Coaching changes at Notre Dame, Southern California and Tennessee have added intrigue to the recruiting season.

With three of the nation’s marquee programs scrambling to hold on to their blue chippers, Jeremy Crabtree, the national recruiting editor for Rivals.com, calls this the most suspenseful recruiting season in his 12 years of covering it.

New Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly lost a couple of highly touted prospects, but still is in line to land a top-25 recruiting class Wednesday, the beginning of the national signing period.

Lane Kiffin at USC locked up almost all of the big-time recruits coach Pete Carroll left behind for the NFL.

And at Tennessee, coach Derek Dooley has proved capable of keeping up with the SEC’s heavyweights.