October’s winners and losers on the recruiting path
October noticed a bunch of commitments and almost 50 decommitments, which was inordinately excessive for this time of yr. Here’s a take a look at 5 applications that received the month – and three that misplaced it.
WINNERS
The switch portal has been a significant focus for coach Deion Sanders as he seems to rebuild Colorado’s roster however the Buffaloes actually picked their spots in October and landed two main flips – and so they’re nonetheless very a lot within the working for five-star quarterback Julian Lewis.
4-star receiver Adrian Wilson flipped to Colorado from Arizona State. Excessive three-star defensive deal with Christian Hudson flipped to the Buffaloes from UCF.
Colorado is as soon as once more a really aggressive soccer staff within the Huge 12 and Lewis was on campus once more final weekend as Sanders and his workers look to land one other splash dedication for the reason that five-star has been dedicated to USC for greater than a yr.
Georgia has a top-four recruiting class nationally – which is definitely low for the Bulldogs in comparison with different years underneath coach Kirby Sensible – however the Dawgs made up some good floor in October by touchdown three commitments.
Beating Auburn and Florida State for four-star working again Ousmane Kromah was necessary however lastly sealing the pledge of five-star defensive lineman Elijah Griffin may very well be a game-changer on this class. Three-star linebacker Anthony Kruah flipped his dedication from North Carolina to Georgia and that ought to not go unnoticed, both.
Kentucky has had a depressing month on the soccer subject with losses to Vanderbilt, Florida and Auburn with a recreation at Tennessee this weekend however recruiting has really been fairly productive.
The Wildcats landed 4 pledges within the month with receiver Montavin Quisenberry flipping from West Virginia and tight finish Mikkel Skinner flipping from Cincinnati as he may very well be a stellar addition to the category.
Three-star offensive lineman Jayden Clark together with three-star security Dyllon Williams, a former Missouri pledge, added to Kentucky’s class that now sits at No. 20 within the 2025 rankings.
Shedding excessive four-star quarterback Deuce Knight hurts, there’s no means round that, however the Irish didn’t sulk in a nook when the Lucedale (Miss.) George County standout flipped to Auburn. As a substitute, Notre Dame went out and flipped Clemson four-star quarterback commit Blake Hebert.
That was one large commit in October for the Irish and there have been two others in in-state offensive lineman Cameron Herron, a former Iowa pledge, and excessive three-star security Antavious Richardson, a former South Florida dedication.
Notre Dame was additionally hoping for a dedication from San Juan Capistrano (Calif.) JSerra Catholic’s Madden Faraimo in October. That didn’t occur as USC is making a major push for him however the Irish are nonetheless proper there in his recruitment.
On the sphere, it’s been a wildly irritating month for USC because the Trojans misplaced to Minnesota, Penn State and Maryland – all by a landing or much less. They bounced again final week towards Rutgers in a 42-20 win and journey to Washington this weekend.
In recruiting, there was excellent news and none of it got here from in-state prospects. The Trojans landed a dedication from four-star defensive deal with Floyd Boucard from Miami (Fla.) Central as he’s a former Oklahoma pledge.
Three-star athlete Stephen Miller from Greensboro (Ga.) Greene County additionally dedicated – and he visited campus with four-star FSU defensive deal with commit Kevin Wynn, who’s additionally now USC, Georgia and others. Huge four-star offensive deal with Aaron Dunn from Spanish Fork, Utah, additionally flipped his dedication from the Utes to USC because the Trojans hold trying to beef up alongside their traces.
LOSERS
It’s been a no good, very dangerous yr for Florida State on the sphere and the month of October did the Seminoles no favors in recruiting, both.
Florida State landed commitments from offensive linemen Mario Nash Jr. and Daniel Pierre Louis however misplaced pledges from three four-star receivers in CJ Wiley, Daylan McCuthceon and Malik Clark. That may be a ton of firepower to lose this late within the recruiting cycle.
Oh, and Florida State is 1-7 this season. Simply arduous to imagine.
First-year coach Jeff Lebby is making an attempt to construct one thing particular at Mississippi State. It’s been a battle in a brutal SEC and October did him no favors.
The Bulldogs are 1-7, losers of seven straight after beating Jap Kentucky, 56-7, within the season opener.
Mississippi State additionally had 4 decommitments in October and so they had been large ones as four-star JUCO defensive finish Kevonte Henry flipped to Alabama, four-star offensive lineman Mario Nash went to Florida State, three-star linebacker Austin Howard backed off his pledge and three-star athlete Stephen Miller flipped to USC.
North Carolina had no decommitments in its 2025 class – till October. That’s when three-star tight ends Marshall Pritchett and Logan Farrell backed off their pledges as they dedicated to Alabama and Illinois, respectively.
That’s not all. The Tar Heels additionally suffered a decommitment from excessive three-star linebacker Anthony Kruah, who flipped to Georgia.
The Tar Heels have additionally misplaced 4 of their final 5 video games and coach Mack Brown appeared to trace at retirement after a loss earlier this season to James Madison.
