Recruiting Recap with Brandon Huffman

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annual recruiting show with Brandon Huffman. Now that the season has finally the cherry on top for me obviously was a longtime Florida State commit decommitting, and I think going to Maryland, if you saw that today, I think that's like the last major tom that listen Willie Taggart and having commitment issues. Who could have seen anything happening along those issues and along those lines. But very excited to have Brandon Huffman on from twenty four to seven Sports.

He is their big dog that covers everything nationally based on the West Coast. So obviously I enjoy a lot of the insight that he has about the PAC twelve and their schools, but we're going to go across the entire country, a lot of interesting classes, movement up and down and around new coaches and how they've affected things on the recruiting trail. So this is legitimately one of my very faceavorite shows because Brandon is built from head to toe with recruiting information.

football fan. Okay, but I still feel like I come away so much more enriched with college football and recruiting knowledge. Every time we talk to him, I just can't follow it. Nobody can follow it as closely as he does. Nobody has that level of detail that I expect that we're going to hear momentarily from mister Hoffman again from twenty four to seven Sports, So I'm excited to learn more from Brandon. We would also encourage you don't just check him out at twenty four to seven sports dot com.

Also check out the fine work he's doing for the Avery Huffman Defeat DIPG Foundation. We talked about his foundation and his plight against the IPG a couple of years ago, but Brandon is doing God's work with his foundation. Check it out at AVERYSTRONGDIPG dot org if you'd like more information on the good work that they're doing.

going to ruin your whole day. But then you hold that little guy or a little girl and you're just super excited that the sleep can be meaningless and because it usually is.

little bit easier. So we'll start here. What are your impressions of the way that things are split up now with the early signing period, with the now more traditional signing period still existing at the beginning of February. How has it affected things after a couple of years.

early enroll. Now it's everybody. You're seeing half a recruiting class trying to enroll in time for January so they can be a part of spring football. And I think you're going to end up seeing it become a lot like the NCAA basketball recruiting cycle, where you have the November signing period and then there's a few guys that'll sign in April after maybe coaches move around after guys

declared for the NBA. But with the way the recruiting period now is in December and it's only a six week gap, I think more guys are going to trend towards signing in December. There'll still be guys that will have to wait until February for a variety of reasons, whether that's official visits or whatnot, or they just want to see what potential coaching changes could happen, or if guys are leading at a position where maybe they're being recruited and they want to see what the depth start

looks like. But I think more often than not, December is going to become kind of the key recruiting and signing period more than February has.

I also not there's anything to question with ten stating obviously they've had a good run under Jans Frank and just using that as an example, is that going to be used as a negative recruiting tool. You're also going to see, you know, why are increasing amounts of players

at a certain position leaving and consistently leaving? After this first year, We'll start to see news cycles and maybe one school keeps losing young quarterbacks or whatever it may be that could hurt them recruiting that position down the line. And I think what it is it's going to, you know, leave a lot of questions to be asked of the coaches. Why are so many guys getting to your school and after a year wanting to enter the transfer portal and

wanted to leave? What's going on? What are the promises that are being made when they're being recruited that are not being kept when they're freshman that is making them want to leave. So I think that's going to be something that coaches are going to have to take a part of. And I also think it's going to have to be one of those things that they now have to start weighing in when it comes to recruiting the

players that they're trying to replace them with. These guys are in the portal more often than not, they want to leave, They want to get out here. So now we've got to start recruiting maybe an extra player at that position, and we only are going to bring in two receivers maybe, but now we've got to receive it. It's leaving. Now we have to bring in three just

to help our numbers. So in the middle of the cycle and especially later in the season when it seems like guys are going to want to be entering the plaros when they figure out during the season they're not playing, it may cost some reshuffling on the deck a little bit for positional groups and how you're recruiting that specific position. With the way the numbers are ironed out.

So at the top or even beyond the top, who are some I guess upside guys, both based on their own talents and the team situations in which they might find themselves.

