The Atlantic:
The early signing period is two and a half months away, and while that might seem like a decent amount of time, the recruiting walls are actually closing in on everyone pretty fast.
And it’s an interesting time in West Coast recruiting. The Pac-12 has crumbled and the departing schools have landed in three different conferences. Not to mention the remaining Pac-2, whose short- to medium-term future remains up in the air. All of the moving pieces have added up to make recruiting a bit more interesting out West.
So with that in mind, let’s get into some West Coast recruiting thoughts.
1. When the Pac-12 was down a few years ago, there was non-stop talk about how the region’s best players, particularly California’s, weren’t staying out West to play college football.
The Pac-12 has improved immensely on the field since the peak of that talk three or four years ago. Teams are playing in big games on big stages that will likely only get bigger. Schools like USC, Oregon, Washington and UCLA have found a home in one of the sport’s premier conferences — the Big Ten, and Colorado has (obviously) received atremendous amount of buzz and attention thisyear.
But the struggle to keep the West’s best players within the footprint has resurfaced during this recruiting cycle. Seven of California’s top 15 prospects are committed to schools that will play in the SEC next season — with an eighth (five-star defensive lineman Aydin Breland) projected to land in the conference as well.
And let’s not lay all of the blame at the feet of the Golden State. The top prospects in Washington, Colorado and Nevada are committed to either SEC or ACC schools.
“It’s seemingly happening again,” 247Sports national recruiting editor Brandon Huffman said. “These kids still seem to be looking outside the West Coast footprint. Whether it’s Aydin Breland, Brandon Baker (Texas), Nate Frazier (Georgia), obviously Julian Sayin (Alabama). … I don’t think there’s the momentum to keep a lot of these West Coast kids local like we thought we might see.”
Oregon has a proven track record of closing strong — just look at last cycle — and could easily vault into the top 10 nationally by the time the early signing period closes. But at the moment, no West Coast program is ranked in the top 10 and only three are in the top 30.
The early signing period is two and a half months away, and while that might seem like a decent amount of time, the recruiting walls are actually closing in on everyone pretty fast.
And it’s an interesting time in West Coast recruiting. The Pac-12 has crumbled and the departing schools have landed in three different conferences. Not to mention the remaining Pac-2, whose short- to medium-term future remains up in the air. All of the moving pieces have added up to make recruiting a bit more interesting out West.
So with that in mind, let’s get into some West Coast recruiting thoughts.
1. When the Pac-12 was down a few years ago, there was non-stop talk about how the region’s best players, particularly California’s, weren’t staying out West to play college football.
The Pac-12 has improved immensely on the field since the peak of that talk three or four years ago. Teams are playing in big games on big stages that will likely only get bigger. Schools like USC, Oregon, Washington and UCLA have found a home in one of the sport’s premier conferences — the Big Ten, and Colorado has (obviously) received atremendous amount of buzz and attention thisyear.
But the struggle to keep the West’s best players within the footprint has resurfaced during this recruiting cycle. Seven of California’s top 15 prospects are committed to schools that will play in the SEC next season — with an eighth (five-star defensive lineman Aydin Breland) projected to land in the conference as well.
And let’s not lay all of the blame at the feet of the Golden State. The top prospects in Washington, Colorado and Nevada are committed to either SEC or ACC schools.
“It’s seemingly happening again,” 247Sports national recruiting editor Brandon Huffman said. “These kids still seem to be looking outside the West Coast footprint. Whether it’s Aydin Breland, Brandon Baker (Texas), Nate Frazier (Georgia), obviously Julian Sayin (Alabama). … I don’t think there’s the momentum to keep a lot of these West Coast kids local like we thought we might see.”
Oregon has a proven track record of closing strong — just look at last cycle — and could easily vault into the top 10 nationally by the time the early signing period closes. But at the moment, no West Coast program is ranked in the top 10 and only three are in the top 30.
