Rivals Rankings Week: Who should finish No. 1 in Rivals100?
Who should finish No. 1 in the final Rivals100 when the top 10 is released Monday? We’ve seen the nation’s best on numerous occasions throughout the 2020 recruiting cycle. The all-star games gave us one last look at the best of the best. Rivals analysts, Adam Friedman, Sam Spiegelman and Adam Gorney make their case for who should be crowned the best prospect in the 2020 recruiting class.
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CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
2020 RIVALS RANKINGS WEEK:
Monday: Top 10 released
Tuesday: Rivals100 released
Wednesday: Rivals250 released
Thursday/Friday: Final position rankings released
Saturday: Team rankings breakdown
Sunday: Final state rankings released
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FRIEDMAN'S VIEW: Bryan Bresee
How do you argue with what Bresee has accomplished throughout his career? He’s dominated the competition on every field he’s been on and that includes the elite players at the All-American Bowl earlier this month and at the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge this past summer.
The Clemson commit has a unique skill set that will allow him to play various positions along the defensive line at the next level and beyond. Defensive tackle is a premium position and almost every year there is a defensive lineman taken in the first five picks of the NFL Draft. Quarterback is also a premium position but, nothing against Bryce Young or D.J. Uiagalelei, Bresee is more of a sure thing.
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GORNEY'S VIEW: Bryce Young
There is no player nationally that had a better senior season than Young and that was against the best competition in high school football. The Alabama signee dissected every defense he played, frustrated opponents because nobody could slow him down and he accomplished that against elite FBS players almost every single week.
Earlier in the recruiting cycle, not as many analysts were as sold on Young but after he had another great summer and a fantastic senior season there was no stopping the momentum of moving him way up in the rankings. On the field, Young was arguably the most-polished quarterback in the country. Then he went to the All-American Bowl and looked great especially in the game with fantastic throws and tremendous playmaking ability.
The last two quarterbacks taken No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft were Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray but it could definitely be argued that Young could evolve into a more accurate passer than Mayfield and his anticipatory playmaking ability is just as good as Murray at the same stage. Young is going to Alabama with the opportunity to take over the starting job from Tua Tagovailoa, who's off to the NFL.
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SPIEGELMAN'S VIEW: D.J. Uiagalelei
There’s no question that the All-American Bowl was supposed to give us one more look at the nation's top two quarterbacks in action in the same setting. Both Young and Uiagalelei shined throughout the week, but Uiagalelei was the standout when it came to the game.
The Clemson-bound quarterback showed off his ability to extend plays with his legs and rifle accurate passes under pressure and on the run. He also orchestrated a fantastic late-game series in which he hit Josh Downs downfield with a dime and then threw an impressive red-zone touchdown to Kobe Hudson.
Uiagalelei has the potential to be a franchise quarterback in the same mold as Ben Roethlisberger and will have weapons around him at Clemson. The future under center in Death Valley is very, very bright.