school programs is C.H. Collins Athletic Complex, a $21 million, 12,000-seat stadium the Denton ISD opened before the 2004 season. That stadium and others like it in communities near Denton are packed with fans each Friday night.

“It creates an awesome football environment when people come to the games and are interested in the programs,” said Cole Underwood, a Guyer offensive lineman who will sign with Stanford today. “That has a lot to do with why there are so many good players in Denton.”

That support has attracted some of the top coaches in the state, who have proven that they can develop talent. Florence has won two state championships at Ryan, while Guyer’s John Walsh has taken the Wildcats to the Class 4A state semifinals in each of the last two seasons.

G.A. Moore came out of retirement last season to become the head coach at Aubrey and quickly added to his record number of wins for a Texas high school football coach.

“The coaches in Denton are a big reason there are so many good players,” Bible said. “They do a good job of developing talent. They get kids to buy in, and once they do that, they can do anything.”

That was the case last season when Pilot Point won the Class 2A Division I state title to highlight a banner season for area teams. Guyer knocked off Ryan 28-25 in the Class 4A Division I state quarterfinals and Lake Dallas also won a playoff game.

The success of teams in the area was a draw for college programs looking for impact players.

“A good gauge is all these college recruiters who come through,” Walsh said. “We would get them sparingly [in the past], but this year we’re getting them all. It’s not just to Guyer or Ryan, either. It’s the whole area. It’s so rich in talent that they’re taking notice in the college world. Our kids are performing at a level that makes them marketable.”

Enjoying the ride

Bible attributes his development into an elite college pros-pect in part to competing with the other talented players in Denton.

When Guyer played Lake Dallas, Williams was there to challenge Bible. Garrett Gram-ling, an offensive tackle who is scheduled to sign with Texas A&M, was no pushover when the Wildcats faced Ryan.

“The Denton area has a lot of great players,” Bible said. “The competition forced me to prove myself every week. That made me a better player.”

Bible and the rest of Denton’s elite players capitalized on the unique environment to become college prospects, and have enjoyed the fruits of their labor while traveling the country on recruiting visits over the last few months.

Those players have shared stories and talked to each other about their options.

“It’s been fun to see where all the guys in the area are going to go and play at the next level,” Underwood said.

The consensus among high school coaches in the area and the analysts who project how players will fare in college is that this year’s crop is just getting started.

Several could follow in the path traveled by former Denton standouts who have gone on to become standouts at the college level. Some might even have a chance to follow Moss and Lokey to the NFL.

“There are several players from the area this year who are going to be major players at big-time programs the next few years,” Michael Young said.

Watching those players develop has been a special experience for the coaches, fans and the players themselves.

“I can’t imagine the Denton area having a better class of players,” Michael Young said. “I don’t know if fans appreciate what they have seen the last few years with the number of great players who have come through the area.”

BRETT VITO can be reached at 940-566-6870. His e-mail address is bvito@dentonrc.com .