Stories / Teams to watch Nationally going into Signing Day

Larry

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- Arizona is a team that a lot of pundits think will finish hot. RichRod only has 5 commits since taking over, but are closing hard on a lot of in-state talent, as well as national talent as they are reportedly looking to add upwards of 10 more players by Signing Day. They reportedly just picked up a commitment from ★★★ WR Trey Griffey (Yeah, Ken Griffey Jr.'s son) from Orlando. But also are hot on the tail of ★★★★ WR Davonte Neal, and using those Northeastern connections from new DC Jeff Casteel to be in the mix for PA ★★★★ LB Deaysean Rippy and NJ ★★★★ ATH Devin Fuller. Kind of a boom or bust week for RichRod and Arizona.

- Rutgers is one school lots of pundits are expecting to finish very strong with a number of recruits still in the mix. They just picked up ★★★★ OT JJ Denman and many expect to ink ★★★★★ DE Darius Hamilton and other local kids ★★★★ CB Yuri Wright (although, recent expulsion might lead him to stick with his Colorado commitment) and ★★★★ ATH Devin Fuller and ★★★ OT Ryan Brodie (committed today, FWIW).

- Florida State...as a Miami fan, hold on to your butts. Already have a strong class, looking to continue closing strong. They are seemingly keeping ★★★★★ DE Mario Edwards. They recently pulled ★★★★ ATH Ricardo Louis from Auburn and his commitment is still up in the air. Its looking like they've entered the picture for ★★★★ LB Josh Harvey-Clemens. They are still in the mix for ★★★★★ CB Tracy Howard and ★★★★★ DT Eddie Goldman and ★★★★★ CB Ronald Darby and ★★★★ DE Leonard Williams and ★★★★ LB Reggie Northrup among a cast of other highly touted players. They are still looking to hold on to ★★★★★ ATH Jameis Winston and ★★★★★ DE Dante Fowler Jr. will play the hat game. Could be a strong week for Florida State.

- Auburn...another team that usually closes strong on Signing Day. Recently received a commitment from ★★★★ OT Patrick Miller. They are in the running for ★★★★ DE Leonard Williams, ★★★★ WR Jacquay Williams, ★★★★★ WR Stefon Diggs, ★★★★ OT Avery Young, ★★★★ LB Kwon Alexander...they are one to look out for with a really strong Signing Day.

- If you're a fan of Pac12 football, this final push in the recruiting season is going to be pretty hectic. Coming out of the Army All-American game, it was looking as if CAL was going to clean house in the wake of USC sanctions coming down. However, with lead recruiter Tosh Lopoi going to Washington, it seems as though the flood gates are open and expect a wild finish. The commitments to ★★★★★ S Shaq Thompson, ★★★★ DT Ellis McCarthy, ★★★★ WR Jordan Payton, ★★★★★ WR Bryce Treggs, ★★★★ CB Cedric Dozier were all lost (McCarthy to UCLA, recently) or up in the air as they are all expected to finish the recruiting period with visits to other Pac12 schools. Also, what was thought of to be a heavy lean to Cal ★★★★★ OT Arik Armstead looks to be going elsewhere. Arizona ★★★★ RB DJ Foster at last report has Cal leading for his services after a visit earlier this month Cal and its current commits/soft commits are definitely going to be something to watch out west.

- Continuing out west, in the wake of Cal's lost commits and sudden coaching change, it seems as though Oregon, UCLA, and Washington have gone hard on those commits. Shaq Thompson, as previously mentioned, has all three coming hard. With UCLA picking off McCarthy already, and landing a commit from ★★★★ LB Jeremy Castro (former Oregon commit), they also are rumored to be in the mix for Treggs. Oregon, going very heavy on Thompson, also rumored to be in the lead for Armstead at the moment as well as ★★★★★ WR Thomas Johnson. Washington is looking to pick off Payton from Cal and are looking to retain ★★★★ QB Cyler Miles, who is taking visits.

- Also out west, Stanford is putting together a strong class and looking to finish strong as they received a commit from ★★★★ RB Barry Sanders Jr. at the Army All American game as they are the rumored leaders for top offensive lineman ★★★★ OT Kyle Murphy and ★★★★ OG Joshua Garnett as well in the mix for former commit ****tu. USC looks to finish strong, as they are in the mix for ★★★★★ ATH Nelson Agholor, ★★★★ OT Zach Banner, ****tu, and holding on to ★★★★★ WR Darreus Rogers who has had a late charge with a late visit to Arizona State.
 
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Just some little nuggets...no inside info, just kind of rounded up lots of news and notes going into Signing Day that I've read around the web of some stories I thought were big and would be talked about Nationally on NLOID.
 
Wait, what happened at Cal?

They had, what was looking to be, an immense recruiting class. Plethora of top players. They had a bunch of strong commits at the All-Star Games. Were in the lead for Arik Armstead and just had lots of momentum.

Their DL Coach, Tosh Lopoi, also their main recruiter (best recruiter) that basically had connections with all of these kids since they were sophomore year took a 3x pay raise to take the same position at Washington.

Basically, all of those top players have either decommitted and verbal'd elsewhere or are now taking lots of visits and many are not expected to stick, like Payton, Thompson, Treggs, etc.
 
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