College football's early signing period in December is fast approaching. There are only 41 ESPN 300 recruits who are uncommitted, and quite a few teams are nearing the wrap-up stages of their recruiting classes.
Some of the top programs have already separated themselves in the race for a top-10 class, including Alabama and Ohio State, which are jockeying for the No. 1 spot.
There are a few teams, however, that are still trying to land some of their top targets and which have fallen behind in the process -- teams that either need the help, are typically near the top of the rankings or have been in a rut for a few recruiting cycles and need to pick it up.
Here is a look at five programs that need to step up on the recruiting trail down the stretch.
Texas Longhorns
The Longhorns top this list because of what has transpired over the past few weeks and, really, over the past few classes. The biggest news was when the No. 1-ranked prospect in the 2022 class, quarterback Quinn Ewers, decommitted from Texas last week.
It was jarring not only given that Ewers is the top prospect in next year's class, but also because Ewers is an in-state prospect who said it was a dream to play for Texas when he initially committed in August. The next day, ESPN Junior 300 wide receiver Phaizon Wilson, the No. 243-ranked recruit in 2022, decommitted as well.
In the 2021 cycle, Texas has seen a total of five decommitments, all from in-state prospects. ESPN 300 quarterback Jalen Milroe flipped from Texas to Alabama, and more recently, wide receiver Billy Bowman Jr., the No. 13 prospect in the state, also decommitted. The Longhorns have seen mostly bad news on the recruiting trail in the past few weeks, and this 2021 class is part of a trend over the past three classes.
Texas held the No. 3 class in 2018 and had commitments from the top three recruits in the state with B.J. Foster, DeMarvion Overshown and Caden Sterns. The staff had commitments from five of the top six in-state recruits and nine of the top 15. It has steadily declined ever since.
In 2019, the Longhorns were ranked fifth, but had commitments from only two of the top 10 in-state recruits. The staff ended up signing only four of the 37 ESPN 300 recruits from Texas in that class, while Texas A&M signed 11, including the top-ranked in-state recruit in offensive tackle Kenyon Green.
The ranking fell again in 2020 when Texas finished with the No. 9 class and only three of the top 10 in-state recruits. While Texas landed 13 of the 45 ESPN 300 in-state recruits, Texas A&M had four and Oklahoma had six. Alabama had two of the state's top six prospects.
In the current 2021 cycle, Texas has the No. 15 class and only seven of the 38 in-state recruits ranked in the ESPN 300. The No. 1 recruit in the state, who is also the No. 2-ranked prospect overall, offensive lineman Tommy Brockermeyer, is a Texas legacy recruit who committed to Alabama with his brother, center James Brockermeyer, the No. 96 prospect overall.
As it stands, Texas has only one of the top 20 in-state recruits committed.
Penn State Nittany Lions
Coach James Franklin has openly admitted this 2021 class is not up to the standards he wants to have at Penn State. That wasn't a knock on the recruits who are committed, but rather an open admission to not being satisfied with a class that's ranked No. 27 overall. It ranks seventh in the Big Ten, behind Minnesota, Iowa, Maryland, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio State.
Similar to Texas, Penn State has seen a decline since 2018, when the Nittany Lions had the No. 4 class overall. They dropped to 13th in 2019, 12th in 2020 and are now outside the top 25.
The staff has signed nine ESPN 300 commitments in each of past two classes and had 13 in the 2018 class, including five-stars Micah Parsons and Justin Shorter. However, Penn State has only three ESPN 300 commitments in the 2021 class.
Offensive lineman Landon Tengwall is ranked the highest at No. 87, followed by Jaylen Reed (No. 250) and Zakee Wheatley (No. 276). Similar to Texas, Penn State is struggling at keeping top in-state prospects home.
Of the six ESPN 300 recruits from Pennsylvania who have made a commitment, none is committed to Penn State. That includes linebacker Jeremiah Trotter Jr., the top in-state prospect, who chose Clemson; quarterback Kyle McCord and wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., who both committed to Ohio State; and offensive lineman Nolan Rucci, who chose Wisconsin.
Penn State has a shot at landing safety Derrick Davis, who is the No. 2 recruit in the state, but it is still a disappointing haul with so much talent nearby.
It is also concerning that Ohio State has landed more ESPN 300 prospects from Pennsylvania (three) than Penn State (two) from 2019-21 so far.
Franklin has tried addressing that, and the Nittany Lions are already off to a fast start in the 2022 cycle with three ESPN Junior 300 commitments from within the state in offensive lineman Drew Shelton (No. 97), defensive end Ken Talley (No. 103) and wide receiver Anthony Ivey (No. 226).
