Fact or Fiction: Neville's pledge helps Huskers with Fidone
National recruiting director Mike Farrell and national recruiting analyst Adam Gorney tackle three topics daily and determine whether they believe the statements or not.
ELITE 11: Woody's ranking of QBs
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2022: Top 100
*****
1) Oklahoma is QBU when it comes to recruiting.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. This is a great debate and those who don’t like Oklahoma will point to Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts being transfers and not commitments out of high school. But let’s keep in mind that transfers also need to be recruited especially these days. And with five-star Spencer Rattler and five-star Caleb Williams, it is clear that Lincoln Riley recruits quarterbacks at an elite level. And there’s little doubt that he develops them as well as anyone as well. But Clemson and Georgia do as good a job or better at recruiting elite quarterbacks these days. Clemson has landed five-stars DeShaun Watson, Hunter Johnson, Trevor Lawrence and DJ Uiagalelei in recent years while Georgia got commitments from Jacob Eason, Jake Fromm, Justin Fields and now Brock Vandagriff. It’s a great debate and I’ll get into it more in my column soon but you can’t simply say Oklahoma leads the way.
*****
RELATED: Did Oklahoma upgrade at QB with Caleb Williams over Brock Vandagriff? | Domino effect of Williams' commitment to OU
*****
Gorney’s take: FACT. Mayfield and Murray were Heisman Trophy winners and No. 1 overall NFL Draft picks. Hurts lost his job at Alabama to Tua Tagovailoa, transferred to Oklahoma, accounted for 52 total touchdowns last season and was a second-round NFL Draft pick in April. That’s an incredible stretch in Norman. Oklahoma went to Arizona for five-star Rattler and now to Washington, D.C. for Williams. Sure, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State and some others can recruit quarterbacks but when it comes to recruiting and developing quarterbacks, Oklahoma is at the top for sure.
*****
2) Latrell Neville helps Nebraska with Thomas Fidone.
Farrell’s take: FACT. The Texas wide receiver commitment might seem like an odd choice to impact Thomas Fidone’s recruitment but Latrell Neville is a very outgoing kid and will be an active recruiter for Nebraska. He’s also a four-star offensive talent and that certainly helps as Fidone wants Nebraska to show him it can be a consistent winner on and off the field in recruiting. Fidone doesn’t like to be bothered by recruiting talk from other prospects but he and Neville talk here and there, and you know the Texas wideout will try to nudge him to Lincoln.
Gorney’s take: FICTION. Nebraska is the leader for Fidone, but I don’t think Neville’s commitment is going to convince the four-star tight end one way or another. Fidone lives in a suburb of Omaha, Neb., albeit across the state border in Iowa, and he’s only an hour from Nebraska’s campus in Lincoln (Iowa's campus in Iowa City is about 3 hours, 30 minutes) and so the Huskers were always the team he watched most closely growing up. Fidone could be an immediate star in Lincoln – or anywhere else for that matter – and for a long time he’s wanted to play for Nebraska. Iowa, Michigan and others are giving chase but Nebraska is the frontrunner, with or without Neville in the class.
*****
3) LSU still leads for DT Maason Smith.
Farrell’s take: FICTION. Maason Smith came out with his top eight last weekend and of course home state LSU was in it for him. But to say the Tigers are the leaders for the five-star DT would just be guesswork as Alabama and Georgia are in there just as much. Alabama is the big threat here as Nick Saban has gone into Louisiana and stolen a ton of elite prospects so this could come down to an SEC West battle with no leader right now.
*****
RELATED: Which programs are recruiting DTs the best?
*****
Gorney’s take: FACT. I’m never going to discount the ability of Alabama and Georgia to go anywhere for top prospects but LSU is still the frontrunner for Smith – and I have history on my side. The last time the top-rated prospect from the state of Louisiana didn’t pick LSU was in 2012 (almost a decade ago) when Landon Collins picked Alabama and his mom threw a fit at the Under Armour All-America Game. LSU is coming off a national title and Smith should be the centerpiece of that defensive line in the coming years.