Category: Recruiting

College Football Morning Announcements for May 20

Good morning and happy Wednesday. Miss recent college football headlines? Get caught up right here, right now!

Happy Wednesday and welcome to the midweek.  I know it’s been a few days since I’ve gotten one of these episodes of the podcast out – sometimes a leaky roof and flooded garage will cause things like that, though.

Subscribe to Nick Shepkowski’s CFB Morning Announcements on Apple Podcasts

In this edition of the College Football Morning Announcements:

[protected-iframe id=”24cd66c901778cf00c694659d124061d-162776928-7793168″ info=”https://anchor.fm/cfnpodcast/embed/episodes/Ep–8—Notre-Dame-to-Reopen–No–1-ILB-Commits–Issues-for-SEC-Dynasty–Teams-Under-Pressure-in-20-eeab8d” width=”400px” height=”102px” frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]

Notre Dame set to re-open for students but school president non-committal to football in the fall

A top linebacker makes his college choice as the rich get richer

An SEC dynasty just fired all of their coaches

And which teams are under the most pressure to win in 2020?

Georgia’s Eric Stokes recruits 4-star CB Nyland Green to UGA

Georgia football CB Eric Stokes sent a tweet recruiting 4-star CB Nyland Green to UGA.

Georgia players have been on a roll on Twitter recruiting some of the nation’s top talent to UGA.

On Tuesday, UGA cornerback Eric Stokes sent a tweet to 2021 4-star cornerback Nyland Green, recruiting him to Georgia.

Stokes is a former 3-star recruit out of Eastside High School in Covington, Georgia. Green, also from Covington, attends Newton High School.

Green is rated as the nation’s No. 89 overall player and the No. 8 ranked cornerback in his class.

[vertical-gallery id=28511]

Four-star WR Isaiah Brevard updates his top schools

Four-star wide receiver Isaiah Brevard has named his top seven schools. Brevard plays football at Southaven High School.

Four-star wide receiver Isaiah Brevard has named his top seven schools. Brevard plays football at Southaven High School in Southaven, Mississippi. He’s one of the top players in Mississippi that’s a member of the class of 2021.

He announced his top seven via Twitter:

Brevard’s latest list of top schools includes: Texas A&M, Georgia, Missouri,  Oregon, Florida State, Penn State, and Baylor. He’s projected to end up with either the Oregon Ducks or the Ole Miss Rebels (unlikely since they aren’t in his top seven).

Ole Miss, Nebraska, Louisville, Memphis, and Kentucky have all been removed from his top ten. Brevard appears to be favoring traditional powerhouses, which certainly helps out Kirby Smart and Georgia’s chances at securing his talents.

Kirby Smart and Georgia have several commitments in the class of 2021. UGA is doing an excellent job securing top talent in the Peach State for the class. Georgia landed a commitment from four-star defensive end Elijah Jeudy. Who will be next to commit to the University of Georgia?

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

MSU Football offers hot 2023 prospect Caleb Downs out of Georgia

Michigan State is one of many teams to offer 2023 prospect Caleb Downs in the last few weeks.

[jwplayer gcEn4Lgq]

College football recruiting has become a crazy part of the culture of American football. One thing about it that I always find fascinating is when a freshman or sophomore in high school gets an offer years ahead of his potential enrollment. Some of those prized prospects’ recruitment process can heat up a very young age if they have talent and pedigree, and that is the case with 2023 safety Caleb Downs, a safety out of Mill Creek who Michigan State offered on Tuesday.

Despite his youth and lack of ranking, the young defensive back has caught fire on the recruiting trail these past few weeks, receiving offers from teams like Georgia and LSU.

Caleb’s father is Gary Downs who played for NC State and went to the Super Bowl with the Atlanta Falcons in 1998. His brother Josh is signed by North Carolina.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

Spartans offer 4-star safety Zion Branch out of Las Vegas, 2022 Top-100 recruit

Michigan State has offered a top-100 recruit a scholarship in Zion Branch out of Bishop Gorman.

[jwplayer gcEn4Lgq]

Something I have noticed over the last few weeks is that there seems to be a recent surge of Michigan State offering players who have already been offered by Alabama. Now, I think this is 100% coincidental, for the most part, but I do think it is highly indicative of the caliber of player that Mel Tucker is going after now that he is the head coach of the Spartans. 2022 4-star safety Zion Branch, who plays for Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, is just the latest player to receive an offer from MSU who is also being heavily recruited by the Crimson Tide.

Branch is a 6’2″ defensive back and both the No. 3 ranked safety in his class and the No. 3 player in Nevada. He is also the No. 74 ranked player in the country by 247Sports.

Aside from Alabama, Branch also has offers from Michigan, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Ohio State, Penn State, Oklahoma and many more.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Michigan State offers 6-foot-5 2022 defensive end Anthony Smith

The Spartans have offered another tall lineman in 2022 DE Anthony Smith.

