Tag: early signing day

4-star OL Ashton Funk signs with Texas A&M over Alabama and Michigan

Funk committed to play at Kyle Field over a year ago on Nov. 6, 2022. He announced the news when X was still known as Twitter, so Wednesday was a long time coming.

National signing day got off to a big start on Wednesday morning for Texas A&M.

4-star offensive lineman Ashton Funk put pen to paper this week to officially become an Aggie.

Funk committed to play at Kyle Field over a year ago on Nov. 6, 2022. He announced the news when X was still known as Twitter, so Wednesday was a long time coming.

Funk is listed at 6-foot-7, 300 pounds and will graduate from Tompkins High School in Katy, Texas on May 23. He had 31 total offers and chose the Aggies over other major programs including Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma and Tennesee.

“The recruiting process over the last 12 months has been the most overwhelming, humbling and coolest time of my life,” Funk stated in 2022. “First and foremost, I want to thank my family for all the love and support they have given me in my football career and recruitment (especially that meal prep — THANKS MOM). I also want to thank all my coaches — especially coach McVey, coach Mike and the rest of the coaches that pushed me to be better every day. Also, I couldn’t have done any of this without my man Reggie Allen — the best skill turned big man trainer on the planet. I am grateful for every single program that has offered me; each one is an honor. Over this past year, I have been able to visit 20 different universities, all were great experiences in their own way. Through these visits, I’ve been able to meet some incredible coaches, see some great campuses, learn a lot about myself and build great relationships along the way that will last a lifetime.

“Through all the visits there is one place that has stood out as the best overall fit for me to pursue my football and academic dreams. It has the best game day environment in college football, incredible academic support, an unrivaled alumni network and every time I visit it feels like home. Although it was a very difficult decision between some amazing programs, I am beyond excited to announce my commitment to Texas A&M University. Gig’em!

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @Shaun_Holkko.

Georgia signs 4-star quarterback Ryan Puglisi

Georgia signs 4-star quarterback Ryan Puglisi

The Georgia Bulldogs have signed quarterback Ryan Puglisi from Paxton, Massachusetts. The four-star recruit played his senior year at Avon Old Farms High School and is rated one of the best pro style quarterbacks in the country.

He finished his senior season with 1,693 yards and 14 touchdowns. He completed 65.2% of his passes and led Avon Old Farms to a 7-2 record. Puglisi is the No. 10 quarterback in the 2024 class, per 247Sports.

Puglisi was recruited by former offensive coordinator Todd Monken and has maintained his commitment to Georgia, despite all of the noise surrounding Dylan Raiola. Puglisi committed to the Bulldogs on Oct. 16, 2022 and hasn’t taken any visits elsewhere. Puglisi joins a solid quarterback room with Carson Beck and Gunnar Stockton leading the way.

The 6-foot-3 quarterback is a multi-sport athlete that can improvise, but prefers to stand tall in the pocket and make plays with his arm. Puglisi has the ability to throw outside the numbers as good as he can inside the numbers.

We’ve got your early signing period coverage here at UGA Wire throughout the day.

2024 4-star LB Jordan Lockhart officially signs with Texas A&M

2024 4-star linebacker Jordan Lockhart has put pen to paper on early signing day, and is officially an Aggie.

Texas A&M and new head coach Mike Elko have officially hauled in one of the top linebacker prospects in the 2024 class, as four-star LB Jordan Lockhart put pen to paper on Wednesday during the early signing day period.

Standing at 6’3″ and 230 pounds, Lockhart is one of the fastest and hardest-hitting backers in the 2024 cycle and has a chance to impact the Aggies defense as soon as next season, opposite incoming sophomore LB Taurean York.

Playing with a consistent sense of toughness, Lockhart had interest from nearly every SEC program, including Alabama and Ole Miss, who significantly pushed to flip the California native this month. During his 2023 senior season at St. John Bosco (CA), Lockhart recorded 77 tackles, 43 solo tackles and five sacks while averaging nearly six tackles per game.

While Texas A&M still has four-star LB Tyanthony Smith and three-star LB Tristan Jernigan committed, both are poised to sign on Wednesday, but knowing that Lockhart is, well, locked in for the foreseeable future has to be Mike Elko and his staff at ease.

