Category: Football

LSU’s 2023 class features 15 early enrollees

LSU will welcome a significant portion of its class early.

Speaking on early signing day, [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] said LSU’s 2023 class will feature 15 early enrollees. However, the group won’t participate in bowl prep.

It’s significantly more than last year, when LSU welcomed just five prospects early. This years early enrollees include but are not limited to WR [autotag]Jalen Brown[/autotag], TE [autotag]Mac Markway[/autotag], and DE [autotag]DaShawn Womack[/autotag].

Getting Womack on campus early is huge as LSU will need time to develop pass rushers following the departure of [autotag]B.J. Ojulari[/autotag] and [autotag]Ali Gaye[/autotag].

The early enrollees won’t be the only newcomers on campus come spring ball. Kelly said he expects LSU to sign 8-10 transfers as well. Kelly mentioned that the contributions of LSU’s true freshmen in 2022 gave him confidence in playing more true freshmen going forward.

LSU is set to return a lot in 2023. Getting to campus early will give these younger guys a chance to compete with that veteran talent. LSU needed to rely on true freshmen this fall, but Kelly and his staff have done a good job building this roster to where that won’t be necessary in 2023.

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Signing Day Superlatives: Which Ohio State signees will have major impacts

This class is has a ton of talent #GoBucks

For most of the recruiting world, Christmas used to be in February. That all changed when the early signing period was introduced. It is much closer to the actual holiday, and on Wednesday recruits who have been committed to their respective schools can finally make it official.

For [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag], it once again signed a top recruiting class, headlined by multiple players who could have gone anywhere in the country to play football.

There are plenty of impact players all over this class, and I took a crack at which ones will make what kind of impact during their Ohio State careers.

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Big Ten football recruiting rankings after the early signing period

A look at the ranking of all the Big Ten football teams’ recruiting classes after day one of the early signing period. #B1G

The first day of the 2023 early signing period is in the books for college football, and we’ve seen this new timeline result in the majority of high school kids choosing to put pen to paper in December since it was instituted. It was no different for Ohio State and the rest of its Big Ten brethren on Wednesday.

The Buckeyes signed 20 players to the 2023 recruiting class, one that looks like a top 10 class once again and arguably at the top of the Big Ten recruiting classes.

But how did the rest of the Big Ten shake out when all the dust settled on a major, major day that goes a long way toward laying the foundation for what each program will become over the next few years?

Here’s a look at ranking all of the Big Ten teams and where they stand after the first day of the 2023 early signing period in the high-stakes game of college football recruiting. All data is taken from 247Sports.

James Franklin likes athletic flexibility of Class of 2023 linebackers

Penn State’s Class of 2023 adds some star power at the linebacker position

Few schools love recruiting and developing linebackers the way Penn State does. And Linebacker U added quite the trio of linebackers in the Class of 2023 with the additions of [autotag]Tony Rojas[/autotag], [autotag]Kaveion Keys[/autotag], and [autotag]Ta’Mere Robinson[/autotag]. If there is one thing [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] likes about his three new linebacker recruits, it is the athleticism that allows for positional flexibility moving forward.

“[We] really like to recruit kind of three outside backers, then whoever makes sense at the end to move to Mike, do that,” Franklin said when asked about the new linebackers in the Class of 2023 in his early signing day press conference on Wednesday. “You really don’t want to play with an old school true Mike on the field. You’d rather have three outside linebackers that create position flexibility.”

Did Penn State accomplish that in the Class of 2023? Franklin seems to think so.

“We’ve got three guys that we think could really play all three positions,” Franklin said. Franklin went on to suggest Robinson would probably be the one most likely to be molded into the Mike position on the defense.

“If I had to kind of put it on the board right now, Ta’Mere probably at Mike. With his size, he’s a big, big, big young man, but has the athleticism and movement and leadership qualities,” Franklin explained.

“The good thing is we have flexibility with all three of those guys,” Franklin said, referring to Robinson, Rojas, and Keys. “All three have really good tape. All three of them are really good students. I know they’re excited about the opportunity of coming here, coming in and competing in what’s going to be one of the better linebacker rooms in the country, especially the way we’ve been able to get Abdul [Carter] to develop in his first year on campus.”

If nothing else, the future of the linebacker position appears to be pretty well-stocked for the Nittany Lions in the coming years. With Abdul Carter coming off a stellar freshman season and the addition of these three new potential options to work into the mix, Linebacker-U will be living up to its namesake.

“It’s going to be a fun position to watch over the next year,” Franklin said. Yes, it certainly should be.

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What positions will James Franklin focus on after the early signing period?

What positions does James Franklin still want to address after the early signing period?

Penn State officially inked 22 new members to its Class of 2023 with the start of the early signing period on Wednesday. The early signing period closes after Friday so there could still be more to come for Penn State in an official capacity before the holiday weekend, but [autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] can now focus on plugging the last holes on the roster that need to be plugged between now and the traditional national signing day in February. On Wednesday, Franklin outlined what is next on the agenda for the Nittany Lions from a recruiting perspective.

“If you look on the offensive side of the ball, we’d like to get another offensive lineman if we could, specifically an offensive tackle, or a guy that’s like the guys that we signed in this class that have position flexibility,” Franklin mentioned. Penn State signed a pair of offensive linemen studs with J’ven Williams and Alex Birchmeier to set a tone for this recruiting class in the trenches. But as Penn State has seen the last few years, you can never have a lack of depth on the offensive line later in the year.

