Midwest Spotlight: Biggest official visits of the spring

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

MORE: Trio of four-star pledges highlight strength of Midwest WR class

The 2020 class is the second that will have the advantage of taking official visits during their junior year of high school. Official visits were able to start with the beginning of April, and can take place through the last weekend in June. Here are the biggest official visits planned or taken during that stretch from Midwest prospects.

When I spoke with Jackson back in February, he planned to hold all of his official visits until the season so he could use them on game weekends. In the interim, however, the Kansas City standout scheduled his first official visit to Wisconsin for the month of June and that presents an opportunity for the Badgers. No other official visits have been scheduled for the spring, and if Wisconsin can hit a home run the weekend of June 14 it could put them in position to seal this recruitment up before senior year. Arizona State, Iowa State, Kansas and Notre Dame are the other programs in Jackson’s top five.

The state of Missouri’s top-ranked 2020 prospect set two official visits ahead of April’s start, but never made it to official visit No. 2. That’s because Notre Dame was able to secure Johnson’s commitment before he left South Bend during his official visit weekend. Notre Dame had established itself as the team to beat earlier in the process thanks in large part to a strong relationship the coaching staff had developed with the St. Louis receiver. Johnson combines with four-star quarterback Drew Pyne and four-star tight ends Michael Mayer and Kevin Bauman to form an impressive, early collection of passing game commitments for Notre Dame in this 2020 class.

The most ambitious, early official visit scheduled from a top Midwest prospect was mapped out by Chicagoland defensive lineman Rylie Mills. The Rivals250 prospect has long-planned to make a pre-senior season decision, and wants to get all five official visits in before rendering that decision. Two of those official visits, to Notre Dame and Wisconsin, have already taken place, and a third official visit this month is scheduled to Ohio State for the April 26 weekend. Mills attended Ohio State’s Oct. 13 home contest and then watched head coach Urban Meyer step down. However, he hit it off with new head coach Ryan Day after a couple early conversations and the Buckeyes seemingly have not missed a beat here. Mills has an older brother who plays football nearby at the University of Dayton.

A five-star prospect whose recruitment started before he played his first game in high school, Rogers is already well-traveled and familiar with a number of campuses across the country. Tennessee is one of those programs Rogers knows well. He spent much of last summer training in Nashville, and was able to swing by Knoxville during that stretch. This past weekend the Volunteers hosted Rogers for his first official visit of the spring. Tennessee projects the class of 2020’s No. 1 offensive guard prospect to the defensive side of the football, and Rogers is strongly interested in playing defense in college.