Five Most Interesting 2019 Recruitments Left in the Midwest
The Early Signing Period cleaned out a vast majority of the Power Five caliber prospects in the Midwest. Of the 167 prospects in the region with a Rivals Rating of 5.6 or higher, better than 91 percent have already inked letters of intent. Of the few prospects remaining, these five recruitments provide the most intrigue.
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Henry has watched two of his 2019 teammates at Trinity Catholic commit to Illinois, and another sign with Texas. It looks like Henry will be going a different route, however. The three-star offensive guard took an official visit over the summer to Iowa State, but has not taken any other official visits since. That sets up a month of January when Henry expects to be on the road every weekend.
The first official visit this month goes to Florida this upcoming weekend, Jan. 11. It will be his first time on the Gators' campus during the recruiting process. An official visit to Florida State has also been scheduled, and that will take place the weekend of Jan. 25. Henry knows Oklahoma will get one of his remaining official visits, and that could happen the weekend in between Florida and Florida State, but is not locked in yet. The final official visit destination is being left open for now in case a team or teams come in with late offers, but Indiana and Minnesota are also still involved and contenders for that official visit.
Since stepping away from a Texas commitment in early December, Houston has been quiet about the direction of his recruitment. He took his first official visit of the process to Minnesota the weekend of Dec. 7, and while the trip went fine he has since decided that will not be the destination for him. Going into the final month before the Late Signing Period, Houston remains wide open with a couple official visits set.
The first official visit planned by Houston for this month is to Nebraska the weekend of Jan. 18, and he also has one scheduled to Colorado for the weekend of Feb. 1. Alabama decided after the Early Signing Period that they would like to take one more wide receiver in this class, and Houston is among those targeted for that spot. Both parties are now discussing a potential visit date, but Penn State is also a strong contender for an official visit and if Houston does not take an official visit this weekend that leaves just one weekend available before the signing period opens.
After emigrating from Nigeria at the beginning of his freshman year, then moving from Miami to Kansas City prior to his sophomore year, Ike got a late start to the game of football. The three-star lineman did not play in his first high school game until his junior season, just over 16 months ago. So, maybe it is fitting that the recruiting process is finalizing late for Ike as well.
Although Ike held offers even before he played a down of organized football, he has yet to take his first official visit. That will end this weekend, with a trip to Oklahoma scheduled for the three-star lineman. The Sooners are still in the market for offensive linemen, with four-star Enokk Vimahi also in the mix. If all goes well this weekend and Oklahoma is ready to take his commitment, Ike concluding the process immediately would not be a shocker. If he does go further, Michigan and Kansas State are two schools like to receive official visits later this month.
This is a strong candidate for the Midwest’s most interesting recruitment in the last two months. Jones came into his senior season with zero Power Five football offers. Several basketball opportunities had been presented to the two-sport athlete during his junior year, however, so he took basketball official visits to Ball State and Kent State over the summer. That first Power Five football offer did not come until Oct. 30 from Mississippi State, but was immediately followed by offers from more than a dozen other schools representing each of the Power Five Conferences.
USC was one of those very first offers and Jones quickly scheduled an official visit to Los Angeles, where he has family, in early November. After that trip, Jones is left with just two remaining official visit spots and he has had trouble decided to which schools those will be taken. Auburn, Florida, Ohio State, Penn State and Texas are among the contenders for those final slots.
After evaluating senior film of Jordan back in the fall we rated the Kansas product three stars even though he did not have any scholarship offers at the time. In fact, Jordan did not land his first Power Five offer until the day after Christmas, but then the floodgates opened. Nebraska made that first offer, which has been followed by offers from Kansas State, Utah, Kansas, TCU and Auburn in the two weeks since.
Jordan released an initial top five on Jan. 2 and set official visits to Utah (Jan. 11), TCU (Jan. 18) and Nebraska (Jan. 25). That top five was amended a week later to include Auburn. A commitment date of Jan. 28 has been scheduled, and if Jordan is to officially visit Auburn the plan is to replace one of his current official visit dates in order to do that. Prospects emerging after their senior year are extremely rare in this era of recruiting, but Jordan’s situation shows that it does still happen.