Coach James Franklin unveiled Vanderbilt's 2012 recruiting haul on National Signing Day today, garnering commitments from 21 highly ranked recruits in his bid to turn around the football culture on Natchez Trace. The Commodores added six players who earned four-star ratings from either Rivals.com or ESPN in what is the university's best recruiting class in school history. Tailback Brian Kimbrow of Memphis was the centerpiece of the incoming class, but there could still be more players on the way for Franklin and his staff.

The list of recruits doesn't include All-American kicker Colby Cooke, who will greyshirt next year and couldn't be counted amongst the official signees. Vanderbilt also lost four-star defensive end Josh Dawson when he decommitted from the 'Dores to choose Georgia. However, the signing day swipe of Alabama linebacker Harding Harper should help Vanderbilt cope with the loss. Franklin is said to be so pleased with the work his staff has put in that he's rented five limousines to take his coaches out for a proper night on the town in Nashville once their work is done. Whether or not that will end with a trip to Lonnie's is currently unknown (it will).

The full list, as of 1:30 PM CST, is below:

It's national signing day. Come discuss the Vanderbilt Commodores 2012 signing class.

Important developments:

• As of 9:53 CST, five players with at least one four-star rating have faxed in their commitments (Brian Kimbrow, Andrew Jelks, Darreon Herring, Jacob Sealand, and Caleb Azubike). UPDATE: Stephen Weatherly makes it six players.
• Another four-star recruit, Josh Dawson, decommitted from Vanderbilt to choose Georgia. A loud cackling was heard across the southeast, thought to be coming from Todd Grantham's general area.
• The biggest surprise thus far has been the commitment of three-star recruit Harding Harper, who is poised to join Archibald Barnes and Hunter Hillermayer amongst the ranks of linebackers whose names make them sound like 1900s investment bankers.

As of 11:11 CST, Vandy's got 20 players lined up to join the team in 2012. All are rated three-stars or higher by Rivals.com.

We'll have more as events develop throughout the day. Pictures, discussion, and more are after the jump...

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Last year, Vanderbilt snagged a Mountain West quarterback who had made waves as a freshman. In 2012, James Franklin might do it again.

Colorado State sophomore quarterback Pete Thomas - a former four-star recruit who set the MWC's freshman passing yardage record in 2010 - is rumored to be leaving Fort Collins. His potential destination? Nashville.

A Colorado Examiner report suggested that the pocket passer could be headed to Vanderbilt to play out his collegiate career - though a conflicting report denies that Thomas has made up his mind. Thomas officially left the university on Tuesday, the first day of CSU's second semester.

This would echo a similar situation in 2011, when Wyoming's Austyn Carta-Samuels left the MWC to play for James Franklin. Carta-Samuels, the 2009 Mountain West Freshman of the Year, had reportedly decided on Vanderbilt in the spring of 2011. However, neither the team nor the player could confirm anything until training camp started later that fall.

Carta-Samuels redshirted last season to fulfill his transfer requirements with the NCAA. He's expected to push Jordan Rodgers for the starting spot at quarterback, and will also have to fend off Josh Grady, Kris Kentera, and incoming freshman Patton Robinette for reps at the position.

Thomas's arrival would be a boost to the Commodores' depth, but also crowd the lineup at quarterback even more than it already is. Currently, the team has seven players for the 2012 season listed at QB. The 'Dores recently converted touted freshman LaFonte Thorogood to running back in order to give him a better chance at playing time. However, if Thomas were to transfer, he would be eligible in time to replace a graduating Rodgers and make a strong case to start for Vanderbilt.

Pete Thomas would be a solid addition for the Commodores. He's got a big arm and the size to take advantage of weapons like Jordan Matthews and Chris Boyd in Vanderbilt's vertical passing attack. However, his path towards playing time in Nashville will have several roadblocks as James Franklin continues to add to a growing stable of talented athletes and skill players.

Vanderbilt football was dealt a pair of blows on the recruiting trail this weekend, as the team lost one of its most highly-rated recruits and saw an All-American target commit to a conference rival.

