With only a few months left before college football's early signing period rolls around in mid-December, recruiting is chugging along, full steam ahead.
Coaches have experienced challenges on the recruiting trail this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that hasn't stopped them from building relationships and securing their targets in the Class of 2021.
As teams close in on finalizing their classes, there are a few storylines to watch, from Deion Sanders' hiring at Jackson State to the extended recruiting dead period the NCAA enacted.
Deion Sanders aiming high
The Pro Football Hall of Famer Sanders was recently hired as head coach at Jackson State. He rolled up to his media conference in classic Sanders style -- with a band playing and a police escort -- and promised that he would recruit players who can help change the program.
Sanders is already swinging for the fences in offering some of the biggest names in the 2021 class, notably ESPN 300 offensive lineman Amarius Mims, ranked No. 19 overall, and his own son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, a Florida Atlantic commit who is ranked 40th.
Some of those offers might be to get publicity, but credit Sanders for using his flashy and confident style from his playing days to bring Jackson State into the forefront on the recruiting trail.
It wouldn't be surprising to see Sanders pull in a recruit a few notches above Jackson State's level -- but not anyone earth-shattering.
How is the dead period restricting recruiting?
The dead period, a time that precludes in-person contact between coaches and recruits, has been in place since March and has been extended through Dec. 31, which means there will be no unofficial or official visits before the early signing period.
That has already had an impact on quite a few teams, especially those with new coaches trying to build relationships with recruits, parents and high school coaches. With no evaluation period and no spring or summer visits, it has been challenging for some schools to close strong in December.
At this point, however, there are a number of coaches who believe it would be counterproductive to allow visits, as bringing in recruits and parents from all over the country would make it more difficult to keep players safe from COVID-19.
Because of that, recruits have gotten creative and created their own visits. Prospects are not allowed to take unofficial visits, but they are not prohibited from visiting a campus on their own, without interacting with coaches, and attending a game on their own dime.
Quarterback Caleb Williams, an Oklahoma commit, organized a group trip with a few prospects to tour Oklahoma's campus, which included offensive line target Tristan Leigh. The recruits were able to take in the environment but weren't allowed to talk to the coaches.
ESPN 300 defensive end Korey Foreman and defensive tackle Maason Smith have been to LSU, and a few other recruits are planning to follow suit.
The dead period hasn't slowed prospects from committing, as 252 ESPN 300 prospects have already announced their commitments.
Twenty-two of the 48 uncommitted prospects are ranked in the top 100, so there are some big names that haven't committed, but there's a good chance that some of those recruits will come off the board before December.
We typically see quite a few decommitments between now and the early signing period in December, but some coaches believe this year will be different. Because so many recruits have already made their decisions and because visits can't take place, coaches think prospects will be less enticed to flip to other schools.
Although it has been a challenge for coaches without visits almost the entire year, they are plugging along toward the December early signing period.
Who can help themselves in recruiting over the next few months?
Tennessee sticks out as a team that could rise in the class rankings. The Volunteers are 2-0, with wins over South Carolina and Missouri, and they're about to get into the meat of their schedule with Georgia and Alabama over the next three weeks.
Sitting with the No. 5-ranked class overall, Tennessee has continued to move up and forward in recruiting under Jeremy Pruitt. If the coaches can build on their 8-5 season in 2019, it could aid in their recruiting efforts.
Prospects don't look too much into wins and losses, but in a case such as Tennessee, year-to-year progress shows recruits that the process is working.
The Pac-12's decision to start its season in November could give Oregon an added boost as well. The Ducks are already sitting at No. 3 in the recruiting rankings, but being able to put their young defensive players on the field and showcase new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead could build even more excitement for some of the remaining 2021 and 2022 targets.
There isn't much room for Oregon to move up the rankings, but continuing to showcase what the coaches are building and creating even more buzz around the program is only going to help sustain the recruiting success the coaches are seeing.
In the ACC, Miami's 3-0 start can only be seen as a positive. The Hurricanes added transfer quarterback D'Eriq King, who has meshed very well with new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, and they are now able to show recruits that they can build on the offensive side of the ball as well as on defense.