That 2022 class is off to a better start than the current 2021 class, with six ESPN Junior 300 commitments. If the coaches can keep that momentum and bounce back, it will make this class a blip on the radar, and maybe it lights a fire under the coaches to keep their foot on the gas pedal.
Florida State Seminoles
It's hard to remember that Florida State had the No. 1-ranked class in 2016, because it hasn't been close in the past four cycles. From 2014 to 2017, the Seminoles didn't finish outside the top four in the rankings.
They finished No. 11 in 2018 and haven't ranked higher than 19th since.
With so much talent in Florida, it seems difficult to not finish in the top 15 every year. Much of this has to do with the coaching turnover and the product on the field, but at some point, Florida State needs to start recruiting better.
Only six of Florida State's 16 total commitments in the 2021 class are ranked in the ESPN 300. The staff had seven in 2020, and those numbers don't compare to what Florida State had only a few years ago. Jimbo Fisher and his staff had 11 ESPN 300 commitments, including three five-stars, in the 2015 class. Fisher had 16 ESPN 300 commitments in the 2016 class and 13 ESPN 300 recruits, including three five-stars, in 2017.
Recruiting has been difficult for newer coaches this year with the restrictions in place amid the COVID-19 pandemic, so Mike Norvell is still trying to navigate this process. But ranked 19th overall in the 2021 cycle, Florida State needs more help, especially after in-state ESPN 300 linebacker Branden Jennings decommitted on Oct. 12 and committed to Michigan four days later.
Of the 47 in-state ESPN 300 recruits, only three are committed to Florida State. The highest-ranked recruit from Florida committed to the Seminoles is corner Omarion Cooper, who is the No. 20-ranked prospect in the state. It's a big disparity compared to Miami's nine in-state ESPN 300 commitments and Florida's eight.
Norvell and his staff need to be able to turn the product around on the field, and once that happens, they'll have a better shot at landing some of the better in-state talent. While the No. 19 recruiting class isn't terrible, it's not where Florida State used to be and not where it needs to be if it wants to compete with Clemson and other top programs.
Auburn Tigers
The Tigers currently have the No. 18 recruiting class overall, which, similar to Florida State, is not terrible but not ideal given where they are used to being in the rankings.
From the 2014 through the 2017 recruiting classes, Auburn never finished below ninth in the rankings. The team finished No. 12 in 2018 and 2019 and then was able to get up to No. 7 in the 2020 cycle, a class headlined by running back Tank Bigsby, who is already helping the team.
Auburn's 2020 class had 26 total commits, 13 ranked in the ESPN 300. But in the current cycle, the staff has only 13 total commitments, six of whom are ranked in the ESPN 300, both low given that the early signing period is six weeks away. Its six ESPN 300 commitments is behind SEC opponents Alabama, Tennessee, LSU, Florida, Georgia and Texas A&M.
Auburn missed out on ESPN 300 cornerback Ga'Quincy McKinstry, the No. 2 prospect in Alabama, who committed to the Crimson Tide, but its class still has prospects who can help out on offense, including quarterback Dematrius Davis and running back Armoni Goodwin. That said, there isn't much time for Auburn to add the pieces it needs to bring this class up near the top 10.
Stanford Cardinal
Though Stanford isn't expected to compete for top-10 classes and five-star prospects annually, its recruiting is not up to where it usually is, and the program is in a unique spot even for itself. As it stands, Stanford's class is one of the worst in the Pac-12.
Granted, recruiting at Stanford is very difficult because of its admissions process and academic requirements. Still, it finished with the No. 13-ranked class in 2016 and No. 14 in 2017. That dropped to No. 38 in 2018. It finished No. 20 and No. 21, respectively, in the 2019-20 cycles, but on the heels of a 4-8 season in 2019, the Cardinal are currently outside of the top 40.
Coaches signed seven ESPN 300 commitments in the 2019 class, and that number dropped to five in 2020. There is only one ESPN 300 commitment in the 2021 cycle in quarterback Ari Patu, ranked 240th overall.
Patu is the only four-star prospect in the class, a stark contrast from 2020, when the staff pulled in five-star offensive tackle Myles Hinton and seven recruits ranked as four-stars, including athlete E.J. Smith, the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith.
ESPN's class rankings don't go past 40 right now; that will expand as the early signing period nears, but Stanford likely won't be ranked in the top 50, either.
With a little over a month to go until the early signing period, Stanford has only 12 commitments in this class. There isn't much time left and there aren't many top recruits on the board still considering the Cardinal. This could be the start of a downward spiral for Stanford if the team can't put up a better record on the field this season.