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Welcome to The Crootletter (sign up to get this in your inbox every morning!), SB Nation's daily college football recruiting newsletter.
Welcome back to the Crootletter. I spent the weekend in Los Angeles, and will have a podcast and a few stories and videos from the trip. Today, though, let’s catch up on what has happened since our last edition of the CL.
LSU’s first nine commitments of the 2018 recruiting cycle were all on defense. But over the weekend, things changed, and the Bayou Bengals actually added some players on offense.
First it was center Cole Smith of Mississippi. LSU is not afraid of offering players early in the cycle who are not highly rated, which makes sense because ratings early in a recruiting cycle are pretty poor compared to the final rankings after the services have had a full year to observe the players. Smith’s offer list consists mainly of AAC and Sun Belt schools, but LSU likes him.
Then the Tigers added three-star receiver Jaray Jenkins. Jenkins is a speed demon, and should fit nicely in the slot role utilized so often in motion by new offensive coordinator Matt Canada.
The Tigers are now No. 4 in the 247Sports Composite rankings, with 11 commitments.
LSU has a tough schedule this year, with five SEC road games thanks to the flipping of the 2016 game against Florida. But the SEC West is not what it once was, so a strong season, and a strong recruiting class finish are certainly within reach.
Speaking of the SEC West, Auburn is poised to bring in another strong recruiting class, and the Tigers’ latest junior day was a success. The most recent commitment is four-star guard Jalil Irvin. Like many schools in the SEC West, on-field success or failure will play an outsized role in the 2018 recruiting class fortunes.
TCU landed the top safety recruit in Texas, over the Longhorns, Bears, and others. This is a huge get for the TCU staff.
Northwestern, yes Northwestern, landed the top player in the state of Illinois.
Maryland landed its first recruit of the 2018 recruiting cycle. Maryland was the first school to offer three-star Paint Branch (Md.) weak-side defensive end Durell Nchami. After the initial offer from the local Terps, seven other schools including Syracuse and Pittsburgh came through and offered. Maryland was a team that benefited strongly from the first full recruiting class bump phenomenon in the class of 2017.
Ohio State has a major need for offensive linemen this cycle, and has been getting good feedback from several top prospects, Lang Grant Holy Land reports.
Here is a comprehensive rundown on the latest in Arizona recruiting from AZ Desert Swarm.
Florida State will have a five-star QB visiting for its spring game.
Texas is in good position with one of the nation’s top athletes. And continuing with a trend, yet another Longhorns offer has gone out to a corner from DeSoto.
Michigan sent out seven new offers in as many days.
Linebacker is a priority for Oklahoma this year. Here are some of the top targets courtesy of Crimson and Cream Machine.
UCLA landed a player who is ranked as a receiver, but the Bruins see his potential at linebacker.
