The college football coaching carousel dust has yet to settle, but the future of every college football roster hangs in the balance anyway as the Early Signing Period kicks off Wednesday.
The de facto National Signing Day over the last five years could be in jeopardy of change, as many attribute early firings and swift hiring in the sport to the December period. This could even be the last one, per SI’s Ross Dellenger, and if so it won’t be one to soon forget based on the movement expected Wednesday and throughout the week.
Alabama enters the period with the top recruiting class with SEC foes Georgia and Texas A&M on its heels in what should be a photo finish between the three for the nation’s top class. The Crimson Tide enters the day with the most SI99 recruits, with nine verbally committed, followed by UGA and TAMU with eight apiece.
It won’t just be about the top of the recruiting mountain, though, as new coaching staffs look to hit the ground running and programs down on the field push to add instant-impact talent to bounce back next fall. As the first day of the Early Signing Period kicks off, Sports Illustrated will track the biggest recruiting news all in one place while each signature allows for the class of 2022 takes shape.
We will update this live blog throughout Wednesday with recruiting scoop, breaking news, analysis and more en route to crowning an ESP champion this evening.
(All times eastern)
—
7:06 am – The first SI99 National Letter of Intent to be seen is that of Jaeden Gould, the defensive back out of New Jersey who committed to Nebraska on Tuesday and signed first thing Wednesday morning. Gould went in-depth on the decision.
7:00 am – The biggest shift in momentum leading up to signing day may lie with Billy Napier and the Florida Gators. Entering the day with just seven verbal commitments, the staff has hit the ground running and is in play for many big names over the course of the day, including flip candidates at Georgia (Shone Washington, Julian Humphrey), SI99 linebacker Shemar James and No. 1 safety Kamari Wilson, among others. Late Tuesday evening, a source told SI to expect a strong first impression at UF.
“Don’t be surprised if there are several flips to UF,” the source said.
6:45 am – After a big weekend on the offensive line, adding three verbal commitment including SI99 recruit Kelvin Banks, Texas continues to trend in the right direction. Steve Sarkisian and company are in the mix for multiple elite recruits Wednesday and could be on the verge of a top five recruiting class by day’s end. There is even some chatter on keeping elite in-state defensive back recruit Terrance Brooks, the No. 1 nickel in America, within state lines despite a longstanding pledge to Ohio State.
6:30 am – Miami could surprise on Wednesday beyond being in the running for several prospects it previously sat on the outside looking in for. Local pass rusher Nyjalik Kelly is the first big Miami domino to eye and he is expected to make the call between UM, Florida State and others shortly after 10:00 am. The nation’s No. 1 slot receiver, Kevin Coleman, will make a similar call between the Canes and Seminoles, but it won’t likely be revealed until the All-American Bowl in January.
4:00 am – One of the transition coaching staffs expecting to lock in a headlining recruit is Duke’s under Mike Elko. One of the later hires in the wild coaching carousel, the program has only suffered a pair of decommitments since transitioning from David Cutcliffe. The veteran coach’s biggest get in the 2022 cycle, Bronx (N.Y.) Cardinal Hayes quarterback Henry Belin, was considering not signing this week in order to look into other programs reaching out like Ole Miss, Syracuse and Rutgers, but communication with Elko has changed his plan. Expect him to sign Wednesday morning.
“I’ve talked to Coach Elko pretty much every day since the night he got signed,” Belin said. “I am gonna go ahead and sign. I’m confident in Coach Elko and what he’s gonna do with the program.”
Midnight – LSU has landed the first commitment of the Brian Kelly era. In-state wide receiver Landon Ibieta, a longtime commitment to Miami, picked up a Tiger offer within the last week and was in Baton Rouge over the weekend before announcing his commitment Tuesday evening. It may not be a banner day relative to normal recruiting expectations, but multiple uncommitted Louisianans are expected to ink with the Tigers Wednesday.
Overnight – The European prospects have begun signing National Letters of Intent, as those with the opportunity to sign can begin doing so at 7:00 am local time. Players from Denmark, Germany and Sweden are among those officially on board to kick off their respective program’s signatures. Of course, Australia is nearly 16 hours ahead of America on the clock, so specialists from the nation were first in the door.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()
{n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}
;if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;
n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,
document,’script’,’https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
(function(){
fbq(‘init’, ‘1103097776498609’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
var contentId = ‘ci0294c66ab00026c3’;
if (contentId !== ”) {
fbq(‘track’, ‘ViewContent’, {content_ids: [contentId], content_type: ‘product’});
}
})();
Source link
Discover more from Today Headline
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.