Rivals Rankings Week: Ohio State still front-runner after update
Rivals continues to roll out its updated ranking for the Class of 2021 and our focus today shifts to the team side of things. Ohio State continues to keep the No. 1 spot warm and surging Tennessee has made it a two-horse race. Clemson checks in at No. 3, USC at 4 and Florida rounds out the top five.
Now that we’ve tweaked things at the top, added more five-stars and adjusted rankings across the board, we put the team rankings under the microscope to look at new trends and offer interesting predictions as far as the race for the top recruiting haul goes.
MONDAY: Five-star countdown | Who should be the next five-star WR? | Who is best OG? | Who will finish No. 1? | How was this rankings cycle different?
TUESDAY: New Rivals250 released | New five-stars | Mind of Mike
WEDNESDAY: Offensive position rankings released
THURSDAY: Defensive position rankings released
FRIDAY: New state rankings released
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team
CLASS OF 2022: Top 100
OHIO STATE MAINTAINS COMMANDING LEAD
There were no changes at the top of the Rivals team rankings, as Ohio State maintained its spot at No. 1 and further strengthened that position. Two of the Buckeyes’ 2021 commitments — offensive guard Donovan Jackson and defensive end Tunmise Adeleye — added fifth stars, bringing the total tot three thus far for the class. No other team in the country has two five-star commitments in its class and only Georgia and Washington can claim one five-star to date.
The Buckeyes’ 2021 class is up to 18 commitments, 14 of which are ranked four-star or better. With several spots open to be filled before the December and February signing periods, Ohio State is the runaway favorite to end the SEC’s half-decade-long run of recruiting championships.
SURGING VOLS ON TOP OF SEC
Alabama captured back-to-back recruiting titles from 2016-2017 before Georgia rattled off three in a row from 2018-2020. But there’s a new SEC team in the lead as we shut the door on a spring chock full of commitments.
Tennessee currently holds the No. 1 recruiting class in the SEC and trails only the aforementioned Buckeyes nationally. The Volunteers’ 2021 recruiting class features 21 commitments, two-thirds of which have landed since March 13, which was the conclusion of on-campus recruiting for the season.
Of those 14 commitments in the past two or so months, seven are ranked as four-stars or better. That includes Rivals100 prospects such as Dylan Brooks, Terrence Lewis, Cody Brown and Aaron Willis. Florida, LSU, Georgia and Texas A&M all trail Tennessee in the team rankings with a combined 37 commitments to date.
FAMILIAR CONTENDERS OUT OF PLACE
There were no errors in the team rankings. Alabama and Oklahoma, which finished Nos. 3 and 15, respectively, at the end of the 2020 cycle, are accurately sitting at Nos. 47 and 52 at the midway point in May.
Cause for concern?
The Crimson Tide hold merely four commitments at this point — three of which are ranked as four-stars — which is a promising sing when projecting where the class will rank when it begins to fill up. Expect Alabama to make its move back into the top-25 in due time. Alabama is finalist for Rivals250 safety Kaine Williams, who will announce his commitment on Friday, May 15.
The Sooners hold five commitments, four of which are three-stars. The exception is Rivals250 wide receiver Cody Jackson. That total is among the lowest in the Big 12 besides TCU and Oklahoma State with four and three commitments, respectively. Oklahoma remains right in the thick of for several five-stars, so it seems inevitable that Lincoln Riley’s team is in store for quite the ascension as recruiting heats back up.
CINCINNATI, SMU, TOLEDO, UTSA ON BIG RUNS
Last year, only one non-Power 5 team cracked the top-50 in the Rivals team rankings at the end of the 2020 cycle. That, of course, was Cincinnati, who under Luke Fickell assembled the No. 39 class in America.
As we turn our attention toward the 2021 class, those Bearcats haven’t gone anywhere. Instead, Fickell’s team currently sits inside the top-25 at No. 19. Of Cincinnati’s 13 commitments, 11 are three-stars. That’s a higher average rankings of Power 5 teams such as Baylor, Rutgers or Iowa State for instance. Cincinnati has finished inside the top-50 of the Rivals team rankings twice over the past two decades (2012, 2018) and could repeat history again in 2021.
Cincinnati isn’t the only AAC team surging on the recruiting trail right now, though. Coming off a stellar 2020 campaign in Dallas, SMU is knocking on the door of the top-25. Sonny Dykes’ squad ranks No. 28 in the country with a class headlined by Rivals100 quarterback Preston Stone. Stone is the only four-star in the class, currently, with seven other three-stars. SMU has never finished better than 50th since the start of Rivals rankings, so if the Mustangs can maintain momentum they’ll be on track to beat their best class ever — when they finished 50th in 2011.
Toledo is third among the non-Power 5 teams inside the Rivals team rankings, right behind the Mustangs at No. 29. Toledo holds a dozen commitments with Chicago running back Willie Shaw counting as one of five three-star commitments on board. The Rockets have never finished better than No. 68 in the country back in 2011. With the class about halfway full, there’s still a chance for history with the 2021 class.
Jeff Traylor has hit the ground running since taking over as UTSA’s head coach and he has the Roadrunners making noise with the country’s No. 39-ranked class. The Conference USA squad has a tendency to fall outside the top-100 of the Rivals team rankings. UTSA’s best finish came in 2019 with the No. 69 class in America. As it stands today, Traylor’s Roadrunners are inside the top-40 with a strong in-state haul just 11 commitments in.
WHO HAS STAYING POWER AT THE TOP?
The Buckeyes’ 2021 class is head and shoulders above the pack. With 18 commitments, a trio of five-stars and a strong advantage with average ranking per commit and total points, it doesn’t appear Ryan Day’s team is going anywhere anytime soon.
But who could make Ohio State sweat … at least a little?
Clemson was in the headlines for the wrong reason when five-star Korey Foreman backed off his commitment to the Tigers. Still, Clemson has 10 four-star commitments and remain in the hunt for several more elite players in the class. Clemson, along with Georgia, has a higher average ranking per commitment is greater than Ohio State among teams with multiple commitments. Players like Emeka Egbuka, Tristan Leigh and Ga’Quincy McKinstry are just a few of the name-brand targets still on Clemson’s board.
It has been five years since a non-SEC team captured the recruiting title. The last to pull off that feat was the Trojans back in 2016. USC has not been recruiting at that same level ever since — until now. Clay Helton’s new-look staff has helped vault USC to the No. 4 recruiting class in the country headlined by Rivals100 talents Quaydarius Davis and Jake Garcia. The Trojans have emerged as the favorites to keep the aforementioned Foreman home, too, making for quite the rise back to power out in Hollywood.
The defending national champions have enjoyed a strong spring of recruiting despite the lack of on-campus events. LSU sits on the cusp of the top-10 at No. 12 with 10 commitments, seven of which are ranked as four-stars. Ed Orgeron and his staff have hit the Lone Star State hard, landing commitments from four-stars Garrett Nussmeier, JoJo Earle and Landon Jackson, and have yet to even do damage in what is a talent-laden crop inside Louisiana for this class. Players like Maason Smith, Sage Ryan, Chris Hilton and Brian Thomas remain on the board, and if the Tigers keep any of these elite players home, then they’ll be a force to be reckoned with closer to Signing Day.