Manny Wilkins has. He obviously sees what Herr. Edwards is able to do in year one, and the fact that there really wasn't any kind of income in there at

the quarterback position. They had, you know, some younger quarterbacks that had come in, but they already had two verbals in the twenty nineteen class, and then Jaden Daniels made it the third because he's the most similar to Nanny Wilkins and what Asu has done offensively, I think, you know, and obviously even with Joey Yellen, who was another four star quarterback out of Mission, Yo, and then Easton Long, the three star quarterback out of Oregon, they clearly wanted

Jayden Daniels. So I think that that may gives him the edge in terms of being the guy for Arizona State down the line. He's already enrolled working in spring practice, and then he also, speaking of Arizona, Spencer Rattler out of Arizona, I would have thought he'd had a chance to come in this spring and maybe earn the starting job or at least, you know, give himself a shot

at the starting job. Obviously he's a true freshman. There's going to be other quarterbacks there, but with Jalen Hurts grad transferring, maybe that's a nice way for Ratler to kind of ease into the role without being thrown into the fire right away. Obviously playing for the quarterback Whisper and Lincoln Riley. You know, you expect Jalen Hurts to have a big season and then Ratler can probably be the guy that takes over for him or into the

quarterbacks that are there. Maybe they battle for it, but I think, you know, Rattler will still have a chance to compete for the starting role. I also think that Jayden Daniels, I mean, those two guys are kind of intertwined, and that they were the top quarterback in Pro style and duel threat out West and you know, Arizona State because they couldn't keep this kid in Phoenix. They had to go after Jaden and Daniels, and I think they both factor in heavily.

at USC and UCLA. But even beyond that, whether it was Texas coming in and getting a couple of big playmakers, even Clemson doing really well, Oklahoma, Michigan, a lot of schools really came in to the Golden State and plucked really high level talent. Why is that, you know.

too late. So you take those two times, plus you take just the general feeling for the last fifteen twenty years as that West Coast kids applied the most open to leading their region than in the country, So schools know they can recruit and really try to focus on a kid out West. He's easier to convince to leave home than maybe kids in the Midwest or in the

Southeast are. So then you take the fact that you've got Broo McCoy, who you knows from southern California, where Tom Herman's from, one of three Texas commits or signings that USC had targeted. They already had a commitment from Gabriel Floyd before he ended up flipping too Texas Brew was enrolled, and then he put the Texas and Chris Ada Mora out of Mayfair High School they had offered before his junior year he also went to Texas. So Tom Herman is going to be a presence in southern California,

which is his former home. Chris Steele, top tenth player from southern California, going to Florida. Henry Toto the top player in northern California, He goes to Tennessee. Zach Sharbon at the top running back in California. He goes to Michigan than Joe Nagata, who I think, you know, even though he was the number nine player, I think he more than anybody besides Broom McCoy. Kind of speaks to the success of what you know Dabo's doing, but also how hard it is to keep those is local. He

goes all the way across the country to Clemson. Dabbo comes to California to get him here's a kid who comes from a school that produced Washington's for your starting quarterback. Not only that, but his older brother, Ariel is a linebacker at Washington, and Washington never really seemed to be in the mix for him. So that's five of the top nine players in California leaving the PAC twelve footprint.

And that doesn't even get into the players in Arizona or Colorado that also left the PAC twelve footprint to go to other schools and to other conferences. And then you have two players in southern California Mikaale Wright Cavon Thibodeaux that Oregon comes in a pluck. So you're not just dealing with national programs, but now you're dealing with the PAC twelve schools coming into your backyard and taking these guys.

I think we now have a front row seat to what's going to be an absolutely fascinating recruiting battle between those two. And with now social media, there's going to be a lot of shade being thrown subtlely and pretty obviously between those two and their coaching staffs and the recruits and the players. So it's going to be very popcornworthy to watch those two because they both can recruit, they both have shown that they can coach and develop,

and now they're battling in the state. Jimbo just has that little advantage where he's got the state of Florida where he's got experience, whereas Tom Herman has California. So now it becomes, you know, which state is more open to leaving the Florida kids going to and en to play for Herman. I'm sorry for Fisher or the California kids feeling free to leave California and go and play for Herman at Texas.

got good linebackers, he got good dvs. And I think it's very clear that Kirby is offering justice, you know, filthy of a defense in terms of the talent level there that what Alabama has and you know, the ability to not just go to Georgia and to play for him, but then turn around and get drafted highly. And I think that's what you know, really makes what he's doing there so quickly really help with getting this recruiting really rolling.

Like it's been a last couple of classes. Is he's now shown to those three or four years he's been a Georgia the player development, the player, uh, the way the players come in and where they came in at Mark Rick. But then he got two or three years befo them and they're turning into first round picks and guys are there. They see that Kobe Dean was a guy that Alabama coveted majorly. He decides to go to Georgia. You have Nolan Smith, who Alabama was trying to flip late.

He'd been a long typ commitment, and I think that it's a great blueprint to follow, you know. So now it's a matter of keep going on, adding that kind of on the offensive side of the ball, keep developing that talent on the off side of the ball. And they got that when they flip George Pickens, who be in a long time commit to Auburn on signing day kind of a shock. One of the big shocks of the day was here. He was a two year commit to Auburn out of Alabama and he announces for Georgia.

