Three-Point Stance: Significant commitments, Kelly on Kizer

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell’s thought-provoking Three-Point Stance is here with analysis on some more out-of-state gets, the biggest in-state gets for 2018 and Brian Kelly’s recent comments on QB DeShone Kizer.

MORE THREE-POINT STANCE: Surprise 2018 classes

On Tuesday I shared my biggest out-of-state gets and went 10 deep, but there are some other key ones deserve mentioning. Here are a few more that stand out to me and just missed that top 10 list the other day.…

QB Justin Fields, Penn State – Fields missed the list only because he’s a quarterback and we all know QBs leave their home state often. However, with Trevor Lawrence and Emory Jones making Tuesday's list, Fields should be in the mix. He could be rising up the rankings as we love what we see more and more.

QB Cameron Rising, Oklahoma – OU and California, here we go again. Rising is a terrific quarterback and a big-time haul from out West. Last year the Sooners went into Texas for their quarterback, and they are going a tad farther this recruiting cycle.

DB Trennell Troutman, Louisville – The Cardinals do well in Florida, especially South Florida, which is why this wasn’t one of the top 10 and isn’t a stunner. But it's still a great haul for the Cardinals from a big-time talent-producing school.

QB Phil Jurkovec, Notre Dame – I’m not a big fan of Avery Davis out of Texas for the 2017 class, but Jurkovec could be the guy after Brandon Wimbush.

DB Jaiden Woodbey, Ohio State – The Buckeyes do well landing defensive backs from out of state, and Woodbey is the next in line. He didn’t make the top 10 because it’s kind of expected, certainly not his fault.

WR Marquis Spiker, Washington – The Huskies need to become a dominant force in California, and Spiker is a great start to that for 2018.

In-state gets are also extremely important for many programs, but some are bigger than others. These five early commitments are must-signs for these programs.

OL Cade Mays, Tennessee – The Vols need to keep players in-state. The Vols need offensive linemen. The Vols need to attract more five-stars. Check, check and check with Mays' commitment, the most important in-state grab in the country so far.

RB Lorenzo Lingard, Miami – Miami has many in-state commitments early, but Lingard is the best so far and an absolute home run for the Canes as they try to get back to national prominence.

DE Micah Parsons, Penn State – Whether he named his dog Brutus and visits Ohio State here and there doesn’t matter right now. Right now the freaky rush end, who can also play standing up, is committed to the in-state Nittany Lions.

OL Brey Walker, Oklahoma – The Sooners' offensive line has talent and they continue to stockpile big men. Walker could be the best in a few years; he has that much potential.

QB Matt Corral, USC – Sam Darnold will be gone after next season most likely, and while Jack Sears is good, Corral could be great.

I’ve been very vocal about Brian Kelly’s penchant to throw his players under the bus, especially last season before he realized he needed to shift gears and shoulder some of the blame for an underachieving 4-8 season. And I’ve been very vocal on how overrated I feel DeShone Kizer is as an NFL draft prospect as well.

This past week, Kelly got hammered by many for his comments regarding his former quarterback and Kizer's NFL potential. In fact, some went as far as saying that recruits shouldn’t want to play for a coach who would say such things about a former player.

And my reaction? Relax everyone. All Kelly said was that, “He (Kizer) still should be in college. The circumstances are such that you have to make a business decision and he felt like it was in his best interest. I'm going to support him and his decision."

So what? Kelly is exactly right. Kizer is not close to being ready to be a high NFL draft pick and will likely fall out of round one unless someone decides to reach on his potential. Coming back to school would have clearly benefited him (as well as Mitch Trubisky and Brad Kaaya, among others) and would have likely helped his development.

However, it might not have helped his draft stock with a much stronger quarterback group set for 2018 (Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Mason Rudolph, Jake Browning, Lamar Jackson, etc), and there are those that could argue that Kelly and his staff have stunted Kizer’s growth themselves (or at least his confidence).

I certainly don’t blame Kelly for giving his honest opinion when he could have embellished and made everyone happy by comparing his signal caller to Michael Jordan like Dabo Swinney did with DeShaun Watson.

In this case, with Kizer off the team and internal morale not at stake, I don’t blame Kelly for being honest. Now he just has to know that after games during a season he needs to hold his tongue and take the blame upon himself moreso than hand it to his players. Or perhaps, in Kizer’s case, he should have done that here?

But the part about recruits not looking at Notre Dame because of his assessment of Kizer – that’s ridiculous.