“I’d like to see us get another offensive lineman and then wide receiver,” Franklin said. “That’s a position where I could see us signing a couple more guys at that position just to make sure that we have the competition at that position on a similar scale that we do at tight end and running back. I think that’s going to be important for us moving forward.”

Penn State will be going into 2023 with the loss of Parker Washington and Mitchell Tinsley, two of the team’s top receiving targets in 2022. Washington declared for the NFL with a year of eligibility remaining and Tinsley is exhausting his eligibility as a graduate.

Penn State added one four-star wide receiver in its Class of 2023 haul with Carmelo Taylor out of Virginia. The Class of 2022 added some young players with good potential as well with Kaden Saunders, Anthony Ivey, Omari Evans, and Tyler Johnson.

The good news for Penn State is there are still some players out there to be signed or added through the transfer portal that can help Franklin address these two needs. And given Franklin’s comments, you can fully expect Penn State will be active in those areas moving forward.

“Offensive tackles that are still out there, wide receivers that are still out there, we’ll be in pursuit,” Franklin said.

Franklin is also keeping an eye out for more bodies on the defensive side of the ball as well, specifically on the defensive line. Franklin said he would like to add another defensive tackle or defensive end to pad the depth a bit more on the line. But Franklin is also focused on the defensive back position as well as Conrad Hussey has not signed with a school yet despite being committed to Penn State. Hussey was reportedly set to announce his final college decision at an event on Wednesday evening but that decision remains in limbo as Miami and Florida State have appeared to enter the conversation.

“Depending on how this thing plays out in the back end at defensive back, we could be in the need for one or two more defensive backs,” Franklin said.

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Thoughts on Ohio State’s disappointing early signing period results

It might have seemed like this was a bad day, but it wasn’t all bad #GoBucks

We all know how yesterday went, in the short term the Buckeyes looked very much like one of the losers of the day. Not only did they not get a verbal from either of the two 5-star prospects they were finalists for, [autotag]Matayo Uiagalelei [/autotag] or [autotag]Damon Wilson[/autotag], they lost [autotag]Kayin Lee[/autotag] as he flipped to [autotag]Auburn[/autotag].

To make matters worse, defensive back commit [autotag]Jayden Bonsu[/autotag] is still in the air, having tweeted he signed but no indication with who, [autotag]Miami (FL)[/autotag] being the other potential choice. Oh and transfer tackle [autotag]Ajani Cornelius[/autotag] chose Oregon over the Buckeyes as well.

It might have seemed like the sky was falling, but that’s not all that we can take away from the start to the early signing period. Find out what I thought about this disappointment and direction of [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] Football.

(Edit: as of 8:32 a.m. it has been reported by multiple outlets that Bonsu has officially signed with Ohio State)

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Signing Day Superlatives: Which Notre Dame commits will have major impacts

This Irish class is loaded with talent

It wasn’t how [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] envisioned his first full recruiting class to end as the loss of [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] and [autotag]Jayden Limar[/autotag] to Oregon put a bit of a damper on what should be viewed as a very impressive initial group.

The 2023 recruiting cycle will always be remembers as Freeman’s first, a collection of 24 players who can make a very big impact in the future for the program. There will be more than a few stars from this class and since they are now officially member of the [autotag]Notre Dame[/autotag] program, we can not dream of what they will accomplish on the field.

Here is my best guess as which players will have major contributions for the Irish in the years to come.

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Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeFChen

Ranking every Big Ten team by recruiting scores after early signing period

Teams are built in December now, not February.

Wednesday provided a big day across all of college football as the bulk of high school recruits across the country signed national letters of intent to their schools of choice.

Of course, there’s still national signing day in February, but, nowadays, classes are built in December.

Some teams did better than others. In fact, the team on top of the Big Ten actually didn’t have a very good signing day, but given how prolific the class is, it still is above the rest.

Using the 247Sports composite, here is how each Big Ten team ranks against the others with the opening day of the early signing period in the books.

WATCH: Dan Lanning puts a perfect cap on eventful Ducks’ signing day

No better way to celebrate a historic signing day than with Ice Cube and a cigar.

You ever have a long, very successful day of work that you feel proud of? Maybe you had a big presentation, or there was an event that you were planning for, grinding it out for weeks on weeks in order to be prepared, and you ended up crushing it after all was said and done.

When that happens, you feel like blowing off some steam, don’t you?

That appears to have been the case for Oregon Ducks’ head coach Dan Lanning after what will go down as one of the best signing days in school history on Wednesday.

Lanning orchestrated a recruiting palooza that landed a pair of 5-star recruits in Eugene, as well as a total of four flips to go on top of a loaded class of commitments that were already locked in with the Ducks.

After seeing his team be named the biggest winner of the day by numerous recruiting websites, Lanning sat back on Wednesday night and put his feet up, deservedly so.

What did that look like?

The Oregon coach gave us a glimpse, with a cigar in his hand and Ice Cube playing in the background.

Wisconsin lands a signing day surprise as a WR flips to the Badgers

The Badgers land a 2023 WR

It was a wild recruiting journey for Trech Kekahuna, but one that ultimately came full circle. After initially committing to Wisconsin, the three-star wide receiver understandably decommited in November once the Badgers decided to make a coaching change.

Fast forward to December, and the Bishop Gorman product was ready to go to Arizona. Kekahuna committed to the Wildcats on December 17. What happened in the four days between then and now? Well, whatever went down led the west coast wide receiver back to Madison.

Kekahuna ultimately signed with the Badgers on Wednesday after initially committing to Wisconsin.

The Honolulu native totaled 1,240 yards and 22 touchdowns during his senior season at Bishop Gorman:

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