There is plenty to talk about in college football recruiting this week, with reports of the NCAA's oversight committee potentially increasing the 25-player signing limit, Big 12 expansion and what it means for recruiting, top players releasing top lists and some game atmospheres helping in recruiting.
All of that and more is discussed in this week's recruiting notebook, starting with Georgia fans' attempt to sway quarterback Arch Manning to Athens.
Georgia wants Arch Manning (and so does everyone else)
Manning is one of the most sought-after recruits in the 2023 class -- and not just because he's Peyton and Eli's nephew.
Manning, the No. 2 recruit overall and the top quarterback in his class, already has offers from Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas, among others. He hasn't said much about his recruitment and is now starting to take visits.
So it's a big deal when coaches can get him on campus the way Georgia did this past weekend for its game against South Carolina. Fans knew he'd be there and went the extra mile to let him know they want him to choose their school, painting their backs to spell out "We want Arch."
The red carpet was rolled out for Manning, but he still has other trips to take, including Alabama on Oct. 2, Texas on Oct. 16, Ole Miss on Oct. 23 and Clemson on Oct. 30.
Luther Burden releases top three
Luther Burden is the No. 2 receiver in the 2022 class and the No. 11 prospect overall. He's a 6-foot-1, 195-pound prospect out of East Saint Louis, Illinois.
Burden had been committed to Oklahoma since October of last year, but he decommitted from the Sooners in August. He released his new top three this past week: Alabama, Georgia and Missouri.
top3 @Hayesfawcett3 @AlabamaFTBL @MizzouFootball @GeorgiaFootball pic.twitter.com/Qy7q8eIJXk
— luther (@lutherburden3) September 17, 2021
Georgia potentially has the upper hand as of now, but Burden hasn't yet announced a commitment date or when he wants to end his process.
ESPN 300 QB decommits
It's rare to have an uncommitted ESPN 300 quarterback this late in the cycle, so Justyn Martin decommitting from Cal is newsworthy.
He's the No. 273-ranked prospect overall out of Inglewood, California, and had been committed to Cal since January, but he announced he was reopening his recruitment Tuesday.
My recruitment is 100% open. pic.twitter.com/owyLh2OKV4
— K I N G J M A R T (@justyn_martin8) September 21, 2021
He most recently took a visit to Ole Miss and has a visit to UCLA planned as well. Of the 22 ESPN 300 quarterbacks this cycle, Martin is the only one who is uncommitted.
Top 2023 WR ready to commit
The No. 1 wide receiver in the 2023 class, DeAndre Moore Jr., will announce his commitment on Friday. He is down to Alabama, Florida State, Oklahoma, Oregon and USC.
The Commitment. @Coach_Norvell @CoachDee_USC @coach_cristobal @LincolnRiley pic.twitter.com/slDOtXeaDx
— ᴅᴍᴏ. (@DeandreMooreJr) September 17, 2021
Moore is the No. 11 prospect overall, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound recruit from Los Alamitos High School in Los Alamitos, California. It should be no surprise that Oklahoma is firmly in the mix and very well could be the choice Friday.
Not just because Moore is teammates with Oklahoma quarterback commit Malachi Nelson, but because the Sooners have done exceptionally well recruiting wide receivers in the past, signing the No. 1 receiver, Mario Williams, in the 2021 class, ESPN 300 receiver Marvin Mims in the 2020 class and Jadon Haselwood, the No. 1 receiver in 2019.
The coaches have had three decommitments from ESPN 300 wide receivers in 2022, however, with Burden, Jordan Hudson and Talyn Shettron all backing off their commitments. As it stands, Oklahoma has Robert Spears-Jennings committed in 2022, but despite being ranked as a receiver, he is committed to play defensive back for Oklahoma.
With no ESPN 300 receivers committed in 2022, the coaches have two ESPN Junior 300 receivers committed in 2023 with Brandon Inniss and Makai Lemon. Moore would be an excellent addition and help offset the three decommitments in the 2022 cycle.
Big 12 expansion and what it means
The Big 12 has extended invitations to Cincinnati, Houston, UCF and BYU to join the conference after Oklahoma and Texas announced they would be leaving for the SEC.
Under the circumstances, that was probably one of the more favorable outcomes for the conference, but it doesn't mean this won't have negative aftereffects going forward. From a recruiting standpoint, losing Oklahoma and Texas was a big blow.
The two programs brought national attention and national prospects to the conference year in and year out. They were the dominant forces of the Big 12 when it came to recruiting, and with those two teams gone, it's a completely different conference.
In the past five recruiting classes, the Big 12 has signed 162 ESPN 300 recruits combined. Of those 162 prospects, Oklahoma and Texas accounted for 113 of them. So, two teams were responsible for nearly 70% of the conference's ESPN 300 prospects.
Those total numbers were already low compared to other Power 5 conferences as is. In the same time span, the Pac-12 signed 207 top-300 recruits, the ACC signed 245, the Big Ten had 274 and the SEC had 538.
During the same time period, UCF, Houston, BYU and Cincinnati signed a combined seven ESPN 300 recruits. If we substitute those four teams in for Texas and Oklahoma, the Big 12 would have signed a total of 56 ESPN 300 recruits, 218 fewer than the Big Ten and 482 fewer than the SEC.
