Tuesdays with Gorney: Jaydon Blue, Matayo Uiagalelei, safeties
In his weekly series, Rivals National Recruiting Director Adam Gorney offers his thoughts on recruiting topics and storylines that impact the national landscape.
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BLUE SITUATION
Four-star running back Jaydon Blue announced last week that he would be skipping his senior season of high school football to focus on academics and training to get ready for his career at Texas.
While we don’t believe this will become a trend in high school football, I talked to a bunch of people involved in the sport and the general view was confusion, questions about the decision and surprise that someone would choose to miss their senior season.
I’ve been told Texas still loves Blue and is not concerned about his future, but there does become a rankings question surrounding the Houston (Texas) Klein Cain standout.
Other players have decided to compete in their senior seasons, many of them will undoubtedly put up big numbers. While wear and tear could be an issue long term for running backs, worrying about it to the degree where you skip your senior season of high school is something we will discuss on our rankings calls.
Blue is very talented, dynamic, great in space, he hits all the marks for one of the best running backs on the field. But if he’s not going to play his senior year and then gets to Texas where Bijan Robinson has a year left so he won’t get many carries right away, this is a player who might not get tackled and be in game shape for a few years. That does raise some issues and ones we will need to work through during rankings.
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UIAGALELEI MAKING HIS OWN WAY
Matayo Uiagalelei is no longer "just" D.J.’s little brother. I remember first meeting the 2023 four-star defensive end when Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco was playing Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei and he was the Bosco ball boy just a few years ago. He was already big but had some baby fat on him. That has changed in just a few years and Uiagalelei showed out at Sunday’s Rivals Camp in Southern California.
The 2023 four-star worked out at tight end during the morning session and then stayed to get work at defensive end during the afternoon. That was a long day that was rewarded with a stop at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse with his dad “Big Dave.” It was a reward he definitely earned.
I’ve heard Georgia and Ohio State have an early edge in Uiagalelei’s recruitment but many others are not giving up.
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SKINNER HAS TOP 10
Florida seemed like the early frontrunner for four-star tight end Jaleel Skinner but after he did not make a snap commitment, the Greer, S.C., standout named a top 10 this week with the Gators included along with Texas, Miami, Arizona State, Clemson, Alabama, Florida State, LSU, Oregon and Oklahoma.
What’s interesting is when I talked to Skinner more than a year ago at the National Combine in San Antonio, he said that if Clemson offered he might shut down his recruitment right then because that was always the dream offer. But then Clemson offered and he decided to hold off.
The feeling I’m getting after talking to people is that Clemson could still have an edge, Florida feels like it is right there and that going too far away from home probably won’t happen. But Skinner has pulled some surprises before and might do it again.
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ROBINSON TO UGA LOOKS LIKELY
Branson Robinson is leaning toward Georgia and it wouldn’t be a complete shock if he commits after his official visit in June. The Bulldogs should wrap up the No. 1 running back in the class is my feeling after talking to people close to Robinson’s recruitment. There is a sense that if Robinson waits through the entire month of June or even longer then things could get really interesting with Clemson, maybe Alabama or maybe LSU as well. Tennessee also gets a visit in June.
But Robinson is Georgia’s to lose. Georgia knows it. The fans know it. Robinson has talked highly of the Bulldogs from the start of his recruitment and after talking to him at the Rivals Camp in Atlanta he does not seem like one that wants to play games.
If there ever was a Nick Chubb 2.0, it’s Robinson. He literally looks almost just like him and Robinson might have a little bit more dynamic ability.
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HINZMAN MAKES IT INTERESTING
A few months ago it felt Wisconsin was a near lock for four-star offensive lineman Carson Hinzman from Hammond (Wisc.) St. Croix Central. He’s an in-state prospect, he’s visited Madison, he’s a top offensive line recruit. It all made sense.
But things are murkier in recent weeks as visits to Ohio State, Notre Dame and Iowa are now planned and one more could be in the works as well. Hinzman could still very well end up with the Badgers like many other elite offensive linemen from the state, but saying no to the Buckeyes and the Irish among others is easier said than done.
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MARCHIOL HAS ROUND OF VISITS
Nicco Marchiol has been one of the best recruiters for Florida State since his commitment in late January. He has a big opportunity in Tallahassee as well since the Seminoles are in desperate need of consistent and capable quarterback play and the Chandler (Ariz.) Hamilton standout could be in the mix for that.
But after four-star Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy QB A.J. Duffy committed to Florida State over Arizona State and Michigan State in late April, Marchiol has been putting together plans to take official visits.
That’s understandable as he makes sure the right decision is made but with Michigan State and West Virginia visits scheduled and then trips to Arkansas, Arizona State and one more planned, it wouldn’t be shocking to see a decommitment watch come up soon. This isn’t the first time a commit has taken visits elsewhere but it does raise some questions for sure.
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TOP TWO RECEIVERS FROM MIDWEST?
There have been about a dozen five-star receivers from the Midwest (including Missouri even though that’s categorized as Mid-South in the Rivals database) with mixed success over the years. There have been some hits, probably more misses and some for whom the jury is still out.
All that is to say the top two wide receivers ranked right now by Rivals are from the Midwest in East St. Louis, Ill., recruit Luther Burden and St. Louis (Mo.) St. Mary’s Kevin Coleman. By no means are we changing rankings based on the locales of the top players but it is something to at least consider.
Burden and Coleman could be good enough to break trends that have been well-established over 20 recruiting classes. I liked Coleman a lot when I saw him in person recently. Burden is great on tape. But there are other receivers giving chase, too, and so it’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out.
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LOVE THIS CLASS OF SAFETIES
I’m preparing for rankings meetings in early June and I got to the safeties and thought this could be a really tough position to rank because there are so many good ones at the top.
Right now, LSU commit Jacoby Mathews is the lone five-star but IMG’s Kamari Wilson, Florida State commit Sam McCall and Pleasant Hill (Iowa) Southeast Polk’s Xavier Nwankpa should all be discussed as possible top two or top three safeties in the country.
There are a host of four-stars that are very talented and versatile. And some of those guys on the back-end of the four-stars and even some three-star prospects have an argument to move up as well.