Pac-12 Spotlight: Five teams with work to do before NSD
Some Pac-12 programs have loaded up with commitments and used the last few months to keep filling out their recruiting classes. Others still have a lot of work to do. Here is a look at five of those programs.
RELATED: Big Ten teams with work to do | SEC | ACC
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2022: Top 100
MORE: Rivals Transfer Tracker
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ARIZONA STATE
The Sun Devils finished a respectable fourth in the Pac-12 team rankings for the 2020 class with eight four-star prospects, as numerous top players bought into the vision of coach Herm Edwards and his outstanding staff. While Arizona State is not off to a bad start in 2021 with eight total pledges, there is a lot of room for this recruiting class to get better, move up the conference rankings and land some major four-star recruits. All eight ASU pledges are three-stars, but there is still a lot of room to build this class and many top targets remaining on the board, including four-star defensive back Ceyair Wright from Los Angeles Loyola, four-star defensive tackle Damon Payne from Belleville, Mich., who might be a long shot at this point, and three-star receiver Tommi Hill out of Orlando (Fla.) Edgewater. Edwards and his staff can recruit well, and this class should be just fine.
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COLORADO
The commitment of four-star tight end Erik Olsen from Littleton (Colo.) Heritage over UCLA and others was a big victory for first-year coach Karl Dorrell and his staff, but there is a lot more work to be done. The Buffaloes currently rank No. 10 in the conference recruiting rankings, but some sparks could be coming to really get things going in Boulder. Three-star offensive lineman Austin Barry is supposed to commit this month but it seems like Arizona State and UCLA are looking the strongest right now. Another longer shot might be three-star defensive end Kaleb Elarms-Orr out of Hayward (Calif.) Moreau Catholic, who reportedly has Cal really high on the list. One to watch is three-star QB and UNLV commit Cameron Friel, who was recently offered by Colorado. It wouldn’t be a surprise at all if the Kailua, Hawaii, standout flipped at some point.
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OREGON STATE
The Beavers landed a big-time commitment in three-star RB Damir Collins recently and he should be a perfect fit in coach Jonathan Smith’s offense. Also, quarterback pledge Sam Vidlak could be in for a rankings boost with a strong senior season. That is some of the good news. But Oregon State has only five commitments and is the lowest-ranked team in the Pac-12 at this point, not exactly a conference dominating the national team rankings. There are a lot of targets remaining, though, as three-star OL Isaia Glass from Queen Creek, Ariz., three-star DB Al Ashford from Colorado and Culver City, Calif., WR Emari Pait are some top targets. Smith is doing a strong job in Corvallis, but he needs some more traction with this recruiting class.
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STANFORD
Last recruiting cycle, Stanford loaded up through the summer and had a strong group of commitments heading into the fall. That has not been the case this year and for obvious reasons, since Stanford cannot have any players on campus because of the coronavirus travel ban. So it’s been slow for the Cardinal, who have only four commitments in QB Ari Patu and DBs Caleb Ellis, Joshua Moore and Jimmy Wyrick. There are plenty of targets remaining, led by four-star defensive end Aaron Armitage and West recruits Derek Wilkins (DE) and Owen Prentice (OL). There are some other long-shot recruits like four-star OLs Nolan Rucci and Drew Kendall, who are both from the East Coast, but Stanford might have to wait through the fall to really get going with this recruiting class.
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UTAH
The Utes have missed out on some of the best in-state prospects so far this recruiting cycle, but the biggest fish of them all is still uncommitted as Orem’s OL Kingsley Suamataia is still considering Oregon, Utah and many others. The feeling is that the Ducks are way out in front for his commitment, but the Utes aren’t going to give up easily and staying home might be becoming more tempting. Others that Utah are making a run at - but might have some room to make up - are four-star linebacker Ethan Calvert and three-star WR Makai Cope, both from Southern California and players who are probably leaning toward staying in-state right now. Utah has two four-stars but only six total commits, but there’s no reason to worry yet. Coach Kyle Whittingham always finds a way to piece together a strong - and usually underrated - recruiting class and then put an excellent product on the field.