National Recruiting Report | Fab 50 Recruits Flying off the Board

It feels weird to call the spring official visit season, but that’s what it is. It’s year two since they started allowing spring and summer officials and we’re starting to see things accelerate because of it.

After a bit of a lull in terms of blue-chip recruits committing, they are starting to fly off the board. Notre Dame has seen the benefit of that picking up two Fab 50 prospects, wide receiver Jordan Johnson‍ (#49) and defensive end Jordan Botelho‍ (#38), in the last couple of weeks.

Clemson landed a couple (more) elite prospects to add to their total. Nebraska just picked up one in offensive tackle Turner Corcoran‍  (#40). Georgia did as well with a surprise commitment from cornerback Jalen Kimber‍ (#46). With those six players currently off the board, we’re already at 18 of the 50 committed.

And it’s not likely to slow down any time soon.

Top-50 Notre Dame targets like Chris Tyree‍ (#30) and Clark Phillips‍ (#15) are both planning on summer officials with decisions made shortly after. Wide receiver Jermaine Burton‍ (#28) and the top player in the country, defensive tackle Bryan Bresee‍, will both be committing in the next few days. The top quarterback in the country, D.J. Uiagalelei‍ (#2), is scheduled to commit on May 5th.

It’s a good bet that over half of the top-50 prospects in the country will be committed before September. A program like Notre Dame had seven of the Fab 50 on campus within the last month and it would be concerning for them if they didn’t with the way these players are flying off the board.

Earlier official visits have sped up the process. Those that don’t take advantage of it are very likely going miss out on the chance to land some elite players.

On to other stray national recruiting thoughts…

- This article last week on another top-50 player, Ohio State offensive tackle “commit” Paris Johnson‍, was very interesting. Commit is in quotations because he is still listed as a commit, but as his high school coach Steve Specht explained to The Athletic’s Ari Wasserman ($), Johnson’s commitment changed as soon as Urban Meyer left.

Johnson committed to the coach and not the program. When the coach left, Specht advised Johnson that he had no reason to remain loyal to Ohio State. That’s exactly why Johnson is still visiting other schools while technically still being listed as an OSU commit.

I’d say the odds of Johnson sticking with him home state school are pretty good, but this is a bit of an intriguing development nonetheless. This might be talked about privately often. Rarely does a high school coach talk about this publicly.

All doing that does is make Ohio State know they better keep treating Johnson like a priority or else, he gone.

- 4-star safety Lejond Cavazos‍ was an Ohio State commit, de-committed after Meyer “retired”, and now is back on their commit list again.

This is the other way to do it. How are they any different? I’m not even sure there is a difference other than Johnson not putting out a message on his notes app to let everyone know he is looking around and to please respect his decision.

- Another 4-star safety, Darius Snow‍, committed to Michigan State this week. He is the son of former NBA guard Eric Snow and also related to former MSU star linebacker Percy Snow.

Snow held an offer from Notre Dame. I think he may end up as a linebacker in college.

- Penn State earned a commitment from 4-star defensive tackle Cole Brevard‍ out of Carmel, Indiana. He’s going to be an interesting player to watch over the next few years. He’s very raw with his hands, but has good first step.

- It’s good news for Notre Dame fans that Oklahoma didn’t gain commitments from more recruits last week, but the Sooners did take one off the board by landing elite cornerback Dontae Manning‍. He’s an extremely physical individual who can play press and has big time speed.

- I really like the game of 4-star Ty’Kiest Crawford. He just committed to Arkansas. Watching him reminds me of an old school Orlando Brown at right tackle. During his college career I think we’ll see him as an All-SEC level player and the Razorbacks haven’t had many of those in recent years.