The college football recruiting calendar is picking up and after the first big visit weekend of June, here are five teams with palpable momentum.
It’s visit season for college football recruiting and most programs were hosting recruits for official and unofficial visits over the weekend.
Clemson football hosted a huge official visit weekend, something that the Tigers had never done before in the summer. But over 30 recruits were on campus and it has already paid off in a big way for Dabo Swinney and the Tigers.
Notre Dame football also had a bunch of top recruits on campus over the weekend including five-star quarterback CJ Carr in the 2024 class and guess what? The Irish are now projected to land the Michigan football legacy (grandson of Lloyd Carr) who is set to announce on Thursday.
Notre Dame is the overwhelming favorite after getting a slew of expert projections this week and in terms of college football teams with recruiting momentum, the Irish are as hot as it gets.
So after the first big visit weekend of June, which sets the stage for a big month in college football recruiting, we look at five teams with momentum, starting with the Irish.
Notre Dame football
The Irish have the top-ranked college football recruiting class in 2023 right now according to On3 and 247 sports. But they are getting 2024 off to a strong start too and after months of pursuing five-star Dante Moore, another QB from Michigan in the 2023 class, Notre Dame football went all-in on CJ Carr and it worked.
However, the Irish are trending with all sorts of crystal ball predictions from 247 sports, it’s literally insane. A trio of 2023 recruits Micah Bell (3-star 2023 CB), Elijah Page (3-star 2023 OT), and Joe Otting have all been projected to Notre Dame, as well as 2024 wideout Cam Williams.
Update: Otting has just committed to Notre Dame football.
The Carr commitment this week is only going to add to that momentum and after putting together a really strong class in 2022, the Irish are looking at more elite hauls in 2023 and 2024.
Clemson football
Sometimes, you have to change things up and you have to give Dabo credit for seeing that Clemson football had to start doing things a little differently.
Clemson used to do unofficial visits in the summer and with most other college football powers offering official visits (which are paid for) as opposed to unofficial visits, which put the onus on the athlete and his family to pay for expenses, it’s easy to see how Clemson could get behind.
But the Tigers changed up their strategy and hosted more than 30 recruits on campus last weekend. Dabo hooped it up and it showed that the effort is important because coming out of that weekend, the Tigers already have two verbal commitments in the 2023 class.
Top 200 offensive line Ian Reed pledged to Clemson football after his official visit over the weekend. He’s ranked 11th in the state of Texas out of Austin and is 196th overall (via On3). That commitment came on Tuesday but another dropped on Monday and that was four-star cornerback Avieon Terrell.
On3 ranks him 277th overall in the 2023 class but he was another visitor and in more good news, Clemson football has also gotten crystal ball projections for Robert Billings (3-star 2023 S), Zechariah Owen (4-star 2023 OT), Ahmad Brown (3-star 2023 S), AJ Hoffler (3-star 2023 DL), and Markus Dixon (3-star 2023 TE).
Plus there are others that Clemson football has made a move with and it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Tigers keep racking up commitments this month.
Nebraska football
Scott Frost re-worked his contract, got a vote of confidence, and revamped his coaching staff (on offense) and so far things have worked out beautifully, at least on the recruiting trail.
The Huskers did a great job of adding talent via the transfer portal and this program seems to have as much depth as any time in the Frost era at key positions.
And in even better news, things are really starting to pick up in the 2023 recruiting class. Nebraska football added two commitments over the weekend and now has four of the top nine in-state players committed as part of the 2023 class.
What’s more, is that the top-two ranked players in Nebraska in 2023, Malachi Coleman and Maverick Noonan, are each trending with expert predictions to the Huskers along with top-100 wideout and former LSU commitment Omarion Miller.
Riley Van Poppel, a top-500 prospect in the 247 sports composite rankings on the defensive line, from Texas, is also trending to the Huskers, as is four-star O-lineman Amir Herring from Michigan.
Nebraska football is taking care of business in the Cornhusker state and also starting to do the same with some blue chips and that’s a recipe for success for Scott Frost.
Cincinnati
The Bearcats are fresh off a berth in the College Football Playoff and with their move to the Big 12 just around the corner, Cincinnati has a really strong chance to build another good recruiting class.
Cincinnati was off to a solid start going into the month of June with eight verbal commitments, however, the Bearcats have as much momentum as anyone in college football recruiting right now with nine verbal pledges this month, including four-star safety Daeh McCullough. They also have the fourth-ranked recruiting class right now in 2023 according to the 247 team rankings.
McCullough was the biggest name to come on board in the 2023 class for the Bearcats this past weekend but seven of the other eight ranked in the top 1,000 of the 247 sports composite rankings and only one ranked lower than a three-star.
Ayden Greene (433rd overall) should remind Cincinnati fans of Alec Pierce, while Luke Evans is a top-500 cornerback that just committed. Add in Brady Drogosh, a three-star QB (ranked 11th in the state of Michigan, 491 overall), and Luke Fickell’s team is off to a strong start this summer.
Michigan State Football
There’s no doubt that Mel Tucker has made a splash in recruiting since taking over as Michigan State football coach and the Spartans are looking to crank things up, even more, this summer.
No college football team has hosted more blue-chip prospects or will host more blue-chippers than Michigan State football will and after the first big visit weekend, the Spartans landed Chance Rucker, a four-star cornerback out of Texas ranked 275th overall according to the 247 sports composite rankings.
The Spartans have seven total commitments and four of them are four-star recruits which gives them a nice ratio. Jaylon Braxton, another four-star cornerback from Texas also got a crystal ball to Michigan State, as did three-star athlete Demetrius Bell.
The first step is getting big-time athletes on campus and Michigan State football has been able to do that. Now, the key is winning some of those recruitments. The Spartans haven’t landed a top-100 recruit under Tucker and just three in the top-200.
If Michigan State football is going to take the next step, that will need to change but as of now, the Spartans have momentum and we’ll see what they can do with it.