It has been an unusual recruiting cycle for college football's 2022 prospects, who were dealing with recruiting restrictions caused by COVID-19 until the NCAA lifted its dead period in June.
Those restrictions caused delays in visits and commitments and have ultimately impacted the recruiting cycle as a whole. Because of that, there are a large number of elite recruits uncommitted with only a few months left until the early signing period.
December will be here before we know it, but some of the country's top recruits are still taking visits and figuring out the best fits for them. As it stands, only four of the 13 five-star prospects are committed in the 2022 class.
We look at where all the five-stars stand, a prospect foregoing his senior season and Arch Manning's big performance in this week's recruiting notebook.
Five-star review
Florida State cornerback commit Travis Hunter, the No. 3 recruit overall, is the highest-ranked prospect who has committed. Cornerback Domani Jackson, a USC pledge, and offensive tackle Tyler Booker and defensive end Jeremiah Alexander, who both committed to Alabama, are the other two committed five-stars.
It will be interesting to see over the next few months if the number of committed five-stars actually shrinks. Jackson has taken a visit to Michigan, and the Wolverines would gladly take his commitment.
The Trojans are currently without a permanent head coach, which puts Jackson in a unique spot. His father, Randy, said his son will wait to see whom USC brings in as the new coach before making a decision either way, but he acknowledged the timing is going to be important.
Jackson is planning to sign in December, so if USC doesn't make a permanent hire before the early signing period, it could impact his final decision.
Hunter has been committed to Florida State since March 2020 and has not yet wavered. The Seminoles have struggled on the field, though, and other teams have shown interest in Hunter, including Georgia.
If Florida State can't show improvement on the field, it gives other teams more ammo to try to pull him away from his commitment.
As for the uncommitted five-stars, defensive tackle Walter Nolen leads the way at No. 1 overall in the rankings. He released a top three of Georgia, Tennessee and Texas A&M but recently visited Michigan. Nolen has spoken highly of Florida as well.
Defensive end Shemar Stewart released a top five in August of Clemson, Georgia, Miami, Ohio State and Texas A&M. He is expected to visit Georgia this weekend for the Dawgs' game against Arkansas.
Defensive tackle Gabe Brownlow-Dindy is ranked No. 5 overall and has Oklahoma and Texas A&M as his top schools.
Wide receiver Evan Stewart, ranked No. 7 overall, is the highest-ranked wide receiver in the country. He has Alabama, Florida, LSU and Texas, among others, on his list.
At No. 8 in the rankings, offensive tackle Devon Campbell has a top five of Alabama, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas and USC. Linebacker Harold Perkins is right behind Campbell at No. 9 and has Texas A&M, Texas and LSU on his list, but he doesn't yet have a commitment date announced.
Receiver Luther Burden, the No. 11 prospect, had been committed to Oklahoma, but he decommitted in August. He now lists Alabama, Georgia and Missouri and is expected to commit on Oct. 19. He is out of East St. Louis High School in Illinois, so Missouri is in the mix, and Georgia is pushing hard as well.
Zach Rice is the third offensive tackle ranked as a five-star, and at No. 12 overall, Rice will also be making his commitment in the next few months. He has a top list of North Carolina and Virginia along with Alabama, Notre Dame and Ohio State.
Wide receiver Shazz Preston is the final five-star prospect at No. 13 overall. He is a 5-foot-11, 180-pound prospect out of Saint James, Louisiana. Preston released his top four with Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Texas on the list.
Outside of Burden, none of the uncommitted five-stars have released a commitment date. In a normal recruiting cycle, we are monitoring decommitments, flips and late changes from top recruits. But this cycle, we could still be monitoring the initial commitments for quite a few five-stars.
Evan Stewart foregoing senior season
Five-star wide receiver Evan Stewart said on Tuesday that he will forgo his senior season at Liberty High School (Texas) to prepare for college.
Put it in gods hands❤️🩹🙏🏾. pic.twitter.com/umTBjJYBvq
— 𝓮𝓿𝓪𝓷 𝓼𝓽𝓮𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓽 (@0fficial_evan) September 28, 2021
In his announcement, Stewart said he is thankful for the experience but that he wants to mentally and physically prepare himself for the next level. Stewart said in a later tweet that he has been trying not to focus on name, image and likeness deals, but that people around him have made that difficult and his love for the game was fading.
Just thinking, I vividly remember saying I could care less about NIL Bc I'm going to play football. That has been the plan and it has never changed, it was just that certain people were making it very hard to and my love for the game was fading day by day, so I chose to seek my❤️
— 𝓮𝓿𝓪𝓷 𝓼𝓽𝓮𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓽 (@0fficial_evan) September 28, 2021
Stewart isn't the first high school prospect to forego his senior season, as more recruits have done the same over the past few years. Ohio State freshmen Jack Sawyer and TreVeyon Henderson did the same last year. ESPN 300 running back Jaydon Blue, a Texas commit, announced in May he would skip his senior season as well.
Quarterback Quinn Ewers reclassified from the 2022 class to 2021 and enrolled early at Ohio State. Defensive back Tony Grimes also left high school early and enrolled at North Carolina in what should have been his senior year. Stewart isn't enrolling in college, so his situation is not quite like theirs.
Arch Manning's big performance
Isidore Newman High School (Louisiana) quarterback Arch Manning, the No. 2-ranked prospect in the class of 2023, put on a show in a 49-21 win over Metairie Park Country Day on Friday.
Arch Manning accounts for 5 TDs in rout! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zxjXMR3ByY
— MaxPreps (@MaxPreps) September 25, 2021
Manning had 238 yards passing and four touchdowns through the air to go with one rushing touchdown and 64 yards on the ground. His team is now 2-0 on the season, and Manning has started taking visits, starting with Georgia this past weekend.
He is expected to visit a handful of other teams over the next few weeks, including Alabama this weekend for the game against Ole Miss, which is significant because his grandfather Archie and uncle Eli both went to Ole Miss.