Rivals national recruiting analyst John Garcia Jr. is joined by national rankings director Adam Friedman and national recruiting analysts Marshall Levenson and Sam Spiegelman to tackle three topics and determine whether they believe each statement is FACT or FICTION.
1.
Blue-chip Miami commitment Hylton Stubbs is on the verge of earning his fifth star.
Friedman: FACT. Hylton Stubbs isn’t a no-brainer five-star but he’s proven time and time again that he is one of the best defensive backs in this class and he has a set of skills that translates to the next level. His top end speed is a bit worrisome for a prospect we’d essentially be predicting will be a first round draft pick but his coverage skills in the secondary, wingspan, leaping abilities, and physical style all give me confidence in him becoming a standout at the next level.
Garcia: FACT. There are few prospects who have seemingly upped their stock at just about every opportunity over the last year or so the way Stubbs has. He had a monster junior season at Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin, profiling as a balanced leader on the back-end, flashing with his range and ball skills in coverage while plenty willing to work down the alley or into the box to make noise closer to the line of scrimmage.
What has been revealed since the 2023 campaign is just how comfortable Stubbs is in space, where his man coverage skills have been at or near the top compared to any non cornerback projections in the cycle. It continued back at the Rivals Five-Star, where the Miami commitment won the vertical leap challenge, had a strong run in one-on-ones and also helped lead his team to the 7-on-7 tournament crown.
2.
Clemson is in the driver’s seat for four-star linebacker Logan Anderson.
Spiegelman: FACT. No prospect in the South had a more productive camp season than Logan Anderson, who has shined in his transition from safety down to linebacker and tested and performed well at college campuses across the region this summer. Since May 31, Anderson has collected offers from the likes of Georgia, Clemson, Auburn, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, among others, while also flashing during the Rivals Five-Star event at the end of June.
As Anderson looks to lock in a decision before his senior season, Ole Miss and Clemson are the two programs trending at the top with the speedy second-level defender. Anderson is set to get back to Death Valley at the end of the month. I like the Tigers’ chances with Anderson, who fits the profile of a Clemson recruit.
Garcia: FACT. The Tigers are all but a public leader for the speedy linebacker at this point and the return trip to campus should only push that narrative further. Anderson has long been high on Ole Miss, too, and the allure of playing SEC ball won’t be easy to turn down for the Alabama native. If he holds onto the preseason decision timeline, the Tigers look like a safe bet at this time, but there has already been some delay to his decision-making process — so the door for the Rebels or others may still be cracked open.
Anderson was arguably the nation’s hottest camp prospect so it would be somewhat fitting for him to end the process where his rise took shape in Death Valley.
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3.
Four-star QB Ty Hawkins would not have flipped to SMU if not for the program’s move into the ACC.
Levenson: FACT. I would go as far to say that the move to the ACC was the single biggest catalyst for Ty Hawkins‘ flip to SMU. The resources, growing national brand and new competitive aspects of the programs were the three primary factors in his interest in the Mustangs.
Because of the move into the power four conferences, SMU has been able to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars of funding into the program. That has also brought in big donors who are willing to fund NIL for SMU. If the move never took place, that same support would not have been built up.
Playing in a power conference and being able to play early was a massive goal for Hawkins and with all the resources being poured into SMU, he has been open that they allow him to have the best opportunities, both on and off the field, including when he is done with college.
Garcia: FACT. Hawkins was a longtime pledge to Sonny Dykes and TCU and the Lone Star State native wasn’t an easy flip away from the program. It means all of the factors had to have been in play to make the move, and the optics of voluntarily leaving a Power Four “spot” as the face of the next recruiting class (and possibly beyond) for one at a lower level would present a different type of way. SMU’s move into the ACC, which all of a sudden feels wide open, wasn’t met with much surprise in the industry — maybe outside of timing.
That Power Four threshold is a legitimate milestone for every recruit, and we know how accelerated and fluid it is for the quarterback position, so every data point at the top of the list played a large part. Plenty comes along with the move into the top tier of the sport, of course, but the surface of perception boost holds its own weight.
