Rivals Rankings Week: New 2020 athlete rankings

CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position

The first update of the position rankings for the 2020 class is complete, and there are several storylines developing as the group enters its junior season. We finish with the athlete position, where five-star Arik Gilbert remains No. 1 after the summer evaluation period.

NEW 2020 RANKINGS: Athletes

RELATED: 2019 DB rankings | 2019 all positions | 2020 all positions

There are currently nine prospects in the Top 50 of the athlete position rankings that have already committed to college programs. Miami and Florida State are the only programs that have two commits in the ranking. The Hurricanes and head coach Mark Richt have jumped out to an early lead again in the team recruiting rankings with 12 prospects committed in the 2020 class. From the athlete position they landed four-star Henry Gray, the No. 6 prospect in this ranking, back in March, with three-star Marcus Fleming, No. 47, in June.

Florida State’s highest-ranked commit on this list is four-star Jadarius Green-McKnight, No. 19, and it added the No. 32 prospect, Demorie Tate, to the commitment list in June. Tennessee, Oklahoma, Auburn, USC and Mississippi State are the other programs with commitments in this ranking.

There are few teams who are working the athlete position harder in the 2020 class. Already 13 of the top 50 in this ranking list offers from the Volunteers, as do another four who are not ranked at the position. The Volunteers already have a commitment from the No. 7 prospect at the position, Alabama native Kristian Story, and they are legitimate contenders for several more in the top 10, including No. 1 overall Arik Gilbert and No. 3 overall Cartavious “Tank” Bigsby, who listed Tennessee in the top 15 he released earlier this month.

The Volunteers also benefit from having five of the top 50 at the position in-state, and they have already offered four of those prospects: No. 4 Keshawn Lawrence, No. 5 Reggie Grimes, No. 22 Elijah Young and No. 35 Jabari Small.

They call him “Tank,” but Cartavious Bigsby operates more like a sports car on the football field. The two-way prospect primarily plays running back for his Callaway team, where his size and speed make him difficult for defenders to corral. At the college level he may be a better fit, however, as a wide receiver or even a safety. All options are on the table for now as the Rivals100 talent enters his junior season of high school.

Bigsby narrowed his list to a top 15 in early August, which may seem like “why bother,” until you realize he landed close to 40 scholarship offers before then and pared more than half of that list. Among the 15 are teams you would expect from a Georgia-based talent, such as Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Tennessee, and, of course, the home-state Bulldogs. But, you also see some non-Southeast programs such as Oregon, Penn State and Ohio State.