With college football's early signing period here and gone for the 2021 cycle, and only 23 ESPN 300 recruits still uncommitted, it's time to look ahead to the next class.
The 2022 recruits have been waiting in the wings for their time in the spotlight, and as we start to turn the page on 2021, there is already plenty to focus on with this upcoming cycle.
Despite restrictions due to COVID-19, a few programs are already off to a fast start on the recruiting trail. The No. 1-ranked recruit has already committed, decommitted and made another commitment to a new school. And some of the top prospects in the class are starting to narrow their top lists.
Here are five storylines to watch with the 2022 class:
1. COVID-19 impact
The restrictions from COVID-19 affected the 2021 class, notably with a created dead period that started in March. It prevented recruits from taking any visits, participating in camps or hosting coaches for in-home visits.
Recruiting happens so fast, though, that the 2021 cycle wasn't greatly affected by the pandemic -- at least not as much as the next classes could be. Junior year is typically when prospects will take unofficial visits to campus and work at college camps to show their skills to coaches in person. And film from their junior year is a big piece of the overall evaluation picture.
Without being able to take visits, and with the dead period being pushed until at least April 15, these 2022 recruits will be missing out on a vital piece of their recruiting process. Some states have pushed their high school seasons to the spring, so those prospects have only freshman and sophomore film to show college coaches.
"I think the 2022s are an extraordinary group of kids that we've been communicating with, but it is so much different to talk to Mom through your phone than it is to sit in the same room with them," Ohio State defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs said in early December. "To me, one of the things that brings people to Ohio State is the feeling of family ... they're going to trust you with their son, they want to see that, they want to feel that in the same room, in my opinion, and I think that's really challenging."
Coombs and other coaches value the chance to see prospects in person, whether it's working with them hands-on in a camp, building the relationship or continuing to try to evaluate those recruits to see if they're a culture fit.
"I love to see kids in person. I love to evaluate them in person, I love to see them in their school environment. When I go to the school, I talk to the janitor and the lady who serves lunch in the cafeteria, not necessarily the football coach," Coombs said. "I want to know what this kid is like when it's not football and nothing's around. That's hard to do, right, you can't Zoom the janitor. So that part of it, that part of the experience and the full evaluation of what kind of people they are beyond just what you see on film, has been made incredibly difficult."
Those restrictions won't necessarily slow the process down, but if recruits aren't a fit culturally or don't develop into the player the coaches were hoping for, there could be even more transfers than in recent years.
Coaches already say they don't get enough time to evaluate recruits, so limiting a big piece of that process will only make it more difficult to identify the players who can help their teams in this 2022 class. It will also make it difficult for the prospects to build a strong relationship that makes them feel comfortable enough to commit to the school of their choice.
2. Ohio State's fast start
While Coombs would like to see prospects in person, it hasn't hindered Ohio State's recruiting efforts in 2022. The Buckeyes have the most ESPN Junior 300 prospects of any team, with eight.
The class is led by the No. 1 overall prospect, quarterback Quinn Ewers, which gives the Buckeyes three straight classes with a commitment from the No. 1 prospect, as wide receiver Julian Fleming signed with Ohio State in 2020 and defensive end Jack Sawyer in 2021.
Ewers, widely considered one of the best high school quarterbacks in the country regardless of class, is a Texas prospect who decommitted from the Longhorns and flipped to Ohio State in November.
What might be most impressive about this fast start is that six of the eight ESPN Jr. 300 commitments are ranked in the top 100, and seven are in the top 150.
Ohio State is currently in a battle for the No. 1-ranked class with Alabama in the 2021 cycle, leading to a February standoff for the top spot. With this start to the 2022 class, it seems as though Ryan Day and his staff will be vying for the No. 1 class in that cycle as well.
3. Penn State's turnaround
The Nittany Lions have the No. 27-ranked recruiting class overall through the early signing period and the No. 7-ranked class in the Big Ten. That is historically low for Penn State and for coach James Franklin.
"We have not recruited up to the standard we normally have," Franklin said in early September.
That would have been more alarming had he and his staff not gotten off to such a fast start in 2022.
As it stands, Penn State has the second-most ESPN Jr. 300 commitments in the cycle (seven) behind Ohio State. The staff already has three receivers and a quarterback, which are needs for the future.
