Liucci 44: Rankings update for the state's top high school prospects for 2021
With the early signing period in sight, Billy Liucci offers an update of his class of 2021 rankings as he adjusts his list of the 44 best prospects in the state of Texas.
Scattershooting Recruiting: A Saturday survey of A&M's work on the trail
Texas A&M has it rolling on the field, and the Aggies are likely to see those results translate to the recruiting trail where Jimbo Fisher is building another top-ten class. Billy Liucci catches up on all of the biggest recruiting storylines during the Aggies' bye week.
Around Texas: A round-up of recruiting news in the Lone Star State
Around the state of Texas, decisions are being made, visits are being taken, and offers are being extended as recruiting never stops in this great state. It is time to take a look at the latest happenings on the Lone Star state recruiting front.
Was looking at the class numbers
...as far the composite rankings go. The Ags are currently at No. 15 with 16 commits. This stuff is fun and you can go down about 7,000 different rabbit holes here but I just wanted to keep it simple. If A&M added LJ Johnson Jr, Shemar Turner and Elijah Jeudy they'd be at No. 8 between Georgia and Tennessee (yes, remember when Tennessee had the greatest class in history earlier this cycle?). That would be 19 commits for the Ags. UGA only has 16 so they're going to stay ahead barring very limited numbers that I'm not following enough to know. Ahead of them is USC with 22 commits. Behind the Ags would be Tenn (25 commits) and Florida (24), plus Notre Dame (19), MIami (22) and MIchigan (20) so I don't think anyone outside of ND would be positioned to catch the Ags on the close out. OU (one spot ahead of the Ags right now despite having one less commit) would be one that could remain ahead with a similar close but that's about it.And if you really want to have some fun, throw Bryce Foster into the mix and push that number to 20. That puts you at 6 directly behind the defending national champs. Then there are the guys like MJ Daniels, Taleeq Robbins, Yulkeith Brown, Remington Strickland (not offered yet but he's one I'd love to see the Ags go on), Landon Jackson (composite No 112), Je'lin Samuels, Amari Daniels and a few others that won't necessarily push you up the rankings once you're trying to climb up in the top-10 but any of whom could possibly factor into the close out.And of course you have highly very highly-regarded guys like Tywone Malone (National No 55), Louisiana WR Brian Thomas (#62) and even Florida S Terrion Arnold (#161) and San Diego RB Byron Cardwell (#171) still in the mix but I just went with three (and four if you want to throw in Foster, who still feels like a straight up A&M/OU H2H) fairly realistic 'gets' down the stretch for Jimbo Fisher and Co. to give you an idea of what would push the Ags into that '5-8 range' that so many folks are asking about.
DE recruiting notes
Made some phone calls tonight to see if I could gather more intel on the direction of defensive end recruiting down the stretch to early Signing Day.- Some of you have probably seen by now that Tunmise Adeleye put out his top 3 tonight of A&M, Florida, and Alabama. Terry Price has been leading the charge on this one since day one, and I was told TP has spoken to Tunmise as recently as today. I can also confirm that Tunmise has made an extended trip to town to hang out with friends and continue to get a feel for College Station. I spoke with a UF insider about the Gators' chances, and the folks in Gainesville feel like they're going to be tough to beat in this one, but it also sounds like there's confidence out of the Alabama camp, as well. Tunmise is good friends with Princely Umanmielen, the DE from Manor who signed with Florida last cycle, as well as former teammate Jalen Milroe who is committed to Alabama. In considering all that, I can say that this one is difficult to pin down in terms of which way it's leaning. I've been told Tunmise is taking classes at Katy Tompkins and is just working out to get ready for playing ball at the next level. We'll obviously continue to monitor this deal to see if the pendulum starts to swing one way or another, but for now, I'd continue to put Adeleye into that group of possibilities at defensive end in this class. - Pasadena Sam Rayburn DE Je'lin Samuels committed to SMU tonight. On the surface, that's an outstanding get for the Ponies, but we'll what happens there if the heavy hitters in the region decide to throw their hat into the ring. - Not much new on Philadelphia (PA) DE Elijah Jeudy as I checked around tonight. The Aggie coaching staff continues to do all they can to make sure they've got a seat at the table come decision time. Don't forget: he is a teammate of current Aggie commit Tyreek Chappell. Still, he's one of the most heralded prospect in that entire region and will be a tough pull for Elijah Robinson and Mike Elko.