[jwplayer gcEn4Lgq]

One of my simple pleasures over the global pandemic has been Michigan State recruiting, and particularly, the recruiting of giant football players by new head coach Mel Tucker. The latest large prospect to get an offer is Anthony Smith, a 2022 defensive end out of Shippensburg, Pennsylvania who is 6-foot-5 and 260-pounds.

Smith is currently unranked but already had offers from Penn State, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Nebraska, Iowa State, Connecticut, and Bowling Green.

He currently attends Shippensburg Area High School where he plays strongside defensive end.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]

Georgia football misses out on 4-star Suwanee LB Barrett Carter

Georgia football missed out on 4-star OLB Barrett Carter.

On Tuesday, 2021 4-star outside linebacker Barrett Carter announced his commitment on FOX 5 Atlanta.

The Suwanee, Georgia native (North Gwinnett High School) made it known that he would be attending Clemson.

In February, Carter released a list of his top-11 schools and Georgia was included.

Also making the list was Auburn, Alabama, Florida State, LSU, Georgia Tech, Florida, Duke, Oklahoma and Ohio State. And of course, Clemson.

247Sports has Carter (6-foot-1, 220 pounds) ranked as the nation’s No. 56 player overall, the No. 4 outside linebacker and the No. 6 player in Georgia.

247Sports analysts had been projecting Carter to land at Clemson for the past month.

For the 2021 cycle, Georgia has the nation’s No. 19 ranked class, but is clearly going for quality over quantity.

On 247Sports’ team rankings, Georgia’s seven commitments carry an average rating of 94.54, one of the highest in the country. Tennessee, which has the nation’s second ranked class with 22 commits, has an average player rating of 89.62.

Give Kirby Smart some time and he’ll work his magic. There’s no reason to believe Georgia won’t finish with a top-three class. 247Sports has three of the top-11 prospects in America projected to signing with the Dawgs. And that is not including 5-star quarterback Brock Vandagriff, the No. 12 overall player, who has been committed to Georgia since January.

[vertical-gallery id=28511]

Notre Dame Makes Scholarship Offer to Son of Fighting Irish Great

Bobby Taylor was a star for Notre Dame football in the early 90’s. Almost three decades later the Irish have offered his son a scholarship.

Notre Dame fans of a certain age range (mine included) more than just remember the name Bobby Taylor.  The 1994 consensus First-Team All-American corner helped the Irish was a part of a team that nearly won a national title a year earlier.

After his impressive 1994 season Taylor was selected 50th overall in the 1995 NFL Draft and spent the next nine years with the Philadelphia Eagles before finishing his career in 2005 with the Seattle Seahawks.

Now Notre Dame is looking for their second Bobby Taylor to be a key part of their secondary as they offered his son Bobby a football scholarship on Tuesday.

The younger Taylor is listed at 6-1, 180 pounds and is rated as a top-30 corner in the 2022 recruiting class according to 247Sports.

After playing his freshman year of high school football at Houston Heights, Taylor helped Katy High School to an 11-2 record and Texas 6A D-1 third round playoff appearance as a sophomore.

Notre Dame joins over 20 other programs to have offered Taylor with plenty of the biggest powers including Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, LSU, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M and USC.

MSU Football makes Top-5 for 3-star OG Kolinu’u Faaiu

3-star OG Kolinu’u Faaiu has placed Michigan State in his top-5 for recruiting.

We are now knee-deep in the ‘Top-X’ period of the recruiting season, with players around the country putting out their final lists of schools for their recruiting processes. One of these players, 2021 3-star OG Kolinu’u Faaiu out of North Creek High School in Bothell, Washington, has placed MSU Football in his final Top-5 for his own recruitment.

Kolinu’u, or Koli as his name is listed on 247Sports, is yet another massive offensive line target for Michigan State head coach Mel Tucker and offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic. Faaiu is 6’4″, 315-pounds, which would make him a great addition to the ‘Juice Squad’ as the Spartans’ offensive line is affectionately referred by.

Faaiu is the No. 12 ranked plyaer in Washington and the No. 28 ranked offensive guard in the 2021 class.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Michigan State Football makes top-12 for 4-star S Andrew Mukuba

Michigan State has made the final 12 in recruiting for 4-star safety Andrew Mukuba.

[jwplayer gcEn4Lgq]

Michigan State has made the final cut in recruiting for yet another highly regarded football prospect as Andrew Mukuba, 2021 4-star safety out of LBJ High School in Austin, Texas announced that the Spartans were one of his final 12 schools for recruiting on Tuesday.

Mukuba is the No. 9 ranked safety in the 2021 class according to the 247Sports rankings and their No. 34 ranked player in the state of Texas.

Here is Mukuba’s full top 12:

  • Auburn
  • Georgia
  • Alabama
  • Texas
  • Arizona State
  • TCU
  • UCLA
  • Arkansas
  • LSU
  • Clemson
  • Missouri
  • Michigan State

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]