According to 247Sports, Jordan Lockhart is currently positioned as the 30th-ranked linebacker and the 30th-ranked player in California.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

Texas A&M football early signing day tracker

Athletes nationwide who are eager to sign their respective letters of intent to play college football may do so starting Wednesday, Dec. 20.

Student-athletes nationwide who are eager to sign their respective letters of intent to play college football may do so starting Wednesday, Dec. 20 through Friday, Dec. 22.

New Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko hasn’t wasted any time since returning to College Station. He has quickly proven to recruits around the country that the recent coaching change isn’t a rebuild, but rather a retool.

It isn’t humanly possible for Elko to do all the recruiting alone, so he’s spent the last month surrounding himself with some of the best coaches in college football. A couple of notable moves include hiring Ishmael Aristide as cornerbacks coach, Collin Klein as offensive coordinator, Sean Spencer as defensive line coach and Tommy Moffitt as director of strength & conditioning.

Elko has also spent time repairing relationships that former head coach Jimbo Fisher tarnished, beginning with Texas high school coaches. He recently spent an afternoon recruiting in Houston and later received a ringing endorsement from the Texas High School Coaches Association.

The following is every player who has committed to become an Aggie during the early signing period.

Michigan football 2024 early signing day tracker

Welcome to the 2024 #Michigan class! #GoBlue

While Michigan football prepares to face Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinal in the Rose Bowl, the staff is taking something of a break (kind of) to officially welcome in the new class of prospects.

Wednesday marks the beginning of the early signing period and the Wolverines are expected to sign its entire 2024 class throughout the day, making them officially a part of the maize and blue.

Of course, signing day always has some surprises, and there’s at least one recruit that Michigan has its eyes on in EDGE Lugard Edokpayi.

We’re up bright and early at WolverinesWire to help you keep track of who’s officially in — signed, sealed, and delivered — with our early signing day tracker. So bookmark this page and keep checking back. We’ll keep you updated chronologically below.

Neighbors adds Dutch guard during early signing period Wednesday

Arkansas went into the Netherlands and poached guard Phoenix Stotijn from the country for the class of 2024.

The day after opening the season with a five-point win over Louisiana-Monroe, Mike Neighbors turned his focus to recruiting.

Netherlands guard Phoenix Stotijn, 5-9, signed her letter of intent to be a Razorback on Wednesday.

She originally committed to Neighbors back in August when the team was in Greece during its European tour.

Neighbors said a lot of hard work and determination by the coaching staff ultimately landed her.

A series of Zooms with our staff, a virtual tour online across multiple time zones and a lot of chats, we were able to secure an official visit with her and some family.

They made the long trip to visit Arkansas, West Virginia and UCF. She fit right into what we do and how we do it. She made great connections to her future teammates, all of whom were ecstatic when she gave her commitment to be a Razorback.

Stotijn was actually a member of the 2023 class at one point, but reclassified thanks to the pandemic.

SEC East recruiting class rankings after early signing period

How does the SEC East rank nationally in the class of 2023 recruiting cycle? Georgia has the top class in the division again.

The Georgia Bulldogs and head coach Kirby Smart have the second-ranked recruiting class in the country. Georgia looks like it is in the driver’s seat to win the SEC East again in 2023.

Georgia isn’t the only SEC East team that is doing work on the recruiting trail. Josh Heupel and Tennessee are bringing in a lot of talent and currently have a top-ten recruiting class.

How does the rest of the division rank in the class of 2023 recruiting cycle (rankings per 247Sports)?

Florida’s 2023 recruiting class is loaded with early enrolees

With early signing day in the books, we now have a better idea of which members of Florida’s recruiting class of 2023 will early enroll.

Florida head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] went over a lot in his post-early signing day press conference, but one of the major points discussed was just how many of the 20 signees will enroll early. According to Napier, the bulk of the class should arrive in the spring.

Of Florida’s 20 signees, Napier expects 18 to be in Gainesville for spring practices. Rather than listing each name that plans to early enroll, it’s easier to list those who won’t: wide receiver [autotag]Eugene Wilson III[/autotag] and defensive lineman [autotag]Gavin Hill[/autotag].

