Your weekly serving of college football roster acquisition thoughts — recruiting, transfer portal, you name it — from 247Sports Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins.
Will Ohio State sign a WR class up to its standards?
Ohio State has never signed the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class, but as we cross the halfway point of June, the Buckeyes are one of the few programs that have a legitimate path to a No. 1 finish. Indeed, that’s where their Class of 2025 commitment haul sits entering Father’s Day weekend.
What’s a bit ironic, however, is that if Ryan Day and his staff are going to make history, they need to close strong with a few wide receivers. Easy, right? Not so fast, my friend. While few have recruited — and developed — the wide receiver position like all-star assistant Brian Hartline has in recent years, it still remains unclear which wide receivers the Buckeyes are actually going to land in addition to De’Zie Jones, who ranks on the low end of four-star status with a 90 rating, and top-100 prospect Quincy Porter, who committed to Ohio State on June 14, around the time of this article’s publication. Porter, the No. 12 WR in the class, was a huge addition for the Ohio State haul, but the Buckeyes are going to of course want to add more to the mix and have higher-ranked players still on their board.
Over the past few weeks, Ohio State has hosted five-stars Dakorien Moore and Jamie Ffrench, who rank Nos. 1 and 4 at their position, respectively. The Buckeyes have also entertained Top247 pass catchers like Vernell Brown III, Phillip Bell, and Daylan McCutcheon. All five are potential game-changers at the next level (especially with Hartline fine-tuning their craft), but the latest intel suggests there’s work left to do with each one, and that’s what makes Ohio State’s pursuit of different wide receivers a bit captivating.
For the better part of the past decade, the Buckeyes have had their pick of the litter when it came to the wide receiver position (Emeka Egbuka, Garrett Wilson, Carnell Tate, Jeremiah Smith), but this cycle, Hartline might not end up with his top guy or guys, and that seems to have put a few different wide receivers in a holding pattern. Some are fine waiting to see if they will get a chance to call Columbus home for the next few years. Others might want to lock in a spot elsewhere.
But even if Ohio State can’t seal the deal with Moore or Ffrench, this is shaping up to be an all-time haul for the Buckeyes.
Last weekend, five-star cornerback Devin Sanchez put on a show at Overtime’s OT7 Finals, making a trio of acrobatic interceptions and headlining our OT7 Dream Team. The fact that Ohio State is pairing Sanchez, who looked like a young Sauce Gardner in coverage, with fellow five-star corner Na’eem Offord is a bit unfair to everyone else in the new-look Big Ten. Toss five-star quarterback Tavien St. Clair into the mix along with a budding offensive tackle in Carter Lower and this group in no way lacks high-end talent.
SEC teams still searching for QBs
The Elite 11 Finals‘ week-long festivities begin June 18 in Los Angeles. While 14 of the 16 Elite 11 participants who rank inside the Top247 are committed, the three-day quarterback showcase could shed some light on potential flips as three notable SEC programs don’t currently hold a commitment from a 2025 quarterback: Ole Miss, Auburn and Florida.
Lane Kiffin and the Rebels appear to have set their sights on Notre Dame commit Deuce Knight. The Magnolia State product is a dynamic athlete with a 40-inch vertical jump to his name. He’s still progressing as a passer, but the lefty has had his moments this offseason and looks to be turning the corner. The last southpaw Kiffin worked with? That would be Tua Tagovailoa.
Hugh Freeze and the Tigers have flirted with a number of different signal callers over the past few months and seem to have gained the most traction with USC commit Julian Lewis, who will be on The Plains for an official visit this weekend. Lewis might have reclassified and moved up a year, but he’s one of the best pure distributors of the football in recent cycles and has lit up scoreboards while facing stout competition in one of the Peach State’s highest classifications.
Billy Napier and the Gators continue to evaluate their options. Florida brought former Colorado commit Antwann Hill in for an official visit a few weeks ago and sources say they recently snuck in a committed in-state quarterback to throw at camp, a development the Gators did a nice job keeping under wraps. Napier’s job security likely isn’t helping the Gators’ pursuit of a quarterback, but all the buzz surrounding former five-star DJ Lagway might be more of a hurdle than one might initially think.
What’s going on at Rutgers?
With official visit season in full swing and the volume of commitments picking up, the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings can be a bit deceiving at this time of the year as some schools are still laying the framework for their class. Still, we need to give Greg Schiano a tip of the cap. Heading into the weekend, Rutgers’ 2025 recruiting classranks No. 9 overall and No. 3 in the Big Ten.
Yes, that ranking is fueled heavily by a nation-leading 23 commitments for the Scarlet Knights, but a deep dive into the class suggests it isn’t a bunch of smoke and mirrors. The scouting department at 247Sports loves defensive lineman Chase Linton, who recently earned a fourth star in the rankings. He’s raw but blessed with oversized features and is the type of body that schools have been paying a premium for in the transfer portal as of late.
Other favorites on the commit list for Rutgers include linebackers Isaiah Deloatch and Talibi Kaba, offensive tackle Joshua Blackstone and wide receiver Michael Thomas as all four are heavy on the traits. What also stands out about the haul for the Scarlet Knights is the fact that four of the commits have speed scores that register north of 93 in our NextGen database.
Bottom line? Rutgers might not have staying power in the top 10, but Schiano and his staff are finding prospects with developmental upside. If they can hold onto them now and in the coming years (remember, defending your roster is of top priority in this new era), then that could lead to a further upswing in Piscataway.
Sneaky-Good Commit: IOL Demetri Manning to Oregon
If anyone needs any further proof that Dan Lanning is building an SEC-like program out West, look no further than Manning’s commitment. Kirby Smart has done his best to hoard mass at Georgia, and his protege Lanning is starting to do the same at Oregon. Three-star lineman Demetri Manning, who picked the Ducks over Washington and Miami on June 11, is one of the largest prospects that we have come across in the 2025 cycle as he tips the scales at just over 6-foot-6, 345 pounds. He’s going to need to melt down and get the body right once he arrives on campus, but Oregon could potentially pair him up front with another monster of a human in Class of 2024 signee JacQawn McRoy (6-foot-6, 365 pounds) at some point down the line.
Freak of the Week: LB Mason Posa (Wisconsin commit)
For the three years, 247Sports has highlighted the ‘freakiest’ recruits in every class. It’s a play on Bruce Feldman’s annual must-read list of college football’s top athletes and we plan to use this space to highlight even more freaks. Enter Mason Posa. He’s one of the most coveted football players to ever come out of New Mexico and also one of the nation’s top prep wrestlers, having posted a 91-3 record on the mat while winning a trio of state titles.
Posa committed to Wisconsin on Thursday in a live broadcast with 247Sports. The connection to know? Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell was a three-time state champion wrestler in high school and seems to be drawn to recruits with these types of backgrounds as he signed two other decorated wrestlers last cycle in defensive lineman Dillan Johnson and running back Dilin Jones (if nothing else, today you learned there are a variety of ways to spell Dillon, Dylan, Dillan or Dilin).
