Advertisement
football Edit

The top athletes still available in the 2022 class

Gentry Williams
Gentry Williams

The No. 1 overall prospect in the 2022 class is Jackson State signee Travis Hunter. Second on the list is Ohio State signee Alex Styles, who recently reclassified from the 2023 class to 2022. There are storylines up and down this list of athletes, but almost all of them are already singed.

Below is a look at the top five unsigned athletes and where their recruitment stands at this point.

*****

BEST STILL AVAILABLE: QB | RB | WR | TE | OL | DT | DE | LB | CB | S

EARLY SIGNING PERIOD REPORT CARDS: ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten | SEC | Pac-12

CLASS OF 2022 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State | JUCO

CLASS OF 2023 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State

TRANSFER PORTAL: Stories/coverage | Message board

RIVALS CAMP SERIES: Info/coverage on 2021 camp series

*****

Advertisement

When Williams committed to Oklahoma in October, he said one main reason was the coaching staff in Norman and that he particularly hit it off with Lincoln Riley, his go-to guy Alex Grinch and Roy Manning. All three of them are gone now, off to USC, but Williams has not backed off his pledge to the Sooners as Brent Venables has come on as Oklahoma’s new head coach.

An in-home in December was important as Williams got to know Venables more. Two days later, Arkansas came in and had an in-home since there has also been significant interest in the Razorbacks. Some visits are still expected in January, but Oklahoma should still feel pretty good about where it stands with Williams.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH OKLAHOMA FANS AT SOONERSCOOP.COM

*****

Kanak received two dozen offers from February to July last year as coaches saw him run track and get a feel for his athleticism and jumped on board. His top list of Clemson, Michigan, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Kansas State and Alabama got whittled down to only the Tigers, and he committed to coach Dabo Swinney’s club in late July.

But when coach Brent Venables left Clemson to take the Oklahoma head coaching job, Kanak backed off his pledge to Clemson shortly after. There’s no been official word, but the clear expectation is that Kanak will play for the Sooners. He has also been spotted in the Oklahoma student directory.

*****

The four-star athlete from Belleville, Mich., was committed to Kentucky from late January to early August and for many months it looked like the Wildcats scored a talented out-of-state prospect. When coach Steve Clinkscale left the Kentucky coaching staff for Michigan it was expected that Caldwell would flip almost immediately and end up with the Wolverines. That did not happen, though, and so there are still questions about which schools stand out to him heading into the late period.

*****

Michigan State was a school that had continued to show interest in Williams, but it’s now unclear where the Spartans stand with the four-star from West Bloomfield, Mich. An injury sidelined him for the majority of his junior season and then things did not pick up all that much through his senior season.

UMass offered in recent days, and new coach Don Brown could be trying to steal an early target from his time at Michigan. But things in Williams’ recruitment are still up in the air.

*****

Freshman sensation TaRyan Martin was the star running back in East St. Louis’ offense, but Wells was also a nice addition as he rushed for 558 yards and eight touchdowns. However, his recruitment has been quiet.

There has not been much discussion about where he’s going to go or which schools could be interested at this point, so right now his recruitment is completely up in the air.

Advertisement