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.
It was a busy weekend in ACC recruiting.
Clemsonwent into Virginia to beat Tennessee for elite defensive end Jordan Williams. The Tigers have done a great job recruiting defensive linemen under Dabo Swinney and have also done well in developing them.
This has to sting for Tennessee, a program many thought looked good for Williams coming out of the spring. He's a four-star prospect, ranked on the 247Sports Composite as the No. 11 weak-side end in the 2017 class.
What's remarkable, at this point, is how badly Clemson and Florida State together are out-recruiting the rest of the ACC.
So far in 2017, Florida State and Clemson have a combined 18 four- and five-star prospects and just six two- and three-star recruits. The other 12 ACC teams have 16 four- and five-star prospects and about 170 (!) two- and three-stars. That’s a 3/1 ratio against about a 1/11 ratio.
I’ll wait to see what else happens in the cycle before making definitive claims about the direction of the rest of the league relative to the top two programs, but that is a big split. Despite Miami having a bunch of commits and thus ranking ahead of Clemson in the league's recruiting rankings for 2017, the Tigers and Seminoles are the class of the conference.
Elsewhere in the league, Miami added Bradley Jennings, Jr., a Florida State legacy three-star linebacker who recently decommitted from FSU. Jennings' father played for Florida State in the late 1990s but was from Miami-area Carol City and still has family there.
And there are three important connections on Miami’s staff with the family: Miami’s head coach Mark Richt, defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and receivers coach Ron Dugans were the offensive coordinator, defensive graduate assistant and one of the star receivers, respectively, for FSU when Jennings Sr. played in Tallahassee. He has far more connections to Miami and its staff than to Tallahassee, and this was a good win for Mark Richt and Co.
Virginia Tech picked up four-star receiver Tahj Capehart, of Virginia Beach. This is a big commitment for the Hokies, who have struggled mightily in the area in recent years.
Syracusewent to Canada to land offensive lineman Patrick Davis. Smart recruiting as many schools do not look North of the Border.
Quickly
Our friends at Michigan blog Maize n Brew have updates on several top targets fromMichigan’s BBQ event, including five-star California cornerback Darnay Holmes, who many think is a battle between UCLA and Nebraska. There's also word on Isaiah Wilson, a five-star offensive tackle being fought over by Michigan and Alabama. It is important for the Wolverines to get out-of-state prospects up to visit Ann Arbor before cold weather hits, and it seems the Wolverines did a great job of that with this event.
Stanfordlanded four-star receiver Osiris St. Brown, beating out Notre Dame and other powers.
Arizona is on quite the recruiting tear of late, with 25 commitments in all. AZ Desert Swarm breaks down the latest commitment and how the class will proceed from here, with six months until National Signing Day.
Purdue still had room in its 2016 class and added a late JUCO signee in athlete and return man Malik Kimbrough, who should add athleticism to the Boilermakers’ roster. These late signings happen on occasion, when a prospect who some didn’t believe would qualify or get the necessary degree and becomes quickly eligible.