As the 2019 recruiting season winds down, it's time to start focusing on the 2020 class. Because most programs have their 2019 classes mostly wrapped up, quite a few coaches have already put their efforts toward underclassmen.
Recruits are able to take official visits during spring of their junior season, and as the recruiting process speeds up more and more each year, we are seeing more recruits commit earlier in the process. As of right now, 88 ESPN Junior 300 recruits already are committed.
They are not locked in to those schools until they can sign in December, and decommitments are bound to happen, but the spring and summer are busy commitment times for top-level prospects trying to wrap up their recruitment before their high school senior seasons.
The top six recruits are still uncommitted, including the No. 1 ranked prospect in the class, defensive end Bryan Bresee. The 6-foot-5, 290-pound lineman plays for Damascus (Maryland) High School, and is already very much in control of his process.
He has his top list narrowed down to Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, and is mulling over where to go on his five official visits.
"I haven't planned any of my officials, but I'll probably take two or three in the spring and two or three in the fall," Bresee said. "Then after my officials, I'll probably end up deciding after that. I know for sure I'm making my plans to take officials to Clemson, Penn State, Georgia and Ohio State, and I'm still figuring out that last spot."
Bresee said he wants to enroll early at the school he chooses and he is also planning on signing early in December.
There are a couple schools within his top six that are starting to stick out above the rest, but he isn't comfortable naming them just yet. He did say he will base his decision on the staff and scheme with which he feels most comfortable.
"Most schools are telling me I'm a strong-side defensive end," Bresee said. "Pass-rush situations. Maybe go to a 3-technique."
Part of what has made him such a hot commodity and the top-ranked prospect is his competitive nature, which he said runs in his family. Bresee said everyone in his family is competitive and athletic, including the oldest of his four sisters, Kendall, who plays basketball at Mount St. Mary's.
"Last year we were at a family reunion, playing basketball outside on a concrete court with cousins and family," he said. "I was dribbling the ball up the court, and Kendall decides to take a charge. Me, running full speed down the court, and she sets up a charge. I didn't know she was going to do it, so I accidentally ran her over and I thought she was crazy."
That competitive nature might get his sister hurt, but it will serve him well in college.
Top uncommitted recruits
Running back Zachary Evans out of Houston, Texas is the No. 2 ranked prospect behind Bressee. Evans is a 5-foot-11, 196-pound back who has Alabama, Georgia, Ole Miss, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Washington, LSU, Texas A&M, Texas and Penn State on his favorites list.
It's still early in the process for Evans, but he is one of the most highly sought after recruits in this class.
At No. 3 is wide receiver Julian Fleming, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound prospect out of Southern Columbia High School in Catawissa, Pennsylvania.
Fleming is very well put together for his age and position. He's working off of a top-10 list of Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Michigan, USC, Florida, LSU, Penn State and Ohio State. He said he wants to take visits to Florida, Clemson, LSU, Michigan and USC before narrowing his list further.
Defensive end Sav'ell Smalls is the No. 4 ranked recruit overall and has offers from nearly every major program in the country. He is still navigating the process and racking up offers, but will likely be active in spring and summer with visits.
Linebacker Justin Flowe and athlete Arik Gilbert are next at Nos. 5 and 6, respectively. Flowe is a confident, hard-hitting linebacker unafraid to tell his opponents about how hard he just hit them.
Gilbert is a 6-foot-6, 248-pound athlete from Marietta, Georgia, who has offers from everywhere. He hasn't narrowed his list officially, but Georgia will be a potential landing spot.
Top classes
Alabama already is leading the way with 10 ESPN Junior 300 commitments and 11 total. That is incredible, considering the Crimson Tide have 25 ESPN 300 commits in the 2019 class.
LSU has the next most ESPN Junior 300 commits with nine. Every single one of the Tigers' commitments in the 2020 class is ranked in the top-300 list, which is pretty impressive.
Even more impressive is that the LSU staff was able to land No. 1 ranked cornerback Elias Ricks, ranked No. 16 overall, even after signing the No. 1 2019 corner, Derek Stingley Jr. Ricks is out of Mater Dei High School in California and a huge get for this class.
