Midwest Spotlight: Four prospects on Flip Watch
The Early Signing Period opens next week and there are a lot of rumors flying around. Committed prospects are taking visits to other programs and coaches are making their final pitches.
Here are four prospects from the Midwest that should be on Flip Watch as National Signing Day nears.
FLIP WATCH: East Coast prospects | Mid-South | Southeast
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Oregon hit a home run when it landed Moore's commitment in July, but with former Ducks offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham leaving for Arizona State, there is plenty of speculation that Moore could be considering other options.
Many programs have made a run at the elite signal caller. Michigan State is trying hard to get in the mix and UCLA appears to be a contender with Moore visiting Brentwood this week. While Moore has pretty much gone silent, everybody I've talked to that has intimate knowledge of his recruitment says the five-star is solid with the Ducks. All signs point to Moore sticking with Oregon, but he is definitely a high-profile player on flip watch.
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When Proctor canceled his remaining official visits and committed to Iowa at the end of June, his pledge appeared to be very solid. While a number of programs continued to pursue the nation's No. 1 offensive lineman, Proctor didn't seem to reciprocate that interest for a long time. That was until he opted to take an official visit to Oregon.
Then Deion Sanders was hired at Colorado and the Buffaloes put a full-court press on Proctor. Alabama, one of Proctor's original finalists, is probably not done sniffing around, either. I wouldn't be surprised if Proctor flipped, but my gut expects him to sign with Iowa.
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Gregory appeared to be all in with Cincinnati until Luke Fickell accepted the Wisconsin job. While the standout offensive lineman from Missouri still remains a Bearcat commit, both Missouri and Colorado have come in hot in an attempt to flip Gregory heading into signing day.
When Scott Satterfield accepted the Cincinnati job, Gregory seemed surprised but also voiced his support of the hire saying, "I think it’s a great hire. He’s had success at Louisville and I wanna build a relationship with him."
Tides appear to be changing since Gregory's original statement about the Cincinnati hire and he appears to have serious interest in both of his new suitors plus Wisconsin where he is scheduled to take a weekend official visit and reunite with Fickell's staff. Gregory also hosted Missouri offensive line coach Marcus Johnson for an in-home visit last week. This recruitment is on serious flip watch with Wisconsin and Missouri potentially leading the way.
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The recently minted four-star linebacker is one of the crown jewels of Illinois' 2023 class. Along with being a long-time commit to the Illini, he has also been vocal in recruiting others to join him in Champaign. Hayden has given no indication that he is looking elsewhere, but with former Illinois defensive coordinator Ryan Walters leaving to accept the Purdue head coaching job, and Colorado recently offering, there is enough smoke here to put the standout linebacker on flip watch.
Hayden made it clear that he was looking forward to playing in Walters' defense and was upset that he will no longer have the opportunity to do so, but at the same time he remained solid with his pledge to the Illini. But, with Colorado appearing to make Hayden a priority and Walters now coaching in West Lafayette, there is reason to speculate that Hayden could look around leading into signing day. Hayden may be the least likely to flip on this list as everything is pure speculation right now, but he is definitely a recruit to keep an eye on in the coming week.