This is the digital version of Until Saturday. Sign up here to receive it daily in your inbox.
The early signing period has begun! (Be sure to follow the action here.)
Signing Time
Georgia leads familiar top five …
A lot can change over the next three days, but let’s take a look at where things begin. Entering today, here were the programs with the top 2024 recruiting classes per the 247Sports Composite.
1. Georgia (27 commits): three five-stars, 20 four-stars
The Bulldogs are the subject of an interesting recruiting paradox, securing dominant classes without owning their own state. Not only did the program lose a commitment from No. 1 in-state QB Dylan Raiola on Monday, Georgia has just one commitment from any of the top 15 prospects in its state. Yet it’s on track to be the No. 1 class all the same.
2. Ohio State (22 commits): five five-stars, 13 four-stars
The Buckeyes have the most five-star commits of any team. Ohio State writer Cameron Teague Robinson is fond of this group’s cornerbacks, while the offensive line could be its biggest weakness.
3. Alabama (22 commits): three five-stars, 14 four-stars
The Tide don’t have any running backs committed, but they did host 2024 prospects Kevin Riley (four-star Miami commit) and Jadan Baugh (three-star former Arkansas commit) over the weekend. Hailing from Tuscaloosa County (Ala.) High, Riley is an obvious flip target for Nick Saban.
4. Florida State (23 commits): two five-stars, 15 four-stars
Entering the signing period, the Seminoles’ top-five ranking is on thin ice. They scored big over the summer with a commitment from No. 1 safety KJ Bolden out of Buford (Ga.) High, but the five-star prospect could flip to Georgia. FSU has verbal pledges from two of the top 10 recruits in its state, but DL Armondo Blount is likely to flip back to Miami.
5. Texas (22 commits): four five-stars, 15 four-stars
The Longhorns flipped five-star safety Xavier Filsaime from Florida on Monday. Steve Sarkisian now has three of the top 10 players in Texas committed to the Horns.
The rest of the top 10: Miami (one five-star, 11 four-stars), Oklahoma (one five-star, 18 four-stars), Oregon (18 four-stars), Notre Dame (one five-star, 15 four-stars), Florida (two five-stars, 11 four-stars).
… but there’s more parity than usual
Here’s an early takeaway: The Class of 2024 could be more distributed than ever before. As this Yahoo Sports article points out, the top 10 recruits in Rivals’ rankings are committed to 10 different schools. That has never happened before.
In the 2023 cycle, Alabama signed three of those top 10. In 2022, Georgia took three. And in 2021, Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia each took a pair of Rivals’ top 10.
This cycle, we have a much broader list: Ohio State, Nebraska, Missouri, Alabama, Auburn, Texas Tech (!), Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas and Miami. (Per the Composite, Georgia has two of the top 10, but it’s still a much wider spread than usual.)
- Listen to the Until Saturday podcast for more signing period prep.
And now, here’s Stewart Mandel on UCLA coach Chip Kelly’s pitch for a football breakout league.
Mandel’s Mailbag
How far is the NCAA from actually becoming a 64-team league like Chip Kelly described? — Craig B., Charlotte, N.C.
Everything Kelly said at his bowl-game press conference made a ton of common sense, but some parts were more practical than others.
The key point he’s making, which is spot-on, is that UCLA joining the Big Ten in football should not necessitate UCLA volleyball, swimming, track and field, etc., having to join the Big Ten as well. “Our softball team should be playing Arizona in softball,” he said. It’s worth pointing out that this already happens. Not every conference offers every sport, and thus, while Florida and Vanderbilt are SEC members in football, their women’s lacrosse teams play in the AAC. Most of Notre Dame’s non-football teams compete in the ACC, but its hockey team is in the Big Ten. And so on and so forth.
Advertisement
So yes, UCLA, USC, Oregon, Washington, go play wherever you want in football, but your other sports should be in a West Coast league with Stanford, Cal and others. Those schools’ impact on the Big Ten’s TV value is almost entirely derived from football. They can use that money to fund other sports.
As for Kelly’s proposed 64-team football conference — that sounds neat and tidy, but what incentive do the SEC and Big Ten have to join forces with the less-valued ACC and Big 12? “Every year, we (would) play seven games against the West Coast teams, and then we play the East — Syracuse, Boston College, Pitt, West Virginia, Virginia. Then the next year you play the South, while you still play your seven (West Coast) teams.” That’s … not an attractive schedule. Fox is paying you guys $65 million a year to play Ohio State and Penn State, not Syracuse and Boston College.
As I’ve written every couple of months for the past five years, when conference consolidation comes, the magic cutline won’t be 64; it will be 32 or less. It will be the very top brands that drive the overwhelming majority of the TV value banding together. Especially once the courts inevitably rule that schools must share their revenue with the athletes and/or pay them a salary. Ohio State, with its $250 million in annual athletics revenue, can afford to cut those checks without breaking a sweat. Maryland, whose overall budget is less than half that ($114 million), would have a much tougher time of it.
In the meantime, though, I’d love to see some common sense reconfiguration that separates Power 5 football from Power 5 everything else.
Read the rest of the mailbag here.
Quick Snaps
Another bowl game rally!
UTSA came back from a 14-0 deficit to beat Marshall 35-17 in the Frisco Bowl last night. This was the Roadrunners’ first bowl win in program history. (There are no bowl games scheduled for today. All eyes are on recruiting!)
Grace Raynor tells the inspiring story of Benedict Umeh, a four-star defensive lineman in the 2024 class who missed his entire senior season after being diagnosed with Stage IV lymphoma. Today, he will sign with Stanford, cancer-free. A must-read.
Advertisement
Why was USC’s 2023 such a letdown? Lincoln Riley could have a larger culture issue to address this offseason. I enjoyed this deeply reported story from Antonio Morales and Bruce Feldman yesterday on the Trojans’ season that just kept getting worse.
Florida State feels left at a crossroads after its historic snub for the College Football Playoff. Where does the program turn now?
Four-star QB Mabrey Mettauer will sign with Wisconsin’s 2024 class today. Could he be the perfect fit for OC Phil Longo’s system?
(Top photo of Jeremiah Smith: Don Juan Moore / Getty Images)
