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.
Another domino in the quarterback recruiting race fell Sunday night as Tate Martell committed to the Ohio State Buckeyes. Martell has been on the recruiting radar for a half decade now, first committing to Washington at age 14. He made news by later committing and then decommitting from Texas A&M, a move that ultimately led to a Texas A&M coach’s embarrassing subtweets.
The Las Vegas Bishop Gorman star is rated as the No. 1 dual-threat QB in the class, a four-star at No. 55 overall as of the time of publish. He’s an excellent high school player and should be a good college quarterback. Some services have him as a five-star, but I am not buying the five-star tag for a 5’10.5 QB who is older than many of his peers. I wrote this for SB Nation’s Ohio State site, Land Grant Holy Land.
Martell is an excellent high school player who faces good competition at Bishop Gorman. He needs to be in the spread offense so that he can have wider throwing windows due to being 5'10.5. He's athletic and can extend plays. Martell's delivery is unique and helps to compensate some for his lack of height. As an overaged player who was very good for so long, the question of upside is worth asking. Martell may be closer to being maxed out than his peers.
That said, I think taking Martell is a smart move. Ohio State runs a spread offense under Urban Meyer, Martell was one of the best uncommitted quarterbacks in the nation and he is like a brother to five-star receiver Tyjon Lindsey, a tiny-but-explosive five-star slot receiver who is strongly considering Ohio State as well. If Martell can get Lindsey to join him in Columbus, Buckeyes would be quite happy.
Ohio State now has the No. 1 class in the nation.
Podcast
I recorded the College Football Recruiting Podcast live this week and streamed it on Facebook as well. A number of topics including Alabama’s strong week and the unfairness of the college draft system were discussed.
Quickly
A thorough update on South Carolina football recruiting.
Burnt Orange Nation has a big update on a number of top Texas targets.
Missouri picked up a commitment from a good 2016 high school defensive lineman who schools backed off of due to qualifying concerns, but who now looks like he’ll be eligible.
LSU picked up a commitment from a stud 2019 DB who is already 6’0.
Happy trails to Brian Barbour, the manager of our UNC site is hanging it up after a decade of strong work.
Michigan landed a four-star defensive end with a lot of pass-rush upside.