Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Friedman has thoughts on Colorado‘s recruiting strategy, prospects nearing a commitment and potential major changes to the college football landscape.
COLORADO’S TRANSFER RECRUITING STRATEGY
Deion Sanders and his strategy for recruiting at Colorado continues to confuse me. The Buffaloes signed just 10 high school prospects in the 2024 cycle and have landed 25 transfers but have lost 24 players to the transfer portal as of Wednesday afternoon. More importantly, star defensive back signee Cormani McClain and seven offensive linemen are transferring and they’ve only picked up five offensive linemen via the portal. The elite defensive back talent only chose Colorado because of Sanders but that marriage failed.
Coach Prime was publicly begging offensive linemen to come to Colorado so Shedeur doesn’t get flattened again this season and now they’ve got less depth at the position than last year.
On Tuesday, Shedeur and Shilo Sanders posted on their social media accounts that any prospects looking to transfer should reach out to them. Why them? Are they the ones deciding which players Colorado should recruit? Are they the recruiting coordinators for Colorado?
What happened to “I ain’t hard to find” Coach Prime? Where is he?
He’s come up with plenty of excuses why he shouldn’t be out on the road visiting/recruiting players but if something doesn’t change soon Colorado may not be getting the help it desperately needs for the 2024 season.
*****
COMMITMENT WATCH
Many of the top-ranked prospects in the East region are already committed but there are some other prospects who are close to ending their recruitment. Take a look at some of the East prospects with commitments on the horizon.
Daniels named a top eight of Alabama, Duke, Miami, Texas A&M, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Virginia Tech, and South Carolina last month but it seems like the Gamecocks have been steadily making their way to the top of his list.
The Virginia native has been in close contact with the coaches for a long time and has a former teammate who signed with South Carolina in the 2024 class in Fred Johnson. Daniels is set to announce his commitment on Sunday afternoon with the finalists being South Carolina, Duke, Virginia Tech and Penn State.
Hall announced a top five of Rutgers, Maryland, Duke, Syracuse and West Virginia earlier this month and is scheduled to announce a commitment on June 29. Odds are good, however, that he commits before that date. Syracuse is supposed to get him for an official visit on June 7 and he has an official visit scheduled for West Virginia on May 31.
A commitment to one of those two programs wouldn’t be surprising at all but watch out for Rutgers here too.
A visit to Wisconsin last month appears to have been a game-changer for Miller. The athlete out of New Jersey had been leaning toward Kentucky but the momentum has swung to the Badgers. A commitment could be on the way but summer official visits to both programs along with Rutgers are likely.
Rowe has taken visits to South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Virginia in the last couple of months. He got a chance to see spring practices at most of these schools and has set up official visits to North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia for June.
Rowe has been looking at committing at some point prior to August and, theoretically, after he took his official visits. Now there is a chance he could be committing before the end of this month. Each of those three schools have a great shot at landing him. All three programs have their spring game this weekend so maybe there will be some extra fireworks for one of them.
Thomas’ recruitment seems to be speeding up. The New Jersey standout has a top five of Penn State, Syracuse, Boston College, Rutgers and Illinois. Thomas recently returned to Illinois for a visit and the Illini have been building some strong connections with him.
The same can be said for Syracuse. The Orange seem to have some momentum in his recruitment and there have been rumors a commitment announcement might be around the corner. Those rumors have, so far, been incorrect but where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Keep an eye on Rutgers here as well.
*****
COLLEGE FOOTBALL SUPER LEAGUE
Earlier this month, a report from The Athletic detailed a plan to overhaul the nuts and bolts of the current college football system. The plan, dubbed the “Super League,” is the brainchild of a group that calls themselves College Sports Tomorrow, which is made up of influential individuals from various corners of the sports world.
In details revealed yesterday by Sportico, the Super League is focusing on stabilizing and standardizing four major parts of the college football universe: conference realignment, NIL, the calendar and transfers.
The details of this plan have sparked a range of reactions from fans, university officials and other media members but after reading through the details myself, the biggest question that popped into my head was: Isn’t this where we’re already heading?
Conference realignment (read: consolidation) is going to reach a point where the two biggest conferences (the SEC and Big Ten) eventually split into regional divisions within each conference. Once realignment settles down, a standardized college football season, post-season, and offseason calendar will be easier to implement.
Whether through court rulings or Congressional action, the issues of revenue sharing, NIL, and backpay to settle all the lawsuits will get sorted out. Those resolutions will set the stage for a more structured transfer policy.
Any major changes to the foundations of college football won’t occur without the support of the SEC and Big Ten, and neither has thrown its weight behind the plan from College Sports Tomorrow. Surely, they’re committed to maintaining their control over the future of the sport and it would be surprising to see them give up any power they have.
