Midwest Spotlight: Top five uncommitted 2021 prospects
This past Saturday, four-star Indianapolis defensive end Kyran Montgomery announced his commitment to Missouri, which left just four uncommitted Rivals250 Midwest prospects in the 2021 class. Today we break down and predict the recruitments of those remaining four, plus a four-star outside the Rivals250 from the region who announces later this week.
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FACT OR FICTION: Georgia will be just fine with JT Daniels
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2022 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
COVERAGE: Rivals Transfer Tracker | Rivals Camp Series
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The latest: There may not be a prospect on this list who has been more committed to taking visits before deciding than Benny. If the NCAA pushes visits out until 2021 you could see Benny holding his decision, and his letter of intent, until that time. By design, Benny’s recruitment has been slow-moving. Early on Kentucky had a lot of momentum. Then, in the spring, Penn State was the team with a lot of buzz. Most recently, it seems Michigan has emerged as the most talked about school with Benny. If additional visits are taken, though, programs like Arizona State and Tennessee could rise. This is a tough one to call right now with what looks like a lot of recruiting still ahead.
Senior season status: The state of Michigan reversed its earlier cancellation of the fall football season last Friday, and will now start a six-game regular season later this month. His Oak Park team will host Donovan Edwards’ West Bloomfield team.
Prediction: Michigan
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The latest: Michigan is the overwhelming favorite in the FutureCast voting for Edwards, and from an objective standpoint the home-state school does make a lot of sense. Georgia and Oklahoma are the two programs that stand out most from the rest of his contenders. Recently there has been consideration on Edwards part about making campus visits to programs like Georgia and Oklahoma on his own while the NCAA drags its feet on ending the dead period. He has always struck me as someone who goes against the grain, and with the Big Ten sitting this fall while the Big 12 and SEC, I’m not going to join the Michigan prognostications today. The relationship with Oklahoma’s DeMarco Murray is strong, but the Sooners are also a top contender for five-star Camar Wheaton, while Edwards is pretty clearly the top back on Georgia’s board.
Senior season status: The state of Michigan reversed its earlier cancellation of the fall football season last Friday, and will now start a six-game regular season later this month. Edwards’ West Bloomfield squad will open Sept. 17 against Rayshaun Benny and Oak Park.
Prediction: Georgia
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The latest: Johnson will vacate this list before the month of September has concluded. The four-star back from the greater St. Louis area long ago tabbed his birthday, Sept. 27, as the date he planned to announce his college decision. Going into the final few weeks, Johnson is still considering Cal, Michigan State, Minnesota and West Virginia. It feels like this is turning into a two-team race, however, between Cal and West Virginia. Johnson is a strong academic student and there are a lot of pieces that fit with Cal, but he has never visited the program in-person. Johnson was able to visit West Virginia and fell in love with the place on that trip.
Senior season status: The state of Illinois postponed its 2020 fall high school football season and will try to play it next spring. Johnson is a spring graduate and is debating whether or not he will play in a potential spring high school season since it is so close to next year’s collegiate football season.
Prediction: West Virginia
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The latest: Karlaftis was not supposed to be on this list after announcing a commitment date of Aug. 9 earlier this summer. As that date drew near, however, Karlaftis realized he was not ready to make a decision and postponed his commitment to further evaluate his top four of Cal, Purdue, Oregon and Wisconsin. The decision did not get any easier when just days after his planned announcement date the leagues representing those four schools both canceled their 2020 fall football seasons. The popular choice here is the hometown Boilermakers, but Karlaftis’ delays is evidence this race is a lot closer than most people thought.
Senior season status: The state of Indiana has already played three games in its 2020 high school football season, which started on time. Yanni has helped the Red Devils get out to a 2-1 start in those three games.
Prediction: Purdue
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The latest: Lovett is expected to be the first prospect from this list to make a commitment. He is currently slated to announced his decision on Friday, Sept. 11. A top seven that consisted of Arizona State, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Missouri and Penn State was announced earlier this summer. More recently it appears Arizona State, Missouri and Penn State had emerged from that group. Missouri is the only one of those programs Lovett has seen in-person and they already have a commitment from his teammate, four-star quarterback Tyler Macon. However, the team with the strongest buzz leading into Friday’s commitment has been Arizoan State.
Senior season status: The state of Illinois postponed its 2020 fall high school football season and will try to play it next spring. Lovett did not entertain options to transfer to another state, and has not indicated he would skip a potential spring season.
Prediction: Arizona State