That's how you quickly pass Alabama and they're not doing it yet, but that's how you position yourself to pass Alabama is you're not just adding the talent on defense, but you're adding that talent on offense. Because we know Nick Saban has been doing that, especially these last few years.

And they've just done such a good job of recruiting and evaluating and developing that you could lose guys that are top two or three players at that position that you think you have and you still have by far the best class in the country. And that's just scariest for Alabama that even when they lose the player here or there, they still have a rollodex in each position of just top level players that the rest of the

country wanted. Whether it's on the offensive side of the ball, whether it's you know, on the offensive line getting Pierce Quick and Evan Neale, whether it's Antonio Alfano who actually finishes twenty four seven sports is number one overall player and you know he was overshadowed at Tons by Noel Smith, by Zach Harrison, by Keevon Thibodeau, by Trevon Walker, and Alfana comes down to San Antonio and dominates all week to move into the number one spot. And that's what

Alabama does. Even the guys that maybe are a little bit more off the grid, under the raider a little bit, they go to a national event and absolutely dominate, and then they get to Alabama they do the same thing there.

So it's just it's uncanny what Nick Saban has been able to do and the fact that he's been able to add so much talent on the offense side of the ball these last four or five cycles for a guy who's been known for all the great defensive players, I think that's just becoming a problem that we still haven't been able to see anybody completely figure out outside of Clemson these last couple of years.

How do you feel about I guess the Gator class overall, and looking forward, do you imagine the state's powers will do a better job of keeping the very top end of the state's talent at home, especially now with Miami looking a little bit more stable.

twenty class. So that gives them stability with somebody who's a little bit more And you know, obviously Mark Rick was a stable coach at Georgie, was there a long time, and you know he brought that maturity to Miami. But you know, with many Diaz, you've got a guy who's just gonna get after it. He's going to bring that energy to match against the willy Tagger to match against Davo to or at least going to try to do

what he can. But then you throw in what Mullin's done, and I mean, I think he showed immediately what kind of effect that he could have on recruits in this class, not just from the state of Florida, but really in the Southeast region. You know, will Willy Tagger get it figured out? That's the good quest, that's the million dollar question. I mean, he's had about as bad a first year

as possible on the field and off the field. So he you know, I think that's going to make that seat that much warmer for him if he doesn't get it figured out quick, because Miami is starting to take a lot more of the headlines of the attention back with the hiring and many Diaz with these chances they

have coming in. And then obviously Dan Mullen did a fantastic job recruiting wise with this class and then showed a lot of really good promise in the first year of the head coach with the new year six Bowl wins.

there for a little while longer. He was able to spurn the alma mater to stay there, and I think that that helps with recruiting, not just in this class, but even moving forward, because now guys will see when a coach says, I'm not looking to leave, I'm not looking to go anywhere, and he turns down his alma mater who's kind of at their breaking point and desperate. He is willing to stay where and match what he said.

And so, you know, holding on to a guy like George carlottis as a result of him, you know, staying at Purdue. He was a top fifty, top under player nationally, was heavily recruited by everybody, and decided to stay at home, and he's going to Purdue. David Bella another big time receiver prospect out of Indianapolis, A big physical kid. You know, he had plenty of op is elsewhere. He's standing going

to Purdue. Milton Wright kid that I got to see at the Polynesia Bowl and I absolutely love watching him play. Another big physical kid, sixty three two hundred pounds. Interesting. I mean that he was from Louisville. So when I talked at the Polynesian Bowl, he said he was really watching to see what Brom did because he wanted to play for him. Maybe that would have been in his backyard. But when Brom said that he was sticking with Purdue, right stuck with Purdue. So you get a couple of

those guys that are the top end type players. Those are obviously guys that you want to really build your class around. But then you got guy like Kyle Billidu, who played in both the All American Ball and the Polynesian Bowl out of Virginia coming in. And you just get guys like that that maybe you know they're coming from different conferences, different conference footprints, going out into Tennessee,

going into Texas, going in to Virginia. I think that's showing that, you know, brom is willing to try to recruit against anybody, and this class was really evident of the recruiting efforts that he put on both in state and outside of the state.

only recruit California. They were going to recruit nationally, and I think, you know, Harbaugh finally really had a lot of success out west where he has some good ties, but he really recruited coast to coast, and I think part of it was he didn't necessarily get himself into the spotlight as much this offseason and this recruiting cycle like he did maybe previous years, where you know, two years ago it was all about Najie Harrison trying to be a part of the satellite camps. The year before

it was going into Alabama taking his shirt off. I think he just kind of laid low and just really recruited this year instead of making it about pr and constant going viral, this year was just about getting out there and doing it the old fashioned way and recruiting. He went into Ohio, you know, he got Eric A,