Adding 18 players to the roster a few months early could be huge for Billy Napier and Co. The Gators are replacing a ton of talent after many draft departures, dismissals and transfers. Getting the new Napier-recruited talent on campus early means more time to teach them the playbook, system, etc. More practice time means a better shot at finding early snaps, too.

“The other thing that’s going to help is you’re going to have 20 players that start in January,” said Napier during his early signing day presser, “and I think that translates to more reps and more teaching and more opportunity to get orientated to the university and just life in general in college. But I do think that there will be a number of this group (that compete for early playing time). They’re going to have to earn it.”

It can’t be overstated how important it was for Florida to bring in a group of recruits that were willing to enroll early, and Napier did an exceptional job making sure everything went according to plan.

In case you’re looking for a full list of early enrollees, here’s a list of the players that should be coming to Gainesville in the spring:

  • 5-star quarterback [autotag]Jaden Rashada[/autotag]
  • 4-star running back [autotag]Treyaun Webb[/autotag]
  • 4-star receiver [autotag]Aidan Mizell[/autotag]
  • 4-star receiver [autotag]Andy Jean[/autotag]
  • 4-star offensive lineman [autotag]Roderick Kearney[/autotag]
  • 3-star offensive lineman [autotag]Knijeah Harris[/autotag]
  • 3-star offensive tackle [autotag]Bryce Lovett[/autotag]
  • 4-star defensive lineman [autotag]Kelby Collins[/autotag]
  • 4-star defensive lineman [autotag]Kamran James[/autotag]
  • 4-star defensive lineman [autotag]TJ Searcy[/autotag]
  • 4-star defensive linemen [autotag]Will Norman[/autotag]
  • 4-star linebacker [autotag]Jaden Robinson[/autotag]
  • 4-star cornerback [autotag]Ja’Keem Jackson[/autotag]
  • 4-star cornerback [autotag]Sharif Denson[/autotag]
  • 4-star safety [autotag]Dijon Johnson[/autotag]
  • 4-star safety [autotag]Jordan Castell[/autotag]
  • 4-star safety [autotag]Bryce Thornton[/autotag]
  • 4-star athlete [autotag]Aaron Gates[/autotag]

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2023 4-Star CB Desmond Ricks officially signs with Alabama

2023 four-star cornerback Desmond Ricks signed his National Letter of Intent to Alabama on Thursday. He re-classified from the 2024 class to the 2023 class.

After being predicted by many to sign with LSU in recent weeks, 2023 four-star cornerback Desmond Ricks signed his National Letter of Intent to Alabama on Thursday.

Ricks is ranked as the No. 23 overall recruit in the country, according to 247Sports’ Composite Rankings. He is listed as 6-foot-1, 170 pounds.

Ricks re-classified from the 2024 class to the 2023 class and will be available to participate as a true freshman next season. With his commitment, Alabama has now signed two cornerbacks in the class. The other is four-star Jahlil Hurley.

The length and versatility Ricks possesses on the back end could help the Tide next season. He figures to play a pivotal role in the coming years.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to cover the early signing period and which prospects will be joining the Crimson Tide.

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‘UGA Football Live with JC Shelton’: Early Signing Day review feat. Georgia DL Toby Johnson

ESD review and former Georgia DL Toby Johnson joins us!

Host J.C. Shelton reviews Georgia’s No. 2 class after Early National Signing Day and is joined by former UGA defensive lineman Toby Johnson. 

Your friends at UGA Football Live and UGA Wire present your one-stop-shop podcast for all things Georgia football: “UGA Football Live with J.C. Shelton.”

Stats, analysis and interviews with some Georgia greats. We are here every week throughout the 2022 season with everything you need to be prepared for the Bulldogs’ matchups.

Listen here, on Spotify:

Listen here, on Apple Podcasts

Also on the show:

  • Peach Bowl outlook: Analysis of Georgia versus Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinal. 

Make sure to subscribe, rate and review! And check out one of our latest interviews with former Georgia OT John Theus: