Three-Point Stance: Louisville rolling, teams raiding Peach State, more
Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney has thoughts on Louisville’s recruiting efforts, ranks some recent big-time commitments and is surprised other teams are doing so well in the state of Georgia this recruiting cycle in today’s Three-Point Stance.
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CLASS OF 2023 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
CLASS OF 2024 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
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1. MAKING MOVES AT LOUISVILLE
I don’t know if Louisville coach Scott Satterfield is on the hot seat, a warm seat or what, but the Cardinals are 10-14 the last two seasons after he came to town and went 8-5 in Year 1.
Satterfield could be buying himself some serious job security with the recruiting class he’s putting together. Coaches are rarely retained to keep kids locked up in a class but this could be different because Louisville is getting some serious talent to visit and commit to the Cardinals.
Whether it’s NIL deals or the Louisville coaching staff’s power of persuasion, something is definitely working there as the Cardinals – who haven’t won 10 games since Charlie Strong was the coach – have the No. 20 class nationally and they’re third in the ACC team rankings behind Clemson and Miami.
Louisville has the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback Pierce Clarkson, the No. 1 all-purpose back Rueben Owens II and six total four-stars in the class so far.
And it could get even better after this weekend as No.1 tight end Duce Robinson, four-star LB Stanquan Clark, and 2024 No. 1 safety Peyton Woodyard among others get ready to visit.
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2. ANOTHER RUN OF COMMITS
This weekend will be one of the busiest of the entire calendar as nearly every top recruit is squeezing in one final visit before their fall camps start so many commitments will be coming in over the next few days as well. But there were a lot of decisions made recently as well and some stand out more than others.
Here are some quick thoughts on some of them:
*** No. 1 outside linebacker Malik Bryant picked Miami over Florida. That probably doesn’t happen if Mario Cristobal is not the coach there and to the Gators’ credit, they’re probably not a top-two finalist if Dan Mullen was still the coach. Georgia was the early leader and then it looked like Alabama had gotten him but Cristobal and his staff did great work on him.
*** The commitment of Kylan Salter to TCU was overlooked on the national level but shouldn’t be understated. He was one of the best-looking prospects at any position at the Rivals Camp in Dallas and even though he got injured I still think he should be in the four-star discussion. The Horned Frogs beat Oklahoma State, Utah and others for the Cedar Hill, Texas, standout.
*** Wilky Denaud is not at all the national events and doesn’t play at the biggest powerhouse in South Florida but his commitment to Auburn should not be overlooked. The low four-star from Fort Pierce (Fla.) John Carroll is all of 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds and comes off the edge with a lot of force. He can beat tackles outside, he can bull rush through them or use his moves inside as Denaud tracks the quarterback or running back to get them on the ground. His backside pursuit is excellent and Auburn beat out Tennessee, Florida State and Indiana for him this week.
*** Mississippi State could be getting a major steal in Tabias Hinton. The Hattiesburg, Miss., linebacker is already a four-star prospect but he could be moving further up the rankings and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see many other SEC teams try to get involved through the fall. Hinton is long, fast, athletic, tracks people to the sideline and has the speed to make tons of tackles playing at the highest level. Off the national radar like many Mississippi prospects, Hinton is really, really good.
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3. GEORGIA SURPRISINGLY OPEN
After the top two players in the state of Georgia, four-star safety Caleb Downs and four-star running back Justice Haynes, committed to Alabama recently, I was fully prepared to write this section about how Georgia usually owns in-state recruiting and those are misses but the Bulldogs will be fine.
Georgia will still be outstanding and it's more than likely that the Bulldogs will finish with a top recruiting class. By no means am I questioning coach Kirby Smart, who is coming off a win over Alabama for the national championship.
But Georgia’s lack of success with in-state recruiting in the last handful of years did surprise me.
Of the top 44 players in the state for the 2023 class, Georgia only has two commits – defensive end Gabriel Harris and offensive lineman Bo Hughley. In 2022, the Bulldogs landed only 30 percent of the top 10 in-state players. The 2021 class was the best with six of 10 but in 2020 and 2019, the numbers were shockingly low with only two of the top 17 recruits picking the Dawgs.
What Georgia is doing obviously works. I’m not questioning that. But the lack of local recruiting success struck me as surprising.