He got Mazzie Smith to stay home in Michigan. He went down to Georgia to get Jalen Perry as well as Chris Hinton who was a you know, the son of a former NFL star, but then went out west to get his quarterback in Kaden Ncamary out in Nevada. Jack Charbonay, who was a top five running back nationally, went to Oaks Christian to get him, got Giles Jackson, kind of an electric do everything guy out of the

Bay Area, went and got him. He went up into Connecticut, went down and went down to Florida, went to Illinois, and really kind of covered all four corners of the country and then everything in between. But did it kind of in a more subtle way this year, which I think kind of maybe saved the negative recruiting from schools that probably were doing a better job of doing that the previous three years when he seemed to be in the headlines all the time.

ten in most seasons. Looking at their recruiting class, how do you think this plays out now moving forward under Ryan Day.

They're bringing in three five star players. One of them was a guy who'd spent time at number one in the country. And Zach Harrison, who's kind of a physical freak, more of a basketball player, six two and fifty three pounder who's still trying to figure out the game of football but has such great athleticism. And this is a guy that many people were pegging to go to Michigan, and House ultimately pulled him in after Ryan Day was hired.

Then you got Garrett Wilson, a five star receiver out of Austin, Texas, who basically set the entire summer on fire by committing to Texas. Sorry spurning Texas because he's in Austin commit into Ohio State and set off World War three the team Ohio State and Texas and the Twitter war there, but then also going down to Georgia getting Harry Miller Jamison Williams out out of Missouri. So the players that they got are still tough in kids.

And then if you look at where they're sitting in twenty twenty, they've got a class that's already got seven commitments and it's a top five class at this point. And I think now with their going we go obviously with the summer last year, with Irvan being suspended for the first three games of the uncertainty is he going to retire? Is he not going to retire? Now Ryan Day and his staff head into a full recruiting cycle. They'll head into the spring. They headed into January really

knowing that he's there for the long haul. So that takes away a lot of the uncertainty. Now you're going to see hoose sate. I think be back to that top five class got from just a number standpoint, because there's stability in place once and for all.

because you look at their class. It wasn't that highly ranked, but I kind of like what melt Tucker did over at Colorado, And part of that's because I think that, you know, when you look at the success that he had as an assistant coach at Georgia, it just kind of he's been everywhere he's been in the NFL, he's been in the collegiate ranks, but you know, he kind of comes into a region that he's not as familiar with, and that's always the one gamble you take when you

hire a guy who doesn't have a lot of ties to a specific region, and where's his connection going to come from? Can he convince the kids that come from where his main main territory has been to go to this new region. And I like what Colorado did in

this class. It was only ranked ninth, but considering that there were a lot of players that DC commit when Mike McIntyre left, what he was able to bring in he brought in Levonte Chandal, who's the younger brother Lavaska Chanal, who obviously was a star for Colorado this last season. They've got Joshua Allen to stay on board. He was one of the top JUCO linebackers in the country. Originally

from Oregon, then played at Arizona Western. They were able to keep Tarik Luckett, who actually didn't sign in December, look like he may end up going elsewhere. Oregon and USC were pushing for him, but he decided to stick with Colorado. So I like not only who melt Tucker really held on to in this class, but then also being able to go in and get some key guys. And I think that as he gets his feet under himself, they've already gotten a commitment from from twenty twenty in Colorado.

The big key for melt Tucker is going to be more than anything is when there's that elite talent, and this is setting up to be the best high school

class in Colorado in a long time. If he can really prioritize the state of Colorado like Kirbie Smart did right when he got to Georgia, then I think that if Tucker can do that, that's going to give him an advance because then he can then use his guys that have had California in there as their backyard, that he can go back into the southeast and really get Colorado back up to where I think people our age are used to seeing them where they were when they were in the Big Eight and the Big twelve.

Now we're going national. We've usually gone national, now we're going local. Who has shifted the way they've done things?

your offer doesn't count. And there just never seemed to be an emphasis on recruiting during the spring and really into the summer. And then when the season came around. You couple that with a three and nine key and now you have no momentum on the field. And so we were used to seeing UCLA finish with top twenty classes. You know, what do they finish like that on the field?

That was another story. But they were recruiting well, they were recruiting aggressively, offering a lot of players, and then they kind of go against that complete grain with Chip Kelly and it ends up being a you know, by what we've been used to seeing a pretty unimpressive class, pretty mad class as far as UCLA is concerned. But you know, we'll see if it works. They decided to try this new strategy of offering guys for the eighth day of the month. They offered twenty guys on Friday.

It seemed to be more players. They offered on Friday, and they did in the entire twenty nineteen cycle. So we'll see if the strategy he to maybe pick up the pace a little bit more work from Chip Kelly. But when you see how you say recruited under Jim Moura, now see how it is been under Kelly. It definitely was one of those moments where I think people in the PAP twelve is going like, what in the heck are they doing? What's going on there?

making yourself visible, making yourself have buzz. Look at the other schools in the PAC twelve that when they go on an unofficial visit or I'm sorry when the kid comes in on an unofficial visit, or when the coaches go out during the evaluation period. Everybody in the world knows that either that kids on campus or those coaches are on that kids campus. You clad everything so under the radar, and it had to have been by design and had to be the way Chip wanted to do it.

But can that work in twenty nineteen when so much about recruiting is about visibility and the social media aspect of it.

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an SEC recruitter of the Year. He understands the importance of the head coach getting involved in recruiting, but he also understands the importance of empowering and enabling his staff to get out and be aggressive recruiters. And he would talk to kids that would take their unofficial visits. They would say, man, the second I got off the elevator, there are thirty coaches and staffers cheering and yelling and screaming for me when I got off, And that left

an impression on me. And so that comes down from the top. And I think you're going to see Oregon be a school. I mean, they're offering a lot of players. They probably offer more players than any Pac twelve school does, but they're also hitting on a large rate of the guys that they really really want. There was a great article in Sports Illustrated last week about the offers that are committable and that are uncommittable. But I think, you know,

a lot of schools do those kind of offerings. But I also think that when Oregon really kind of sets their sights on a kid, especially in the twenty nineteen class, they see the success of that with getting that kid's commitment and ultimately him signing. So they ended up with the top class in the PAC twelve. And I think, you know, Oregon has a brand. There's enough of these kids that to them, twenty sixteen was an anomaly, that

was the exception to the rule. In their minds Oregon has been the prime team in the West Coast and the PAC twelve for the last eight to ten years. This is a team that a lot of these kids grew up watching. So these Southern California kids weren't necessarily dreaming a plan for sc like you would think or for you feel like you think they were dreaming a plan for Oregon, and you saw that in this class

with how they recruited Southern California. So I think that's the school that absolutely is going to be a top ten, top twelve type recruiting program over the next couple of years, as long as Mario Christenbaul is there, because he's just got a completely different approach than Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich did and that he wants to be visible. He understands recruiting is the lifeblood of the program, so he's

going to continue to get out there. I would say that they're probably that one that you kind of look at and say, all right, they're going to be around. They're going to be a factor. They're going to be a problem for some schools to deal with, not just in the PAC twelve but nationally. And then as far as on the flip side, I mean, is Florida State at eighteen? Is that going to be the norm? I mean, can Willy Taggart get this thing figured out? We're not

used to seeing Florida State down that low. We're used to seeing them being a top ten teen and usually a top five team in recruiting, you know, but here they are at eighteen. Is this going to speak? Is this speaking to a larger issue? And if it is a larger issue, how long does this issue go on?

Because all the buzz now in the state of Florida is going to Many Diaz, it's going to Dan Mullen and Florida State, which has always seemingly had the most buzz of any school to certainly over the last decade. Now they're they're running third. And then you still have the you know, not that they're losing guys readily in U see it, but even ucfs getting a lot more buzz than them. So Willy Taggart's got to get that

fixed quick. Otherwise they may be a top fifteen to twenty twenty five, which most schools to be happy about, but not with Forlorida State. Not when you're still on a gold mine of talent like they are.

a buzzsaw. Granted, but there are a lot of fans out there asking They're looking at the recruiting class and they're saying, what did Notre Dame do to make up that talent gap? What did Notre Dame do to make themselves better and more competitive against the top echelon of college football? Is there a tell in this class how they got better.

that gap. Start to happen in the twenty twenty class when those kids had a full year of recruiting, and now when Notre Dame walks in in the spring during the evaluation period, you know, kids, remember, Hey, they still did go to a playoff game. It may have been a blowout, but Alabama got blown out, and I get that. There's one good thing that happened to Notre Dame. It's that Damma got beat even worse in the National Championship Game. So people are just going to look at dude. Crumson

was on a different level. What I think Notre Dame did really well this year though, is they did a great job on the offensive line and the defensive line, really and just in the trenches. And that's where I think a lot of schools have had the advantage on Notre Dame in the year's passes that they've been able to beat them up up front, and which is different because we're used to seeing Notre Dame having good line.