Franklin and his staff struggled with in-state recruits in the 2021 cycle and didn't get a commitment from any of the eight ESPN 300 recruits from Pennsylvania. That has already improved in 2022, where the coaches now have four of the 10 in-state ESPN Jr. 300 recruits committed.
The other six in the top 300 have yet to announce a commitment, so that number could continue to rise.
"I think if you follow along closely, we probably have gotten more offers out now in the younger classes than we did in previous classes, and there's a variety of reasons for that," Franklin said after the early signing period. "An element of it is being a little more aggressive early on, and a little bit of it is, we feel like these upcoming classes have a deeper pool of players here in the state. ... We've got to hit on those guys, and it's challenging when you don't."
4. Position breakdown
Ewers is the top quarterback in a class that has seven in the top 50, eight in the top 100 and 23 in the ESPN 300 as a whole. Beyond Ewers, Maalik Murphy out of Gardena, California, is the highest-ranked uncommitted quarterback at No. 16 overall. Jacurri Brown, out of Valdosta, Georgia, is next at No. 20, followed by Ty Simpson at No. 27.
The class is heavy at wide receiver and offensive line; the two position groups make up 82 of the 300 recruits on the top list. There are 10 wide receivers and four offensive linemen in the top 50.
The receivers are led by Talyn Shettron, from Edmond, Oklahoma, who is committed to Oklahoma. It's no surprise the Sooners have the top-ranked receiver, just as they did in the 2021 and 2019 cycles. In fact, the coaches also have commitments from Jordan Hudson and Luther Burden, the Nos. 4- and 9-ranked wide receivers, respectively.
Twelve of the 41 ESPN Jr. 300 wide receiver prospects have already made a commitment. Florida has two, and Ohio State, North Carolina, LSU and Washington each have one.
The top uncommitted wide receivers are Shazz Preston, the No. 2-ranked wide receiver, from Saint James, Louisiana, and Evan Stewart from Frisco, Texas.
Defensive end is always a premium position, and there is no lack of ends in this class, as 32 are in the ESPN Jr. 300 -- 14 of whom are in the top 100 and seven in the top 50.
Georgia, Penn State, Iowa and Minnesota each have one defensive end committed, while the remaining 28 are uncommitted. The top three at the position are all uncommitted with Shemar Stewart, the No. 3 recruit overall, ranked the highest among them. Stewart recently released a top 10 that consists of Alabama, Arizona State, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Ohio State, Penn State and Texas A&M.
Aaron Wilson is right behind Stewart at No. 4 overall. Wilson is a 6-foot-2, 235-pound defensive end out of Maryland, and says he plans on releasing his top 12 in the beginning of the new year.
5. Who needs to see success in this class?
Texas needs to have a bounce-back year in recruiting. Amid rumors about coach Tom Herman's job security and decommitments from ESPN 300 athlete Billy Bowman Jr. (who signed with Oklahoma), ESPN 300 quarterback Jalen Milroe (who signed with Alabama) and wide receiver Quaydarius Davis (uncommitted), among others, the staff has the No. 16-ranked 2021 class.
Of the 43 in-state ESPN 300 recruits who have made a commitment, Texas signed eight, only one of whom was in the top 20 of the in-state rankings. The coaches missed on offensive tackle Tommy Brockermeyer, the No. 2-ranked recruit overall, and his twin brother, James, both Texas legacies.
The Longhorns aren't off to the best start in the 2022 class, either. Ewers flipped his commitment to Ohio State, and of the seven ESPN Jr. 300 recruits from Texas who have already made a commitment, two have chosen Oklahoma, two picked LSU, two picked Ohio State and one chose Texas.
Auburn is another team that needs to have a better class in 2022, but it's difficult to say if that will happen, because the program has not replaced fired head coach Gus Malzahn. The Tigers had the No. 24-ranked class in 2021, with only four ESPN 300 commitments.
Auburn already has three total commitments -- all cornerbacks -- in the 2022 class, two of which are ESPN Jr. 300 prospects.
Florida State also needs to pick things up, as the staff has the No. 28-ranked class in 2021 with four ESPN 300 commitments. The Seminoles have one ESPN Jr. 300 commit in 2022 with cornerback Travis Hunter (No. 19 overall) but are going to have to start landing top recruits consistently if they want to start competing in the ACC.