The number of ESPN 300 recruits signed is not the be-all, end-all for recruiting, but there is a correlation to performance and talent. The Big 12 will also lose the national attention that Texas and Oklahoma brought, and while adding the four teams was a good move for the Big 12 given the circumstances, it is far from a long-term fix that can keep the conference viable, especially on the recruiting trail.
How important is increasing the 25 initial counter limit?
Todd Berry, director of the American Football Coaches Association, confirmed to ESPN that the Division I football oversight committee is considering a one-year waiver that would allow football programs to go over the 25-player signing limit.
The move would help provide some relief for coaches looking to fill roster spots from players that have transferred out of the program. As it stands, coaches are limited to 25 initial counters per year.
That number includes high school prospects and transfers coming in to the program. If a coach signs 25 initials between his high school recruiting class and a few transfers, then after the February signing period has players transfer out, that coach is not able to fill those roster spots.
Even if they are under the 85-scholarship limit, because they have reached the 25-counter limit, those scholarships are wasted. That has increasingly become a problem as more and more players are entering the transfer portal.
Coaches and personnel directors have become more concerned about how they will keep numbers at a healthy level if they're not able to get those scholarships back, so this proposal is a welcome change for many programs.
"There are so many teams, I'm thinking of Tennessee right now, who get these sanctions and then they get this new coaching staff and all these guys transferred out. It's going take them a while to get back to that 85 number, to have a full roster of scholarship athletes," one Power 5 personnel director said. "Just because the 25 [initial counters], it'd be almost impossible for them to replace seniors, plus all the guys that are gone, that left last year. So, I think it's going to be really good for everyone just being able to make sure you can get up to your 85, so you have quality depth of players, and being able to replace those guys that do leave."
Even schools such as Notre Dame, which hasn't dealt with a ton of turnover, and coach Brian Kelly believe this is a positive for college football.
"It's compensatory picks, I guess, right. You lose somebody, you get somebody back, I don't know that it impacts us that severely," Kelly said. "We've had some guys in the transfer portal, but they're generally getting their degrees and then moving on, so that doesn't generally occur at mid-semester for us. So, I like the flexibility, I think it's a balancing act, certainly, that the NCAA is looking at right now. I'd support the legislation, I don't know how impactful it will be for us."
It may not be a perfect solution, but it's getting coaches back on the right track. Without knowing the exact number of roster spots they'll need to replace, some coaches were planning to take fewer high school prospects in this class in case players transfer out unexpectedly.
That would have had a ripple effect on high school prospects who normally would have had a scholarship spot and wouldn't if a coach is saving it for an extra initial counter.
"It seems to be the consensus really around here is just let us sign up to the 85. Take the hard count away, take the initial counter away, all that stuff signing forward, signing backward, all that stuff gets so crazy," the personnel director said. "I think once you can find a way to sign up to 85, whether that's signing 30 kids in a class, 22 kids one class, or whatever it is, I think that's the best way to do this. What's being proposed, with replacing the seven transfers, I think that's getting there.
"I think seeing how that works for a year will be good to see if that's getting teams more even and seeing how people can manage those rosters."
Teams that helped themselves in recruiting
Penn State hosting Auburn with a White Out at night proved to be an incredible see-it-to-believe-it atmosphere. That's how Penn State quarterback commit Drew Allar felt going into his visit this past weekend. Although he's committed to the Nittany Lions, he had never been to a Penn State game and got to experience first-hand what a White Out is like.
"It was kind of unreal and indescribable in a way just because, obviously a lot of people watch the game and see a lot about it and just the atmosphere, but it's totally different when you're in the crowd and on the field," Allar said. "You can just feel the excitement and energy that the fans have and the students have for Penn State football. Even before the game, I've never seen so much tailgating before, it's pretty crazy."
Allar said that type of game, with Penn State coming out on top, and the atmosphere, is the exact situation that can help a school with uncommitted prospects. He said it can help the committed prospects to reassure them that they made the right choice, but for the uncommitted recruits, it shows them all that Penn State has to offer.
"I think it gives them a visualization of what it means to play football at Penn State and be a Penn State football player, just because there was like 110,000 people there," Alar said. "So, I mean there's so much investment in the Penn State football program and even the coaching staff. I know all the coaches will walk around in the waiting area they all have the recruits in, just talking to everybody. I think they can really get a sense of what it means to the coaches, and just the family atmosphere they bring to the program, and just how easy all the coaches are to talk to and just be, be yourself around them really."
Georgia is another team that continues to help itself in recruiting with big wins and big-game atmosphere. In addition to Manning, the coaches had a handful of other top prospects on campus as well.
ESPN 300 offensive tackle Earnest Greene III, the No. 82 prospect overall, was in attendance. The staff also used the game to get ahead in recruiting, hosting Jadyn Davis, one of the top quarterbacks in the 2024 class. ESPN Junior 300 corner Kayin Lee was among a ton of other big targets on hand.
Having that many big-name recruits in attendance at once created an exciting atmosphere. The fact that Georgia beat South Carolina in convincing fashion helped as well.
Georgia is ranked No. 7 in the 2022 class rankings and has a real opportunity to continue rising. If the play on the field stays consistent and Georgia can keep putting together exciting visits for prospects, the staff is going to continue putting together top classes.
Georgia already has four ESPN Junior 300 commitments and should be in contention for the top class in that cycle as well.