Tag: Steve Wiltfong

Texas RB target Rueben Owens receives crystal ball to Texas A&M

Rueben Owens has been Fong’d to Texas A&M.

After being viewed as a Texas lock dating back to 2021, there has been a major shift in the recruitment of five-star running back Rueben Owens. Continue reading “Texas RB target Rueben Owens receives crystal ball to Texas A&M”

Elite ’22 DL recruit Lebbeus Overton plans to announce decision Friday

Top 20 player and Sooners legacy Lebbeus Overton announces decision date and time.

One of the two major recruiting dominos left for the class of 2022 is about to fall as defensive line prospect Lebbeus Overton has decided to announce his decision on Friday, April 1st. Overton, who hails from Alpharetta, Georgia plans to announce his college decision on ESPN2 around 3 pm EST during halftime of the Geico National High School Basketball Tournament.

Overton was one of the top five recruits in the country for the Class of 2023 but in a crazy twist of events that concluded national signing day in February, Overton announced he would be reclassifying to the class of 2022.

At one point he was the No. 1 overall prospect in the Top247 for the 2023 class. As part of the 2022 class, Overton is the No. 17 player in the country per 247Sports.

Five schools were named the destinations of choice: Texas A&M, Georgia, Oregon, Ohio State, and the Oklahoma Sooners.

As the days wind down to his commitment, news of his sudden decision to commit has cleared up the picture considerably.

Overton took official visits in March to Oregon, Georgia, and Texas A&M while he planned to visit Ohio State and Oklahoma in April.

Those last two schools will no longer get an official visit. Couple that with the crystal ball prediction to Texas A&M from 247Sports’ recruiting wizard Steve Wiltfong and three other analysts and the story becomes as clear as watching a movie in 4K UHD.

A commitment to Texas A&M would only add to their already unprecedented defensive line haul. The Sooners hoped that the last-minute visit could shake some things up. Overton has ties to Oklahoma as his father started on the offensive line for OU in the 90s.

Overton was no stranger to Norman, taking unofficial visits multiple times. The Sooners also offered his brother Micaiah since the two brothers shared a desire to play together. The oldest Overton entered the transfer portal shortly after his brother announced plans to reclassify.

While the Sooners are down, they aren’t officially out, However, a commitment looks unlikely. While they might have missed on one of the top defensive line targets in 2022, signees Gracen Halton, Alton Tarber, and Cedric Roberts provide the Sooners with intriguing defensive line prospects. Looking ahead to 2023, the Sooners are well-positioned for multiple high-level defensive line prospects thanks to Todd Bates, Miguel Chavis, and [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]’ efforts on the recruiting trail.

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Sooners receive Crystal Ball predictions from 247Sports for 2023 four-star OT Cayden Green

A day after releasing his top five, the Oklahoma received two crystal ball predictions from 247Sports for four-star tackle Cayden Green.

There’s an adage about wherever there’s smoke, there’s fire. In the case of the Oklahoma Sooners, the smoke is a new Crystal Ball prediction from one of 247Sports’ biggest recruiting aficionados. The fire would be a possible commitment from a four-star offensive tackle out of Missouri.

Just yesterday, four-star tackle Cayden Green released the top five schools in his recruitment, which included Oklahoma. Less than a day later, the Sooners appear to be in the driver’s seat with two predictions from 247Sports Director Football Recruiting Steve Wiltfong and national recruiting analyst Allen Trieu.

Offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh has been on Cayden Green for a year now offering him a scholarship back March 1, 2021. That foundation in addition to a visit earlier this month has the Sooners buzzing in the race for one of the country’s top 100 players.

A commitment from Green would be a much-needed win for Bedenbaugh, providing some momentum that could propel their efforts to recruit offensive linemen to fit new offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby’s veer-n-shoot system.

No commitment is imminent but multiple crystal balls a day after dropping a top five is nothing to turn the other way on.

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247Sports outlines how Notre Dame finishes atop the 2023 recruiting rankings

It can be done

At the current moment Notre Dame has the best recruiting class in the country according to 247Sports. The nine commits, one five-star and eight four-stars, bests Texas Tech and Arkansas at the current moment for the top in the nation.

There have been some recruiting dominoes that have moved recently, more specifically the quarterbacks making their commitments. California’s quo of Malachi Nelson, USC, and Nicholaus Iamaleava, Tennessee, have made their decisions leaving a few remaining five-star options for everyone else.

The Irish are in the mix for Detroit’s Dante Moore, one of those coveted five-star signal callers who remain uncommitted. Christopher Vizzina, although just outside five-star status also remains a very coveted Irish target.

247Sports believes that if either were to commit to the Irish that “landing one of them will be pivotal,” to keeping their current top class ranking. Steve Wiltfong goes on into a bit more detail on Moore’s recruitment, believing that he believes that the Michigan star could make a decision soon.