Currently with the No. 8-ranked class overall, Miami has been hurt by not hanging on to top prospects and dealing with mass decommitments. The staff had seven decommitments in the 2020 class from October through December last year and eight during the same time frame for the 2018 class.
If Miami continues to trend upward and puts together an exciting season, it has a good chance of hanging on to a top-10 class and maybe even moving up a little in the rankings.
Penn State down in the class rankings
Penn State coach James Franklin recently told reporters that he knows this recruiting cycle is not up to Penn State's standards.
"This class is not done, but up to this point, we haven't gotten it done," Franklin told reporters in September. "We have not recruited up to the standard that we normally have. And I can make excuses, I can come up with a lot of reasons for that, but we haven't gotten it done the way we normally have gotten it done, and there's a lot of factors that go into that."
Among those factors: Penn State's campus is not easy to get to. It's essentially an oasis that doesn't have a big recruiting base within an hour of campus. The restrictions from COVID-19, including the created dead period, have impacted programs such as Penn State, which rely heavily on visits in the spring and summer to build relationships.
That said, each team is dealing with those restrictions as well. The Nittany Lions sit at No. 27 in the class rankings, with only three ESPN 300 commitments, a far cry from their 2020 class, in which they were ranked 12th with nine ESPN 300 commits.
What stings even more: None of the six ESPN 300 recruits from Pennsylvania that have announced a commitment are headed to Penn State. The No. 1-ranked recruit in the state, linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr., is committed to Clemson; No. 3 Kyle McCord and fifth-ranked Marvin Harrison Jr. are committed to Ohio State; and the fourth-best prospect in the state, offensive lineman Nolan Rucci, is committed to Wisconsin. Although some of those recruits had ties to other programs, losing that type of in-state talent hurts.
Franklin knows Penn State needs to be better, and the good news for fans is that the coaches are off to an excellent start in the 2022 class, with five ESPN Jr. 300 commitments, two more than in the 2020 class.
Who's going to finish No. 1?
Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon, Clemson and Tennessee currently make up the top five classes. Since the early signing period started with the 2018 class, Georgia in 2018 is the only team ranked outside the top five in the beginning of October that finished the cycle ranked No. 1 overall.
Alabama and Clemson finished No. 1 in 2019 and 2020, respectively, and both were in the top five of the rankings in October.
It seems likely this 2021 cycle will follow the trend of a top-five team finishing at No. 1 overall. It seems even more likely that either Alabama or Ohio State will finish at the top.
The Crimson Tide are currently No. 1, with 16 ESPN 300 commitments, three of whom are ranked as five-stars, including offensive tackle Tommy Brockermeyer (No. 2 overall), offensive tackle J.C. Latham (No. 8) and No. 12-ranked Dallas Turner, a defensive end.
Alabama doesn't have a ton of room left in the class, but the coaches are still after some big names, including ESPN 300 athlete Xavian Sorey, cornerback Ga'Quincy McKinstry and defensive end Tunmise Adeleye, among others.
Ohio State is right behind Alabama with 17 ESPN 300 commitments, including the No. 1-ranked prospect overall, defensive end Jack Sawyer, and fellow five-star running back TreVeyon Henderson. This class is loaded for Ohio State, with 11 of the 20 commitments ranked in the top 10 of their respective positions.
The Buckeyes also have big names on their board, including five-star defensive tackle J.T. Tuimoloau, ESPN 300 receiver Emeka Egbuka and offensive tackle Tristan Leigh.
This is going to be one of the tighter races to the finish that we have seen in quite some time, and it could come down to the wire to see where these teams end up.
One team outside the top five to watch is LSU at No. 6. The Tigers currently have 13 ESPN 300 commitments but are still trying to lure five-star defensive end Korey Foreman, ESPN 300 defensive tackle Maason Smith, McKinstry, Leigh and a handful of other top prospects.
If the Tigers can close strong, they might be able to sneak into the conversation, but there is a lot of work to do to get to that point.