Tag: 247Sports

Michigan State pursuing All-American punter Brenden Segovia after he decommits from UCLA

Michigan State could be adding an All-American to its 2021 class in punter Brenden Segovia of Westlake Village, Calif.

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Michigan State could be adding an All-American to its 2021 class in punter Brenden Segovia of Westlake Village, Calif.

Segovia — a NBC All-American and three-star recruit — announced on Wednesday that he is no longer heading to UCLA and has reopened his recruitment, with Michigan State and USC already handing out offers.

Segovia is listed at 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, and is ranked as the No. 9 punter in the 2021 class, according to 247Sports. He is considered the No. 3 punter in the country, according to Chris Sailer Kicking.

He had been committed to UCLA since last November, but reportedly was not granted academic admission, according to 247Sports.

Below are highlights of Segovia that he posted on Twitter on Wednesday afternoon:

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4-Star DT Rayshaun Benny flips commitment to Michigan

The class of 2021 took a big hit when 4-star DT Rayshaun Benny announced he has flipped from Michigan State to in-state rival Michigan.

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The class of 2021 took a big hit when 4-star defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny announced he has flipped from Michigan State and has committed with in-state rival Michigan. Benny flipped to Michigan State a few months ago, but has now decided to return to Michigan on National Signing Day.

Over the past few days, rumors were floating that Benny was going to go back to Michigan after they hired Ron Bellamy as their wide receivers coach. Bellamy helped lead West Bloomfield to a Division 1 State Championship a few weeks ago.

Benny, who is 6’5″ and weighs 275-pounds, is ranked as the No. 195 player in the class of 2021 and the No. 16 defensive tackle by 247sports. Benny will look to be a factor on the inside of the defensive line for years to come, unfortunately it won’t be at Michigan State.

The good news is that Michigan State did get a commitment from two-sport athlete, and 4-star wide receiver Keon Coleman. Check out all the other class of 2021 recruits who have signed for Michigan State right here.

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Top Notre Dame 2022 quarterback target set decision date

Recently offered Tennessee quarterback Ty Simpson has announced when he will make his collegiate decision.

Just over a week ago, Notre Dame offered Tennessee star quarterback Ty Simpson. What we didn’t know was how soon it would take Simpson to make his decision as to where he would spend the next 3-5 years of his life. Well, on Sunday, Simpson let everyone know he’s ready to make that decision.

In just under three weeks, Simpson will make his announcement as to what’s next in his football journey. According to a report by 247Sports Steve Wiltfong, he will be making his decision from this group of schools: Alabama, Clemson, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and the Irish.

Simpson gave Wiltfong a great review of what the Irish offer meant to him, it “was an awesome offer because of the prestige of the school and it’s big for someone to get a degree from Notre Dame and to be able to say they played there, I’d love to be able to tell my kids that.”

What’s interesting is that his father also made a comment about Simpson making his decision for the next forty years, a staple of Brian Kelly’s recruiting pitch.

It’s hard to tell where Simpson will eventually end up, there have been two 247Sports crystal ball picks, both that he will end up at Clemson. He did say he was about 65% of his decision right now, so there is still time for Kelly and Tommy Rees to make their impression. We will all find out what Simpson will do come February 19th at 2:00pm CST.

247Sports compares Notre Dame QB signee Buchner to former USC star

The experts at 247Sports give Notre Dame signee Tyler Buchner a very interesting comparison to a former USC quarterback.

Today, one of the major recruiting services, 247Sports made their final rankings of the 2021 cycle. Unfortunately no Notre Dame signee or commit was named a 5-Star, although that doesn’t mean there aren’t talented players that will matriculate to South Bend.

With their penultimate rankings out, Andrew Ivins went over each of the quarterbacks ranked inside their top 247 players and Irish signee Tyler Buchner was included in that group as the 90th overall player in the class. His player comparison was to former USC star Sam Darnold, who if you don’t remember went third overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.

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Their evaluation went to Greg Biggins, who gave a glowing scouting report of what to expect out of the Californian. Buchner “has always been a dynamic athlete and was a nationally known lacrosse player in middle school. Physically, has an athletic frame and looks like a running back when he gets out in the open field. Has tremendous escape-ability and a unique sense for making a defender miss and extending plays.”