But I think that you know, they've recruited even better line and they still got some key players at the skill positions coming in. But I really think moving forward in twenty twenty, it's going to be the year where that gap really starts to get closer. And I mean there's some guys in this Notre Dame class that I really am high on. I love the offensive line that got ze Karel Quinn Carroll out of Minnesota, Ohio, Minnesota, respectively. They got you know, a really good defensive lineman out

of Texas and Nanosafa Mensa. They went out west, got a couple of really good players from northern California. Isaiah rut Thefford, who was a cal Legacy's dad was a former starting running back for Cal. He spurned a lot

of West Coast schools to go to Notre Dame. And then Isaiah Foski, who was one of the top tight end recruits out West, and then Notre Dame turned it on and said, we think you're going to be an elite defensive end, and he became open to the defensive line idea, and the Irish got him to announce on signing day. But then the best player in this class, in my opinion, it is Kyle Hamilton. You know, he

was a guy that was under the radar. He goes to the Opening Finals last summer and was fantastic, and then goes to the All American Ball this year and really just shined from beginning to end. And here's a guy who wasn't even the top two four seven going

into his junior year. He finishes as the number one safety in the country by twenty four seven Sports and a top fifteen player nationally out of Atlanta, and a guy that I think that's the kind of player you need to sign a lot of to really be able to compete with the clencident and the Alabama tack programs year in and year out.

you believe to be not necessarily instant impact guys, but you are confident will leave a mark in the PAC twelve in the years to come.

matter of how many snaps does he get. He's going to be starting, you know, can he It's just a matter that he put on the way this offseason because he's got the speed, he's got the quickness, he's got the athleticism to be an impact age. This need to be a little bit of way to handle those offensive linemen in college but he is obviously the crown jewel

this class. But then there's other guys like Mikaale Wright, a elite corner, top fifty player nationally out of Southern California, Joonata Newho out of Harbor City, and Narbonne High School, which is another school that USC has recruited well out of these last couple of years. Top ten offensive lineman nationally. Michah Pittman is one of my favorite football players in this class. A Calabasas coyote for you, Dan, so yeah,

I know you'll be rooting for him. The son of former NFL running back Michael Pittman and the younger brother of that team receiver Michael Pittman Junior. Micah, you know, may not have the physical traits that some of the other receivers have in this class, that are those six two six three guys, but he's just lightening a ball that he's such a physical just he just got a lot of dog in him and he gets out and he makes place happen. And he's another guy that I

really like in this class. And then Patrick Herbert, who's the younger brother Justin Herbert. He was the number one player in the state of Oregon really didn't see a need to look anywhere else. He committed Oregon very early on. He's a top ten tight end nationally. So you know, they only signed one player from the state of Oregon, but they made account. It was from Eugene and it was the brother of their quarterback. And was that enough to movie keep justin at school front of a year?

Who knows. I know that was something that was talked about by both of them and something they would both like to pursue. If you're an Oregon fan, you'll just hang out him. The fact that maybe that was the ultimate tipping point for him to keep him there. So they did a really good job in California. They did a good job in Oregon, but then they did recruit nationally.

Went down before they got a couple of kids. They got a top five JUCO player, a six seven, three hundred and forty five pound lineman out of Texas from the JUCO ranks. So they did a really good job of recruiting the whole country, which is what they've been able to do these last couple of years, but really made California kind of be the home base this yeason.

the country. Do you feel like this level of talent for these schools and his depth of talent is the new normal for the Sooners and the Huskies.

They go get the two of the top three receivers in the country, including one of them being from Georgia in Jaya and Haeswid who was the number one receiver in the country. They keep Coe's in the mix, and then they go get the top quarterback in the country and Spencer Rattler. So they've added better talent to an already talented offensive depth chart. So that gives them continued

weapons on their offensive arsenal. But defensively, that's where they really are going to probably see a focus over these next couple of classes. There's still some good players on the defensive side of the ball, don't get me wrong, but I think this class was really highlighted by their offensive talent, which makes sense because Lincoln Riley is an

offensive group. But now I think with the with the presence of Alex Grange, there's going to be even more renewed effort to improve in the defense, and this class was a good start towards that. And as they continue to really bring in top end defensive talent to go with this just special elite of talent, Oklahoma's not going

