Recruiting Rumor Mill: Preseason camps right around the corner
The season is right around the corner and players are off the road but there is still a ton of recruiting news and rumors out there. Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney follows it all in this week’s Recruiting Rumor Mill.
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Miami has had recent success landing elite players from Miami (Fla.) Central recently and now the Hurricanes are back trying hard with the 2025 four-star defensive end who was recently on campus. The message was that Miami is looking for hard-working and determined players like Adirika as the Hurricanes are joined by Florida State and Rutgers in his top three.
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Florida State is still “looking pretty good” for the 2025 high three-star offensive tackle out of Riverview (Fla.) Sumner but a recent trip to Miami has highly intrigued Addison as well. The Hurricanes’ coaching staff made it clear they love Addison’s athleticism, competitiveness and versatility. They also love that he runs track and wrestles.
“The head coach and offensive line coach were very transparent about the program’s current state and their plans to get Miami back to the top,” Addison said.
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The message of family at Penn State and how there is a focus from coach James Franklin on down that the program will develop Black as a person and not just a better football player stood out to the 2025 high three-star offensive tackle from Wallingford (Conn.) Choate Rosemary Hall. Working out with position coach Phil Trautwein was also a highlight of the trip as the Nittany Lions battle Notre Dame, Michigan and Alabama up top.
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The 2025 all-purpose back from Humble (Texas) Atascocita loves the people at Oklahoma and especially position coach DeMarco Murray so that could be huge for the Sooners moving forward. Learning from Murray is a big selling point to Blaylock to keep Oklahoma high on the list as Ohio State, Alabama, Texas A&M, Oregon, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Texas and Georgia also stand out.
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Florida State has been the early front-runner for the 2025 five-star defensive end from Miami (Fla.) Central and a trip back to Tallahassee recently really stood out. Blount spent a lot of time with position coach Odell Haggins and even took notes of what Haggins was saying to remember for later.
Miami and Florida are two other early ones to watch but the Seminoles definitely stand out most.
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The 2025 four-star safety has moved from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Paducah (Ky.) Tilghman but Tennessee will absolutely remain one of the main players in his recruitment especially after a big-time comparison during a recent visit. Carter loves the NFL development in Knoxville as the Vols compete with Georgia, Arkansas, Clemson, Oklahoma, Missouri, Alabama, Florida State and others.
“(They said) I’m the next Eric Berry,” Carter said.
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The Wisconsin coaching staff made it clear to Catalano during a recent visit to Madison that he is “their guy” at linebacker in the 2025 class and now that program is definitely the one to watch for the 2025 three-star from Germantown, Wis.
Michigan State also made a tremendous impression on Catalano along with Tennessee and Notre Dame but the Badgers could be the one to watch here.
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The four-star all-purpose back from Chicago (Ill.) Mt. Carmel has been committed to Wisconsin since early July as the Badgers beat out Illinois, Michigan and others for Dupree but a new offer could be worth watching.
Alabama offered earlier this month and the feeling around Dupree is that the Crimson Tide getting involved does change some things. Can Alabama flip him? Still hard to say but they’re in this one now.
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The Ole Miss commit was supposed to visit Mississippi State and Auburn last weekend but neither trip happened. However, they are probably going to get worked out for the season. Echoles has been committed to the Rebels since the first day of July but the Bulldogs and Tigers continue to pursue the Houston, Miss, three-star. Trips to both SEC foes should happen in the coming months although there are no signs of an imminent flip.
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A Michigan commitment since mid-December, Ewald visited Auburn recently and absolutely loved everything about it. The Tigers are definitely making a serious and compelling run at the 2025 high four-star cornerback from Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade Madonna along with Miami, Tennessee, Florida State and Alabama.
There might be some post-visit high regarding Auburn but Ewald called the visit “amazing” and thinks coach Hugh Freeze is making serious waves already.
“Coach Freeze is turning the program around and he’s going to do it in a hurry,” Ewald said.
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An LSU commit for nearly a year, Galloway backed off his pledge to the Tigers in July although they continue to play a role in his recruitment with Purdue, UCF, Miami, Colorado, Auburn, Houston, Arkansas and some others.
Recently, the Pickerington (Ohio) Pickerington Central four-star tight end was at Purdue, loved the staff and the message what that he’s the Boilermakers’ No. 1 target and “biggest piece” in this recruiting class.
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Tennessee has made a major impression on the 2025 four-star defensive end from Troy (Ala.) Henderson as the Vols are not even traditionally recruiting him at this point, it’s more like a “family gathering” when Grady goes to Knoxville.
That has to bode well for Tennessee in Grady’s early recruitment but there will be serious competition from Georgia, Alabama and Florida State. Also, LSU offered in recent days.