Sounds like someone we know who just finished his career as the all-time winningest quarterback in Notre Dame history? Ian Book ring a bell?

Biggins went on to then explain what we expect out of Buchner throwing the ball as he “has a live arm and can throw outside the pocket rolling to his right or his left equally well. Has tightened his release over the last year and improved mechanically. Shows accuracy on the deep ball and will continue to improve as a pure pocket passer with more game experience.”

This is where the difference between the two quarterbacks is made. Buchner’s ceiling as a passer is much higher than Book’s, although the outgoing senior was no slouch at slinging the ball around.

Like Darnold, Biggins sees Buchner to “project as a impact upper tier Power 5 starter and future high round NFL draft pick.” If he lives up to this scouting report, Notre Dame fans will surely be happy with Buchner’s career when it’s all said and done.

Could Notre Dame flip an Ohio State ‘22 cornerback commit?

According to a report by Andrew Ivins of 247Sports, Jyaire Brown, an Ohio State commit has been talking with Notre Dame and could flip.

Growing up in Ohio, playing for Ohio State and later coaching at Cincinnati, it’s an understatement to say that new Notre Dame defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman has deep roots in the Buckeye state. According to a report from 247Sports Andrew Ivins, Freeman is going hard after Jyaire Brown, an instate Ohio State commit, who made his verbal pledge last April.

Brown told Ivins that although he is committed to the Buckeyes, that hasn’t stopped him from speaking to other schools. The five-foot-eleven-inch and 165-pound cornerback has continued contact with LSU, USC, and Georgia but the Irish have caught his attention more than the rest.

Freeman certainly has Brown thinking about flipping as “he was recruiting me at the University of Cincinnati and when he went to Notre Dame, he hit me up and said he’s not going to take his foot off the gas. So he’s going to keep recruiting me.”

Not only that, Ivins found out that Brown and Freeman had a virtual meeting one week ago. “Notre Dame is a great program. Like I said though, I’m just chilling. So I got to listen to what they got to say and see if the interest is really there and if they love is really there.” Brown did say that he is still solid to the Buckeyes, and if he was to change his mind, it would be in the coming months.

Even if he doesn’t ultimately flip to the Irish, Brown gave a glowing assessment of Freeman saying “I think he great coach man. I think he’s a great family man. With him it’s like love. You are going to get love out of him. He was obviously doing great things at UC and he’s about to go do great things at Notre Dame.”

Only time will tell if Freeman is able to get in Brown’s ear enough and get the Ohio State commit to flip to Notre Dame, but this is only good news going forward. Brian Kelly’s hiring of Freeman has turned out to be grand slam.

Michigan State Football offers 2024 WR Nicholas Marsh

Less than 24 hours after his state high school championship game, 2024 WR Nicholas Marsh announced that he has received an offer from MSU.

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Less than 24 hours after his state high school championship game, wide receiver Nicholas Marsh announced that he has received an offer from Michigan State University. Marsh attends River Rouge High School and was on the losing end of a 40-30 game against DeWitt.

Marsh, who is 6’3″ and 195 pounds, is currently unranked and has no stars on 247sports. Not surprising since he is just a freshman, but could easily be a 4-star wide receiver when it gets closer to 2024. Marsh did have a touchdown yesterday during the state championship, and it was a nice one at that.

Despite only being a freshman in high school, he has already received five offers. The other schools to offer him are Central Michigan, Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia. Expect many other schools to join in the recruitment for Marsh as he is a young and talented prospect.

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Will running back Logan Diggs sign with Notre Dame in February?

The lone committed 2021 recruit who did not sign with Notre Dame in the early period could still end up in the Blue and Gold.

The second and final signing day for the 2021 class is fast approaching, it happens the first Wednesday of February every year. This year it’s the 3rd but since the early signing period has arrived, the majority of prospects sign in mid-December.

Brian Kelly and the Irish signed 26 players and have added a graduate transfer in quarterback Jack Coan. Typically a team can only roster 85 scholarship players, but the NCAA ruled this year would be different due to COVID-19. Players who would have normally exhausted their eligibility after this season, have the option to return. Some players have taken advantage of this, some have not.

