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 past few weeks have been mostly quiet on the recruiting front, but over the weekend, things changed.
Since Friday, more than 50 members of the class of 2017 committed to FBS programs. The reason? Many schools hosted their own camps, allowing players a chance to work with future coaches and evaluate the academics and facilities of where they might play. It's the kind of thing that can get the recruiting ball rolling.
The biggest winner of the weekend was Florida State, which landed five four- or five-star recruits.
FSU kicked it off by landing four-star 2018 DB Isaiah Bolden, the son of Juran Bolden, who played a decade in the NFL. Then it got a commitment from 2017 four-star safety Daniel Wright, the little brother of former Florida star Major Wright. It then beat out a number of SEC schools for 2018 four-star defensive tackle Robert Cooper, from Northeast of Atlanta.
Then the Seminoles landed five-star cornerback Stanford Samuels III, whose father starred at Florida State. The younger Samuels actually grew up on FSU's practice field, and his dad says he is way better at the same age.
Not done yet, FSU landed former LSU commitment Justin Watkins, a 2018 four-star athlete who could play receiver or corner.
Jimbo Fisher, whose Seminoles are not participating in satellite camps, joked that FSU was "satellite-ing in Tallahassee." FSU now has the second-highest average player rating in the country, only behind Ohio State.
But Florida State wasn't the only program that had a big weekend.
Tennessee rolled out the orange carpet, and recruits walked down it.
The Volunteers actually landed more commitments than Florida State — eight in all, seven in the 2017 class.
They are listed second here because all seven are currently three-star recruits. We know that loading up on three-stars does not produce championships.
But recruiting rankings are inherently shaky this early in the process, and I am confident Butch Jones and his staff would not have taken all these commitments if it didn’t believe some are better than their ratings.
Specifically, I think new commit Tre Lawson is better than the No. 22 strong-side defensive end in the nation, and Jaquan Henderson looks like a very versatile defender.
Quickly
Michigan is officially ruffling some feathers in the South. The Wolverines beat out Alabama and Georgia for Peach State 2017 prospect Aubrey Solomon, one of the best defensive tackles in the country. And Jim Harbaugh picked up his four-star safety teammate, Otis Reese. Michigan is not playing around.
South Carolina secured four commitments over the weekend! But none are blue-chip talents.
Auburn added four-star offensive tackle Austin Troxell, giving the Tigers the best pair of offensive tackle recruits in the nation.
Arkansas landed a commitment from an excellent JUCO tight end, Jeremy Patton.
Notre Dame landed Markese Stepp, one of the top 2018 running backs in the nation.