West Spotlight: Best two-team recruiting battles

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The Early Signing Period is quickly approaching and teams are battling it out for top prospects. Here is a closer look at the top two-team recruiting battles in the West.

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Daniels is the only prospect among the top-six dual-threat quarterbacks that remains uncommitted and that might remain that way for some time. The four-star quarterback said recently he would like to make a decision by the end of October or early in November but others are saying that the four-star might wait until the early signing period to announce his destination.

Utah, Cal and UCLA are the three front-runners for Daniels, who has 3,167 passing yards with 44 touchdowns and three interceptions this season, but it seems the Utes and the Golden Bears have the edge at this point. He recently took another trip to Utah and he loves how the offense is run there and what he could bring to bolster the passing game. Cal has produced so many top-flight quarterbacks and he likes the opportunity for early playing time in Berkeley. Both Pac-12 schools have a very realistic shot at landing Daniels as he works toward a decision.

The five-star athlete from Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei is working through his official visit schedule with USC being his last before he makes his commitment. That should be important for the Trojans since Mater Dei is considered a pipeline to USC and his former quarterback JT Daniels, former receiver teammate Amon-Ra St. Brown and current quarterback, Bryce Young, are at USC or are committed there. The coaching situation will be interesting to watch especially if the heat is dialed up on Clay Helton even more late in the season.

Texas is an intriguing situation. The Longhorns like McCoy mainly at receiver, but they’ve also discussed utilizing him at linebacker in a similar way that he’s used at Mater Dei. McCoy also loves the coaching staff in Austin and that stability could go a long way. Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA, Washington and Alabama are also contenders.

The four-star defensive back attended Penn State’s White-Out against Ohio State earlier this season and called it “spiritual”. Pola-Gates also had a phenomenal time at Nebraska in the last few weeks but the Huskers would still be considered an outsider as his recruitment winds down in the coming months.

The only other visit Pola-Gates has scheduled and is expected to take is to Alabama for its Iron Bowl match-up against Auburn. That is virtually guaranteed to be an excellent environment and it’s going to be the final visit for Pola-Gates, always a telling sign on where some recruits are leaning. The four-star is a top priority for the Crimson Tide in this recruiting class, he’s liked Alabama for a long time and who says no to Nick Saban?

To’oto’o is one of the most difficult recruits to read in the West this recruiting cycle because he rarely, if ever, talks about his favorites and never gives hints on which programs stand out the most in his mind.

But Alabama has definitely made him a priority in this recruiting class and assistant coach Tosh Lupoi’s connection to Concord (Calif.) De La Salle could pay dividends once the four-star linebacker is ready to decide. Some former De La Salle standouts play at UCLA and the Bruins are also of interest to To’oto’o, who could also be looking at Cal, Washington and some others.