Minnesota wideout Andre McDonald was one of three Vanderbilt recruits to pick up All-American status by Sports Illustrated in 2011 and one of the crown jewels of coach James Franklin's 2012 class. On Friday, he announced that he would re-open his recruitment process, citing the departure of wide receivers' coach Chris Beatty as the catalyst behind the move. Beatty left Nashville in order to take a bigger coaching role at Illinois this fall. While the 'Dores still have a shot to bring him back into the fold, Big Ten schools Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota are thought to be the senior's new front-runners.

That wasn't the only bad news for Franklin and his staff this weekend. All-American safety Jordan Diggs had narrowed his recruiting choices down to three schools heading into yesterday's U.S. Army All-American game. On Saturday, he chose South Carolina over Vanderbilt and Tennessee. While Vandy will still have plenty of talent in their defensive backfield, Diggs was the kind of player who could have carried on the Commodore tradition of stout secondary play.

It's bad news for Vanderbilt, but also an indicator of how far this team has come in a very short period of time. Diggs is the second All-American in the past three weeks to strongly consider coming to Dudley Field before signing with a more established team. While losing out on guys like Diggs, McDonald, and quarterback Gunner Kiel is tough for the Commodores, their current list of commitments is still light years ahead of even last year's class in the national rankings.

Vanderbilt's offensive line made a name for themselves in 2011 by playing hard despite losing key players. They'll have to do the same in 2012, as starting center Logan Stewart and running back Mitchell Hester were dismissed from the team today for violations of team rules.

Stewart started six games for the Commodores in 2011 after fighting off mononucleosis early in the season. He performed well at the position before having his season ended by a knee injury. He also missed time for his involvement in the James Franklin/Todd Grantham incident at the end of the Vanderbilt/Georgia game. Wesley Johnson took over his position in the interim, and it's unknown whether or not Johnson will be handling snapping duties in 2012.

Hester redshirted his freshman year and didn't see any playing time for Vanderbilt. The 5'8", 175 pound tailback was rated as a two-star recruit by Rivals.com and chose Nashville over South Florida, Virginia, Maryland, and Iowa State.

No details were given as to the nature of the rules that each player broke. Stewart's infraction took place a "couple of weeks ago," while Hester's issues arose over a month ago. Franklin and his staff put in work to ensure that these dismissals didn't break before the Liberty Bowl and give the team a cause of distraction.

Both players will be missed, but the impact of Stewart's dismissal will likely have the biggest effect. Vanderbilt showed that they could play well without him in 2011, but offensive line will remain one of the team's most shallow positions in 2012, even with recruits like Adam Butler and Andrew Jelks headed to Dudley Field next year. Hester, on the other hand, was a part of a deep running back stable that will only lose graduating junior Micah Powell. He would have had to put together quite an offseason to challenge for carries in a backfield that will include All-SEC players Zac Stacy and Warren Norman, along with Jerron Seymour and uber-recruit Brian Kimbrow.

It's sad news for the Commodores, but it's also encouraging to see that Franklin and his staff are sending a message regarding disciplinary action. The control to keep these issues out of the media until after the bowl game in order to keep the team on point is also impressive. While we don't know what Stewart or Hester did, their dismissals send a message to both Vanderbilt players and the SEC as to what the culture of Vandy football is expected to be like.

Vanderbilt dropped back to .500 in all-time bowl play on Saturday, falling to the co-Big East champions Cincinnati in the Liberty Bowl. The Bearcats used big performances to outplay the Commodores in the fourth quarter, erasing Vandy's only lead of the second half in just 12 seconds and holding on for the postseason victory. While the loss was disappointing, it was the capstone of a season that will ultimately go down as a rousing success for first year head coach James Franklin.

The Commodores knew what was coming, but failed to stop Cincinnati effectively enough to ever build a significant lead. UC used their two primary weapons - an elusive running game and a powerful defensive line - to disrupt Franklin's game plan throughout the afternoon. The former provided all the offense that Butch Jones would need for the win. The latter kept Jordan Rodgers and Larry Smith rattled in the pocket and unable to use weapons like Jordan Matthews and Brandon Barden effectively.