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Alabama and South Carolina are the remaining contenders for the four-star athlete from Meridian, Miss., and on a recent visit to Tuscaloosa, the Crimson Tide coaching staff made it clear they “wanted me to be a part of the family.” That has been the big question - whether Alabama would have room for Hill at running back and if not, the Gamecocks looked like a real player anyway. A decision should be coming soon.
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The 2025 linebacker from Midwest City (Okla.) Carl Albert still has tons of time left in his recruitment but during a recent visit to Oklahoma he felt like a major priority – even against other prospects on campus – and that definitely appealed to him and moved the Sooners even higher.
Oklahoma is in a very strong position with James as Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Kansas and TCU round out some other favorites.
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The massive three-star offensive lineman, who has been committed to Mississippi State since March, visited Auburn for Big Cat Weekend and loved the energy on The Plains. The Tigers have had a lot of momentum on the recruiting trail recently but the word is that the Kilmichael (Miss.) Winona offensive lineman is planning to stick with his Bulldogs’ pledge and not flip elsewhere.
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South Carolina would be the team to beat in Martin’s recruitment if the Gamecocks offer the 2025 three-star running back from Greer, S.C., especially after another great visit to Columbia. Martin loved bonding with the coaches and seeing their energy. The message from them was to keep doing what he’s doing and it would all work out.
Tennessee and Louisville are the Power Five offers right now as he expects Sept. 1 to be busy.
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There is considerable confidence coming from the Missouri and Oklahoma camps when it comes to the five-star defensive end and soon the rubber will meet the road. There are location and NIL considerations playing a role for Missouri and there are whispers the Tigers could get it done with Nwaneri but there are also tons of factors playing in the Sooners’ favor as well.
His coach at Lee’s Summit (Mo.) North, Jamar Mozee, played for the Sooners, his son, Isaiah, is an Oklahoma lean. Also, his close teammate, Cayden Green, now plays in Norman and Nwaneri is close with five-star freshman PJ Adebawore. The five-star plans to commit Aug. 14.
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The 2025 four-star Georgia linebacker commit from Buford, Ga., was at Auburn for Big Cat Weekend and the love coach Hugh Freeze really stood out most. Perlotte was told he was first to get a meeting with Freeze and that he’s No. 1 on their board for the 2025 class, which definitely made an impression on him.
Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, USC and Miami are all coming after Perlotte, who has been committed to the Dawgs since early December.
“(Freeze) wants me to come change the program and start the 2025 class,” Perlotte said.
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The message to the Tampa (Fla.) Catholic high four-star offensive guard from Miami was that they will do “whatever it takes” to get him and that could be a compelling pitch to Pierre-Louis, who’s in the five-star discussion.
Miami is definitely a major contender for his services as Oregon and Oklahoma were the other schools mentioned highest on his list although some believe UCF and Florida look strong as well.
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Florida State and Miami are making the most compelling pitches to the 2025 four-star linebacker from Sanford (Fla.) Seminole and a recent stop in Tallahassee went really well. Pritchard loved the message from coach Mike Norvell and his staff that relationships matter most and it was made clear to Pritchard the Noles want him really badly. It could be a two-team in-state battle for the four-star coming up.
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This summer the 2025 five-star corner talked most about LSU, Ohio State, Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. A recent visit to College Station could’ve moved the Aggies a tick higher in his recruitment and while distance won’t be a factor for the Houston (Texas) North Shore standout, being only 90 minutes away was a pitch that came from the A&M staff.
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It could be very difficult, if not nearly impossible, to pull Stewart away from LSU especially if coach Brian Kelly keeps the Tigers cranking in the coming years. The 2026 defensive end from New Orleans (La.) St. Augustine has said he’s interested in Georgia as well. USC could be a player since Stewart has loved his visits there but a recent trip to Oregon definitely blew him away.
The star defensive end who will probably be a five-star in this class had great talks with coach Dan Lanning and DC Tosh Lupoi and the facilities “are the best I’ve ever seen out of all the schools I’ve been to.”
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A recent stop at Florida definitely impressed Stubbs as he hit it off with assistant coaches Austin Armstrong and Corey Raymond along with staffer CJ Wilford. The 2025 four-star DB from Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin talked with a bunch of recruits and players and the feeling was they loved the environment there. It’s still early, though, as the Gators might’ve gotten a recent jump after the visit but Florida State, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Miami, Texas A&M and others remain high on the list.
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Now that the high four-star safety is staying at Galveston (Texas) Ball and not transferring to Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy, Williams’ recruitment comes back into focus. Texas A&M and Oklahoma seem to have the edge with Ohio State also in the mix but Williams has said location could be a factor because his family wants to see him play at least every home game.
That could bode well for the Aggies (plus they told him on a recent visit he could play football and baseball there). Don’t count out Texas as a major contender as well because the Longhorns are now playing a “big part” in his recruitment.