Football season is weeks away, and time is running out for prospects who want to wrap up their recruitment before the start of their season.
Rivals.com national recruiting analyst John Garcia Jr. looks at five Sunshine State blue-chippers scheduled to commit in August.
MORE IN THIS SERIES: Key Mid-South commitment decisions | Key Southeast commitment decisions | Key Midwest commitment decisions
Timetable: Aug. 3
The talented safety will come off the board in less than two weeks, but there is one big visit still left to be had before that point — across the country to Washington. The weekend trip to Seattle will be a return trip for Clardy, who took an official visit to the program in June.
UCF, Florida State, Ole Miss and Mississippi State each received trips from Clardy in June, and he released a top 10 in early July.
Coming down the home stretch, three programs seem poised to make a move to the top of Clardy’s list by the time a decision is to be revealed. UW, of course, snags one spot while two of the programs closest to home in Florida State and Ole Miss also have buzz attached to their name.
Going into the final stretch, Rivals sources have Ole Miss as a singular team to beat.
*****
Timetable: Aug. 16
Four programs remain for the dynamic athlete, who is dominating AAU events in between football camps and visits this offseason. Fitzgerald has long been high on Florida, Florida State and Miami while LSU has charged up his list in recent months as well. Official visits to all four programs are in the books and as of this writing, Miami is slated to get him on campus this weekend to wrap up the pre-decision visit slate.
The Hurricanes, where Fitzgerald has considerable ties as a Columbus High School product, have been viewed more on the outside looking in of late compared to both Florida and Florida State. Will the weekend in Coral Gables shake things up?
*****
Timetable: Aug. 30
There are a handful of programs still in the mix for one of the most polished wideouts in the class – LSU, Miami, Ohio State, Tennessee and Texas — after a busy few months on the visit trail.
The program holding the most public buzz has been Texas, but Ffrench has insisted the race is much closer than that. The two programs slated to get visits out of him at the end of the month, LSU and Miami, have been plenty consistent in their chase for the Jacksonville native as well.
Ffrench allowing the visit highs to settle for more than a month before coming off the board at the end of August could push this recruitment closer to the current expectation. Or the trips could change everything. The only surprises ahead with this contested battle would be a victory for Ohio State or Tennessee in the end.
*****
Timetable: Aug. 24
A wide receiver coveted since he was a freshman, Howard is now in the final stages of the recruiting process. Florida and Florida State have long courted him and he could take in-season trips to each campus, but the plan right now is to come off the board before that point. His new program, Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade Madonna, hosts fellow national power Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco on national television on Aug. 24. There is a tentative plan to release a commitment during the broadcast.
Howard has Florida, Florida State, Ole Miss and Penn State among the programs highest on his list. June official visits to Oxford and Happy Valley could have those two programs in the best position, with a return trip to Penn State set for this weekend.
*****
Timetable: TBD
The top-10 running back has repeatedly said he learned all he needed to during his official visit slate – Florida State, Georgia, Miami and Wisconsin. Each was a return trip to those campuses to form a de facto top four. Louis has mentioned a preseason decision in the past, but recently he has seemingly slowed that thinking down some. With no clear timeline to make the call, the four-star could be on commitment watch indefinitely for the time being.
Should Louis’ recruitment creep into the season, where he sets his initial game visits could be quite telling. It could bring the recruitment full-circle toward in-state rivals Miami and Florida State before all is said and done. Each has jockeyed for lead position with the balanced back for months.