When the Irish have made it to the College Football Playoff, to me, the difference has been play at quarterback. For as great as Ian Book was, he was limited against a championship caliber defense. For Marcus Freeman to take Notre Dame to the next level, addressing the depth at quarterback is paramount. If he can land either Vizzina or Moore, the final ranking might not matter, as the quality of quarterback will be there.

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Report: Notre Dame’s Freeman is ‘genuine’ and ‘he doesn’t lie’ to recruit’s

This is good news

The hiring of Marcus Freeman has been great so far, he’s managed to keep the majority of 2022 commits intact during the early signing period and has gotten off to a fantastic start to the 2023 recruiting class. His first game as head coach is less than a week away and the momentum is building.

Today, 247Sports lead recruiting analyst Steve Wiltfong outlined some strengths that Freeman has already shown on the recruiting trail. Parents of players mention that Freeman “just feels genuine” or that his personality is “something that’s unique and something people just have.”

The praise from players is exactly what you want to hear, especially for a coach who has yet to get his first win. That will come and when it does, it’ll just be another feather in Freeman’s growing cap. I expect really big things from Freeman and feel like this is just the beginning of a very good era of Notre Dame football.

What to expect from Notre Dame during early signing period

Will the Irish keep their Top-10 ranking after tomorrow?

A few years ago when college football changed their rules and implemented the early signing period, some of the first Wednesday in February’s shine wore off. That now has switched to mid-December and tomorrow is that new day. The Irish head into tomorrow with a Top-10 class, numbering 22 total commits. Here’s a quick preview of what we might see happen tomorrow during the early signing period for Notre Dame.

Notre Dame trending away from 2022 California defensive lineman

Not great news

The Irish have put together one of the best 2022 recruiting classes in the nation, but head coach Brian Kelly and his staff are still hard at work trying to add on to the 23-commit class.

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One of their remaining targets is California defensive lineman Hero Kanu. The six-foot-five-inch and 293-pound defensive tackle visited South Bend the weekend of October 23rd but that visit might not be enough to reel him in.

For the longest time, Kanu had no 247Sports crystal ball projects, but three of them came in today, and none of them for the Irish. Their director of recruiting Steve Wiltfong, Ohio State insider Bill Kurelic and Oklahoma insider Brandon Drumm each predicted Kanu would end up in Columbus, committing to the Buckeyes.

Currently the Irish have Donovan Hinish, Kurt’s younger brother, as the only true interior defensive line commit. It might be back to the recruiting board for the Irish if they wants find a prospect to pair with Hinish.

Is Notre Dame trending for star Wisconsin offensive tackle?

This is great news for the Irish

As the 2022 class is coming to a close, the Irish have a unique situation on their hands. With 21 current commitments and a ranking inside the Top-10 according to the major recruiting services, Brian Kelly can be picky about who should fill the remaining spots.

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They will keep one open for Iowa safety Xavier Nwankpa, who will make his decision in early December. They’ll also keep a spot open for Wisconsin offensive lineman Billy Schrauth. The six-foot-five and 285-pound interior lineman is regarded as one of the best in the country, holding offers from Ohio State, Auburn, Wisconsin, Iowa and others.

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Today, 247Sports recruiting national lead Steve Wiltfong and Notre Dame insider Tom Loy both registered crystal ball selections for the Irish regarding Schrauth’s recruitment. Both of them have plenty of ears to the ground in recruiting and it seems like the Irish have a great opportunity to add yet another talented offensive lineman to the 2022 recruiting class.

Notre Dame trying to flip Penn State ‘22 commitment, will visit via Zoom today

The Notre Dame coaching staff is going hard after Big Ten teams commitments, this time going after a Penn State wide receiver commit.

The Notre Dame coaching staff is hard at work trying to secure another top-10 recruiting class for the 2022 cycle. This past weekend, the Best of the Midwest Combine was held and 247Sports Steve Wiltfong was on hand. His recruiting report had an interesting nugget regarding Penn State wide receiver commit Kaden Saunders.

Although Saunders has been committed to the Nittany Lions since July of last year, he’s still “keeping the lines of communication open with others including Florida State, Notre Dame and Oregon. He’ll have a Zoom meeting with the Irish staff on Monday,” said Wiltfong.

The five-foot-ten-inch and 172-pound receiver was offered a scholarship by the Irish when he unofficially visited South Bend in February last year.

At the current moment, the 2022 class does not have a committed player at wide receiver. The Irish are searching for their first commit, as they have recently offered Addison Copeland.

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It seems like the staff has no issues going to recruit other schools commits. They are trying to flip Ohio State commitment Jyaire Brown and although Copeland decommitted after the Irish offer, he can be viewed as a flip also.

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This is an interesting situation with Saunders that bears watching. The Irish could be on the verge of flipping another Big Ten committed player.

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.