Three-Point Stance: Deion Sanders, top receiver, UCLA attendance
Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney takes a look at Deion Sanders’ name picking up steam for a Power Five job, whether Jeremiah Smith might be the No. 1 receiver regardless of class and UCLA’s poor attendance and how it could affect recruiting:
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DEION SHOULD GET A POWER FIVE JOB
Arizona State and Nebraska are already open jobs and others - Auburn, Georgia Tech are some programs to watch - could become available as well and Deion Sanders should not only get consideration for those positions, he should be a top candidate.
Sanders is not the buttoned-down, stare-into-the-playsheet kind of coach. Good. Winning in sports is all about recruiting as almost everybody runs the same offensive schemes and defensive schemes and the ones who do it “best” are the ones with the most disciplined players but also the fastest, strongest and biggest.
Deion can get those guys. He’s already proven he can land the No. 1 player in the country and that was convincing Travis Hunter to go to Jackson State. Four-star receiver Kevin Coleman turned down Oregon, Florida State and others to play there, too. Former five-star Mark Pope (and that ranking was off, to be fair) plays there now. Jackson State is 3-0 and cruising.
Herm Edwards turned out to be a mess at Arizona State. There was a literal coup attempted against Bryan Harsin at Auburn last year that failed but can he feel any love there? Scott Frost was an unmitigated disaster at Nebraska where the Huskers had four-straight losing seasons for the first time since the late 1950s-early ‘60s. Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins is being asked if his team has given up.
There are a lot of reasons to bring Deion in. With resources, facilities and NIL money backing him, Sanders could be able to recruit like few others. Hunter said one reason why he picked Jackson State was to be coached by one of the best to ever do it.
The top player in the state of Mississippi’s 2024 rankings, four-star defensive end Kamarion Franklin, is visiting Jackson State this weekend. So is 2025 four-star athlete Jarcoby Hopson as the Lake Cormorant, Miss., teammates will go together.
Sanders has proven he can lead a program, recruit, win and be taken seriously. It’s time for athletic directors at the Power Five level to get smart.
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JEREMIAH SMITH - NO. 1 WR REGARDLESS OF CLASS?
There was a little big brother/little brother feel on the South Florida Express team this past offseason as five-stars Carnell Tate, Brandon Inniss and Hykeem Williams shined a lot and then 2024 five-stars Jeremiah Smith and Joshisa Trader learned the ropes. But there might be a little of student teaching the teacher some new tricks about to happen.
In particular, Smith might be the best receiver in the country regardless of class. The Hollywood (Fla.) Chaminade Madonna standout who plays on the same team as Trader and high three-star Edwin Joseph, who could easily be in contention for a four-star ranking, is almost unstoppable on the field this season.
He high points the ball better than anybody. He can go over the top of cornerbacks or run by them. He’s aggressive and asserts himself every time he’s on the field. Inniss is pushing for that No. 1 spot back in the 2023 receiver rankings but when it comes to elite talent, Smith while only being a junior in high school, might end up as the best of the whole bunch.
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UCLA HAS ATTENDANCE ISSUES
Not many people are going to UCLA games this season and it could potentially be a big problem in recruiting.
To be fair, the Bruins have had a boring home schedule so far with games against Bowling Green, Alabama A&M and South Alabama (even though that last game turned out to be a thriller). Still, in three games the Bruins have drawn 90,214. Not per game - total.
In comparison, Michigan played cupcake UConn last weekend and drew 109,639. UCLA commit Roderick Robinson, a four-star stud running back from San Diego (Calif.) Lincoln, visited Texas A&M for its game against Miami last weekend in front of 107,245 screaming, raucous fans at Kyle Field. He called the environment second-to-none. He visits Georgia in October for an SEC matchup would should be a packed house, too.
The Bruins have only seven commitments so far and that’s not only because the Rose Bowl is more than half-empty on non-conference Saturdays. UCLA recruits in a different manner and so be it but when the team brings in top recruits to a stadium that sounds like a library, that cannot help.
I get it. I live here. There’s a lot to do in Los Angeles on weekends. Fighting traffic across town to go see Alabama A&M excites no one. But people drive across the state of Pennsylvania and beyond to get to Penn State on Saturdays. Alabama, the same way. It’s their life, their fall weekends, what they do.
And UCLA needs a little more of that. The beach will be there – in the winter when it’s still 72 and sunny.