anywhere for a while. Washington, on the other hand, you know, you look at what's been the difference in some of the games that they've lost these last couple of years on the national scale, It's been usually upfront, it's been not just the skill positions. They've had the skill position, but it's been the offensive line, the defensive line, and they bring in arguably the best defensive line class the Pac ten has seen in the fact twelve a scene

in probably a decade. They got four big time defensive tackles, they got two or three really good defensive ends, a great linebacking corps, a great defensive back corps. And then offensively, they were able to bring in five really talented offensive linemens, some that are already on campus and it will be

a part of spring football. They've got a four star quarterback who was a four year starter down in Graham Washington and Dylan Morris, and then they signed in Probably the best addition to the class late was getting the decision from Puka Nakua, who was the Utah Player of the Year, the Polynesian Football Player of the Year, the All American Offensive Player of the Year over two thousand

yards receive it. He had been a commit to USC but then when didn't sign in December, when Cliff kings Very left, it looked like he was going to be an Oregon Washington battle and he signed with Washington yesterday, announced to them on Sunday, ninth, So that just gave him another threat offensively where they did really well on the lines, they could have used one more pass catcher, and they got in one of the best in the West.

And I think you're going to continue to see Chris Peterson and his staff recruit at a high level now that they've got just this plus thorugh of talent coming in, but then also going out and getting drafted high.

Trevor Lawrence, you know, one of the best quarterbacks I think in the history of recruiting, comes in and wins the NATS Championship. So not only have they done a good job developing, but they've gotten that impact from those high level players in a sport where you see a higher bus ratio than maybe you do in college basketball from your highly rated players. They're getting everything that they

expect out of those highly rated players. And when they lose a guy like a Hunter Johnson or Kelly Bryant, it's because you've got a generational talent at quarterback, like they did with Trevor Lawrence. So you look at this class and you really can't say there's a weakness anywhere.

And you look at some of the guys they have in this class that maybe aren't as highly ranked as others, and because they do such a good job of development, because they have so much stability in that coaching staff, that allows those players to develop and be an impact player for clubs of whether it's earlier in their career, but like you said, they do they seem to do a better job with the exceptional quarterback of keeping those guys from leaving and just being an understanding understanding you

gotta wit your turn. You're gonna get your shot, and when you get your shot, you're going to make the most of it.

to maintain this program? It sure seems to do. They have a good recruiting class. They actually went back into flood into Hawaii to get their quarterback in Dyllan Gabriel, who comes from the same high school that McKenzie milton does. Gabriel had offers from Georgia and USC late and then

decided to sign with UCF. So that's the kind of recruiting battles that you want to keep winning when you're a group of five coach that you can go up against the traditional power power five schools and beat them. But then you look at what Boise State did. I mean, they had three four stars just in the twenty four to seven the Sports Composite and six in the twenty four to seven rankings. When you look at their quarterback

that they got, Hank Fockmeyer. He was a record sitting quarterback in California at through for over ten thousand yards. He had offers from numerous Power five schools, stuck with Boise State. When other schools would lose their quarterback, they would try to make a run in him, he stuck

with Boise State. And I think that that shows you what this program is doing where they're not losing players that want those Power five offers like they did years ago when they were still kind of the BCS busters and BCS schools would come around and they could be the tenth best team in a BCS conference, but those

kids wanted to play in a BCS conference. I think Chris Peterson and now Brian Hyson have done such a good job of developing players showing that they can shine at that level and be drafted at a high rate and a high level, that these kids are looking at Boise State as a destination program. So it's no surprise that probably the two most successful group of five schools over the last ten to fifteen years are the two schools that did the best job recruiting wise this year.

they were in the top twenty. But you know, considering how late in the game that they kind of had to get in with this class, they were able to flip Sam Howe, who had been a long time commit to Florida State. He was a quarterback, was committed. He had a really good week at the All American Ball and had a good showing in the game. He was a top three dual threat quarterback nationally. To flip him

from Florida State to North Carolina obviously was big. You know, they were able to get some of these key guys like Eugena Sante, who really seemed to be kind of the one of the hot names during the January signing period because he didn't announce in December and decided to use Janius So he kind of was getting coached by everybody, and everybody was trying to get him, so for them to be able to sign him on signing day, I think that that just shows you, you know, what Mack

