Welcome to The Crootletter (sign up to get this in your inbox every morning!). I'm Bud Elliott, SB Nation's National Recruiting Analyst, and in this space I'll be sharing news, rumors and musings on the world of college football recruiting.
The College Football Recruiting Podcast is coming soon to iTunes and Google Play.
I start off each podcast with discussion of the recent blue-chip commitments.
- Kylin Hill, RB, to Mississippi State
- Braxton Burmeister, QB, back to Arizona
- Derrick Tucker, S, to A&M
- Bryan Jones, DL, to Ole Miss
- Notre Dame lands an elite 2018 QB.
What I wrote about this week
Discussing it more in depth.
- Teams off to surprising starts: UNC might have staying power, but recruiting is horribly static.
- Teams off to bad starts: Oregon has just two commitments, Vanderbilt has no commitments and Ole Miss is No. 46 in recruiting.
- Oklahoma is kicking ass in Texas. Why?
- Satellite camps are being held at the high schools of the most talented prospects.
- Nick Saban offered an eighth grader. I am in favor of offering eighth graders who play like 10th graders. Traditional media with a lack of understanding of recruiting annually comes with the fauxtrage on this stuff.
- Offensive tackle Trey Smith is now the No. 1 OT on the 247Sports Composite. Credit to ESPN for having him there first.
Reader questions
- In order to be a top recruiting school you need tradition, a good location or both? True? Any exceptions?
- How much does getting a head coach from a well-known college to be your head coach help? UCF? Illinois?
- Will more kids take the sign-after-NSD approach like Demetris Robertson did?
- "Why is Florida's recruiting not on par with Tennessee and Georgia after fresh breath and success?"
- Woman’s son was varsity QB as a sophomore, switches schools and is now a safety due to senior at starting spot. Will not having two years as starting QB hurt?
- Will the recent Baylor news impact recruiting?