Despite dealing with a coaching change from Mark Richt, who retired in December, to former defensive coordinator Manny Diaz, Miami still has seven ESPN Junior 300 commits in the class, led by wide receiver Bryan Robinson, ranked No. 90 overall.
Ohio State also dealt with its head coach retiring when Urban Meyer handed over the keys to offensive coordinator Ryan Day. The Buckeyes had a smaller class in 2019, but are off to a good start in 2020 with five ESPN Junior 300 commitments.
The staff was able to keep top in-state prospect Zach Harrison home in 2019 and will fight to keep the top 2020 prospect from Ohio, offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr., home as well. Ranked the No. 7 prospect in the class, Johnson is already committed to Ohio State, but has taken a wait-and-see approach with the coaching change.
It seems likely he will stay with Ohio State, but there is no doubt other programs are coming after him.
Outside of those teams, Florida State, Texas A&M and Florida all have four ESPN Junior 300 commitments. Georgia, Clemson, Notre Dame, Auburn and South Carolina each have three.
Quarterback options
One of the knocks on the 2019 class was that it wasn't as strong at quarterback as the 2018 class, which produced big names such as Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields.
The 2019 class had Oklahoma signee Spencer Rattler, Wisconsin signee Graham Mertz and a couple others ranked high, but 2020 has some big-name quarterbacks who could make an impact early at schools pursuing them.
There are currently nine quarterbacks ranked in the top 100 of the ESPN Junior 300, where there are six in 2019.
The top-ranked 2020 quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei is ranked 20th overall. He is a 6-foot-5, 243-pound pro-style quarterback who fits very well what coaches are looking for in a modern quarterback.
He's a pass-first QB who also can make plays with his feet. The St. John Bosco (Bellflower, California) prospect already has offers from some of the biggest programs in the country, including Alabama, Clemson, USC, Auburn, Florida, Michigan, Oklahoma and Ohio State.
Clemson very well could be a landing spot for Uigalelei, who would be another top quarterback ready to play right away for the Tigers if needed.
Some of the other big-name, pro-style passers in the class include Ohio State commit Jack Miller out of Arizona, Tennessee commit Harrison Bailey from Georgia, LSU commit Max Johnson out of Georgia and uncommitted California product Shane Illingworth, who is the No. 2 ranked pocket-passer in the class.
The dual-threat category also has some quality prospects, including USC commit Bryce Young, who is the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the class, ranked No 22 overall.
Uncommitted quarterback Robby Ashford out of Birmingham, Alabama, and Texas commit Hudson Card are both ranked in the top 100 as well.
For any program that didn't land an elite level quarterback in the 2019 class, this 2020 class could have a larger number of prospects who could come in and play early.
Top defensive linemen
Teams are always looking for good quarterbacks, and they are also always looking for good defensive linemen. This 2020 class has some outstanding prospects along the defensive line, both on the edge and in the interior.
Bresee is the No. 1 ranked prospect, Smalls is No. 4, but outside of those two, there are 13 defensive line recruits ranked in the top 50 of the rankings and six in the top 20.
Chris Braswell is the highest-ranked committed defensive lineman. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound recruit out of Baltimore pledged to Alabama in November. He's joined in the Crimson Tide's class by ESPN Junior 300 defensive lineman Jayson Jones.
Miami also has an excellent defensive line haul with ESPN Junior 300 defensive ends Tre'von Riggins and Samuel Anaele along with tackle Willie Moise.
Clemson landed a few five-star defensive ends in the 2018 class, an ESPN 300 tackle in 2019 and now have two ESPN Junior 300 tackles committed with Demonte Capehart, the No. 58 recruit overall, and Tre Williams, ranked 132 overall.
The good news for other programs is that of the 54 ESPN Junior 300 defensive linemen, only 10 have made their commitment. So there are still some big options left on the board, including Bresee, Smalls and top-five defensive ends in Myles Murphy and Jason Harris.
The top two defensive tackles are both uncommitted in Jacolbe Cowan out of Charlotte, North Carolina, and McKinnley Jackson, from Lucedale, Mississippi.
This 2020 class is already under way, but there is still a lot to follow and a lot that will happen in the next few months. These prospects will come off the board quickly in the spring and summer, and as we have seen over the past two years, most of them will officially remove themselves from the process by signing in December.