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.
College coaches are hopping on planes to take their families on vacation because Monday marks the beginning of the NCAA’s dead period in college football recruiting. It runs through July 10. An explanation:
The dead period is the most restrictive. No in-person contact is allowed, even if a prospect makes a visit to the college campus. Written and electronic communications are still permitted.
But a group of important recruits made moves just before the dead period began.
Texas has now landed three former Baylor signees in four-star receiver Devin Duvernay, four-star offensive tackle J.P. Urquidez and Duvernay’s brother, three-star athlete Donovan Duvernay. And Texas could land four-star offensive lineman Patrick Hudson as well. All were released from their letters of intent with Baylor.
LSU landed four-star receiver Jhamon Ausbon, a big-bodied target and former Baylor commitment. And it got a pledge from four-star receiver Mannie Netherly. Crootletter readers will remember Netherly as the receiver who decommitted from Aggies when a Texas A&M assistant went on a subtweet rant after losing QB commit Tate Martell.
Ohio State landed five-star guard Wyatt Davis. That’s a great pickup. The Buckeyes’ recruiting class could be one of the most selective and elite in modern recruiting history.
The Gators picked up four-star defensive end Zach Carter, beating out Clemson for the Tampa recruit.
Tennessee lost the commitment of four-star receiver K.D. Nixon. Without Nixon, the Volunteers have two four-star commitments and 15 three-stars.
Oregon added a four-star cornerback. And former four-star athlete Kirk Merritt is transferring from Oregon due to family issues. The Ducks are still loaded at receiver, but Merritt was one of the most athletic recruits I’ve covered.
Rutgers landed four-star linebacker Tyshon Fogg, beating out a number of top teams. Chris Ash is off to a strong start, though it’ll be interesting to see what happens once Rutgers (likely) loses a bunch of games this fall.
Auburn added four-star running back Kameron Martin, another prospect who got a Baylor release. He can fly.
Quickly
I spent my weekend at the IMG Academy in Bradenton (Fla.) for the NFA 7v7 National Championship. My focus is not on teams, but on players. I spoke to a lot of people and have more than 30 recruiting videos coming this week on SB Nation and our 80-plus college sites.
One theme that emerged was that some players plan to commit at The Opening, Nike’s huge showcase event at its headquarters outside Portland. They get to be on TV, which is pretty cool. But some are planning to commit before they have even visited many of their top schools.
For instance, Texas cornerback Kary Vincent and safety Grant Delpit (now at the IMG Academy) will be announcing. But Vincent has not visited Florida or Florida State, two major schools pursuing him.
Delpit also plans to take visits after making his commitment. I am predicting LSU for both prospects for now, but anything can change once they visit their other finalists.
Remember the name Kane Taylor, a very athletic defensive line prospect out of Clearwater (Fla.). A number of schools are interested to see if he’ll be a qualifier. If his academics improve, his recruitment will heat up.
Jason Kirk ranked the most important games of the year for each conference. In the ACC, Big Ten and SEC, it’s between the best recruiters.
Virginia (!) landed six commitments over the weekend. The prospects are not currently rated as elite, but Bronco Mendenhall and his staff have earned respect for their scouting and player development, honed during his time at BYU.
Nebraska has some good problems in recruiting now. It has to figure out which talented players out of a big pool of interested candidates fit its system best.
Previously
I warned of the dangers of celebrating or fretting about early recruiting rankings.
The latest edition of the College Football Recruiting Podcast dropped Friday.