Brown can do in a quick, little two to three month window. That's what he and his staff are going to be able to do over the course of the next year. And then with Kansas, I mean, obviously with Less models, there's not going to be short on a tension about the Kansas program. And I think it's differ than you know, maybe when Charlie Weiss was there, because Less is a guy the media loves and I think fans of college football just loves seeing what he's going

to do next. And he really used that to his advantage and Kansas ended up being able to get a four star defensive lineman on signing day out of Texas, Stephen Parker, six and twenty pound founder who's a you know, fantastic pass rusher, And those are the kind of battles that I think Liz Miles is going to find himself

getting involved in a little bit more. You know, they only got one four star in this class, but I think you're going to see them at two or three or four every year for these next couple of years because less most how to slay it in the living room with the families. He knows how to aggressively recruit, and he's still well thought of in a lot of major reasons in the country. So that's going to allow him to go into those schools. And even though he's

a Kansas not ASU anymore. Because people genuinely love Les Miles and high school coaches love him, and a lot of coaches in certain parts of the country where he wants to recruit love him. That's going to open the door for him.

on top of that. So it makes sense that one of the biggest players in this class has one of the biggest and longest names. But you know, we were kind of robbed of the Saint Browns family this year with them no longer having any other children, no more Equanimius, no more Osiris, no more almon Roz. So you know, I'm having to go with the long, multi hyphenated names as the ones that really kind of wet the whistle.

by play gust for having the start. We might as well start practicing those names now.

The reason is there are so many teams. There are so many teams to talk about, so we just want to present him with a question. Where his mind goes with the question is where it goes. But certainly, and we mentioned this before after the early signing period, Nebraska did a good job after they finished the season in an encouraging way. I think they finished with the top

twenty class. Stanford normally finishes a bit higher. They don't take huge classes, obviously having academic restrictions, but they still finish in the top twenty five. Ole miss after a pretty terrible year. Matt Luke did a decent job on the recruiting trail Arkansas. You know they will offer playing time because after not winning a game in the SEC, it's all the man's jobs to be won. Wisconsin actually with a pretty decent class finishing in the top thirty.

Miami falls and it couldn't have helped that Mark Rick left when he did, which I believe was after the early signing period led That may point to how much that staff was engaged with everything near the end when things seem to fall apart for the Hurricanes. And you asked a good question about Les Miles and Mac Brown North Carolina, especially with that quarterback poll that Brandon Huffman talked about. I think his name is Sam Howell from

Florida State. They finish in an interesting way as they try to get out of the bottom of the ACC. There's definitely a gulf, it seems between Texas, Oklahoma and the rest of the Big twelve. The top of the Big ten looks like it kind of should usc a disappointment in the Pac twelve, but whenever things do eventually and they will stabilize in LA. I expect USC to challenge for top five spots once again, but an interesting year. Nonetheless, on the recruiting trail, LSU with a I will only

speak for myself. I was surprised that they were as successful as they were with the schedule that they had this past season, and for them to finish with a top five class and keep that momentum super impressive. And yeah, interesting to see, especially Alabama just holding on to that top spot even with losing the coaches they did.

now it's an embarrassment of riches. Clemson's getting there, it looks like George's getting there as well, So we will certainly have to see how all of this plays out on the field. But again, recruiting is the lifeblood we did a great show on recruiting. I say great, I'm proud of the show we did a year ago. Go back and look at how recruiting works. Yeah, the show that we did, we reported out how the process goes down if you are a top level recruit, if you're

a coach, if you're a media member. We can post a link to that show if you're interesting. Did in the description of this one.

nineteen has in store. As you know, if you've been listening for a while, or if you just found us out there on the interwebs, we're gonna be with you all off season. We're gonna be talking college football all off season. We'll do our best to make it as fun as possible and hold you over until the games actually start up. In the I guess August September time frame later on this year, so we appreciate you standing

by here. You can always post a review if you're going out to Apple, iTunes, dot com, slash solid Verbal, or really wherever you can find your podcasts. Any review is always very helpful. Check us out on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, and of course visit the reddit the subreddit at reddit dot com slash r slash solid verbal. Let's say sub started buiver ballers for overballers.

not supposed to, but you care. I know, you can do whatever you want. It's a free country.

time I or after every time I use it. So today, for example, cook my breakfast on it, which make it just some eggs, you know, some scrambled eggs, some fried eggs.

something like that. That's just what they do. So just like I speak sarcastically to my son. So like when I'm changing his diaper and he's wailing, like, okay, yeah, poor you, you're being weight. So I just I make it a conversation. I don't get I don't get upset, I don't get discouraged by wailing tears. It's just it's now a back and forth that we have what.

navigating the New York subway system. And it's just obviously he has no idea what I'm saying, but there is something soothing about talking to him in a non baby voice that I think is like, oh, this is this is the gentleman who's going to try to keep me alive cool. I get the cadence of his voice, and it's just it makes you feel like a human being.