Smith replaced Rodgers late in the third quarter after the redshirt junior struggled with his accuracy throughout the first half. The senior, who was the team's starter in their last bowl win, led the team to an early touchdown and then provided a big spark with the 'Dores trailing 17-14, hitting Chris Boyd on a receiver screen that Boyd took 68 yards to the end zone. However, Smith's magic wore off as his drives stalled throughout the fourth quarter, leading to a pair of three-and-outs and an interception that handed the Bearcats a 31-21 lead with just 3:15 left in the game.

Larry would lead the team back for a late field goal and a last ditch chance to tie the game, but Ryan Fowler's onside kick was recovered by UC, effectively ending Vandy's hopes. The defeat sealed a losing season for Vanderbilt, but it's safe to say that even a 6-7 record exceeded most of the team's expectations for 2011 after winning just four total games in 2009 and 2010.

While much of the season was predicated on building a "brand new Vanderbilt," many parts of Saturday's loss looked like a tribute to the offenses of Bobby Johnson and Robbie Caldwell. Mistakes doomed the Commodores when the team failed to create an effective passing game. Bad reads and poorly thrown passes helped an unheralded Cincinnati secondary come up with two interceptions. Mistakes on special teams (a fumbled kickoff return) and on fourth down (Zac Stacy's incomplete jump-pass to Brandon Barden) gave the Bearcats great field position that put even more pressure on this team's defense.

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Vanderbilt's offense never got off the ground, and in the end, it snuffed out any chances of a Liberty Bowl win.

The Commodores lost the 2011 Liberty Bowl to Big East co-champions Cincinnati, 31-24 Saturday afternoon. Despite a valiant comeback effort, Vanderbilt fell short of securing just their second winning season in the past 29 years. The team fell to 6-7 on the season with the loss.

While this season may have been a showcase of the "Brand New Vanderbilt," the team's offense was disappointingly similar to the struggling squads of the Bobby Johnson and Robbie Caldwell eras. Vanderbilt struggled to throw the ball downfield all day against a below average secondary. Without a passing game to relieve pressure at the line, Zac Stacy was limited to just 57 yards on 18 carries.

Vanderbilt started strong in a first half that was dictated by defensive strength. The 'Dores broke a string of three-and-outs behind Casey Hayward's first quarter interception. This pick set up a seven-yard Stacy touchdown run that gave James Franklin's team a 7-0 lead early in the game. However, UC responded by grinding out a pair of touchdowns behind a powerful running attack. Isaiah Pead and George Winn cut Vandy up for 228 rushing yards on the day, and the Bearcats held a 14-7 lead at the half.

The team lost Jordan Rodgers in the third quarter to an apparent injury, but the redshirt junior didn't accomplish much in his playing time before then. Rodgers was just four of 14 for 26 yards passing before Larry Smith took over in relief. Smith helped lead the Commodores to a 21-17 advantage in the fourth quarter after engineering a 68-yard screen pass touchdown to Chris Boyd. However, their lead was short lived. Ralph Abernathy returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. Vanderbilt would not lead again.

Vanderbilt had a chance to drive for a game-winning score after the 'Dores blocked UC's 39 yard field goal attempt. Trey Wilson picked the ball up near the right sideline and had room to run for a touchdown, but his momentum carried him out of bounds at the 32 yard line. Two plays later, Smith threw behind a stationary Jordan Matthews, leading to a UC interception and Isaiah Pead's game clinching touchdown two plays later.

Trailing 31-21, Vanderbilt had one last chance to get back into the game. A roughing the passer call and 24 yard completion from Smith to Matthews put the team in scoring position, but time ultimately ran out of the 'Dores in 2011. Ryan Fowler kicked a 34 yard field goal to cut UC's lead to 31-24, but the team couldn't recover the ensuing kickoff with just 23 seconds left to play.

The bowl loss drops Vanderbilt to 2-2-1 all-time in bowl games. It was the final game as a Commodore for defensive standouts like Hayward, Chris Marve, and Tim Fugger. All-SEC tight end Brandon Barden also closed out his collegiate career with a bowl loss. Despite the defeat, Vanderbilt will head into 2012 with high hopes behind an offense that returns almost all their key players and will be adding a pair of high school All-Americans.

Post your pregame, in-game, and post-game comments and thoughts below.