The reason why this is important is because recruiting classes could be abnormally larger this cycle. That means that the long unsigned Notre Dame commit, running back Logan Diggs, is still in play.

Recently, his trainer, Albert Brock spoke with 247Sports Kevin Sinclair (insider article) to get a look if the talented Louisiana native was still intending on signing with the Irish. Although Brock did’t give Sinclair a definitive answer, he did give out this nugget: “We actually got on the phone today with coach Kelly and the running backs coach.”

The conversation was more about Diggs skill set and what he has been working on, but it’s still good news for the Irish with holding his commitment. Could he have signed in the early period and just didn’t make it official? Yes, but he could also flip due to the Irish signing another running back, Audric Estime.

Only time will tell if Diggs will sign with the Irish, but if I had to guess at this moment, the answer is yes. Diggs will eventually head up north and play his collegiate football in Notre Dame Stadium.

Michigan State still in running for 2022 Florida 4-star DE Dante Anderson

Dante Anderson — a four-star defensive end from Homestead, Fla. — included MSU in his recent Top 15 schools list announced on Monday.

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Michigan State football is still in the running for one of the top defensive end prospects in the country for the class of 2022.

Dante Anderson — a four-star defensive end from Homestead, Fla. — included the Spartans in his recent Top 15 schools list announced on Monday.

Michigan State is part of a true who’s who of college football for Anderson, with Miami, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Penn State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, North Carolina, Indiana, Georgia Tech, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Arizona State and Kentucky cracking the list.

Anderson is ranked as the No. 48 overall recruit in the 2022 class, and No. 6 weakside defensive end, according to 247Sports. He’s listed at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds.

The fact that Michigan State is in the running for a top recruit like Anderson is great to see, but it seems unlikely the Spartans will land him. 247Sports currently projects Anderson to Miami.

Below are highlights of Anderson from his Hudl page:

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Michigan State makes top six list for 2022 3-star DT from Ohio

Michigan State is still in the running for an Ohio top 20 recruit in the class of 2022.

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Michigan State is still in the running for an Ohio top 25 recruit in the class of 2022.

CJ Doggette Jr. — a three-star defensive tackle prospect from Pickerington, Ohio — has the Spartans in his final six schools list, with a commitment decision coming on March 6. Michigan State is joined by Rutgers, Pitt, Washington State, Cincinnati and West Virginia on Doggette’s finalists’ list.

Doggette is listed at 6-foot-2 and 275 pounds, and is ranked as the No. 579 overall recruit in the country, according to 247Sports Composite rankings. He is also listed as the No. 41 defensive tackle prospect and No. 21 recruit from Ohio.

Highlights from Doggette’s junior season in 2020 can be found below:

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Is Notre Dame a top 10 team entering 2021?

One outlet already is looking ahead to next years college football season, and Notre Dame fans should be excited for the potential in 2021.

The season concludes this evening, as Ohio State and Alabama duke it out for a College Football Playoff championship. It is never to early to look ahead to what we should all expect this fall, in one where we hope to have a more regular football schedule and spring ball as well.

A total of six experts from 247Sports voted on their early top 25 for the 2021 season and Notre Dame fans should be pretty happy with where they were placed, in a tie for 8th.

The Irish will have to replace plenty of their stars from this past season including linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and quarterback Ian Book, but that still didn’t stop 247Sports’ experts from giving Notre Dame a very high ranking.

Although they didn’t get too much into what to expect out of the Irish next season, it seems like they were happy with what transpired in “the big news this week came on Friday night when Notre Dame landed a big fish to replace Clark Lea at defensive coordinator. Cincinnati’s Marcus Freeman takes over, choosing Notre Dame over LSU.”

Yeah, we all see it that way too, the hire of Freeman wasn’t just a home run, it was a grand slam. Lea left some big shoes to fill and Freeman should be able to fit into them nicely.

Looking ahead at the Irish’s schedule, it doesn’t seem overtly daunting, so giving them a ranking inside the top 10 makes plenty of sense. They will have some bumps in the road and player need to develop, but there is plenty of talent on the roster that is led by running back Kyren Williams and safety Kyle Hamilton. The 2021 season can’t get here soon enough.