There are a good percentage of college football recruits that reached the end of their junior year in May and moved forward for one final season at the high school level. The spring evaluation period led to several verbal commits that helped boost the outlook for a handful of recruiting classes. At the same time, there were de-commits that hurt the outlook for a handful of recruiting classes over the last few weeks.
Here is a look at the winners on the recruiting trail for the month of May.
LSU Tigers
The Tigers are coming off of a difficult 24 months in which they underachieved in the SEC to the point where head coach Les Miles appeared to be on the brink of losing his job. LSU elected to keep Miles on and so far it looks like the right decision as the Tigers are coming off a strong recruiting surge for the month of May. Although, it should be pointed out that LSU hasn’t had issues with recruiting recently. It’s merely been getting those players to play to their potential is where they have stumbled.
LSU moved all the way up to No. 1 in the 2017 SEC recruiting rankings with six commitments in the month of May alone. Quarterback Lowell Narcisse got the ball rolling as the No. 5 quarterback recruit in the nation and was followed by a pair of four-star offensive tackles in Austin Deculus and Saahdiq Charles. The Tigers have already taken some notable steps forward as a program and a strong recruiting class has sparked the optimism surrounding the program heading in to the 2016 season.
California Golden Bears
The Golden Bears were thrilled to land the No. 1 overall receiver in the 2016 class in five-star commit Demetris Robinson on the recruiting trail in May. The Peach State product had his own press conference to announce his decision and head coach Sonny Dykes has to be thrilled about the potential for him to make an immediate impact both on and off the field. Robinson has the talent to play at a high level as soon as he joins Cal but he will also have a significant impact on the recruiting trail where his decision is expected to help the Golden Bears compete for the services of the No. 1 rated dual-threat quarterback recruit in the country in Tate Martell. Martell spent eight months committed to Texas A&M before de-committing and Cal will be very fortunate if they can somehow convince him to join Robinson on the west coast.
It’s become pretty clear to see that Dykes has turned around the program in California. Remember, when he took over, things had gotten very stale under Jeff Tedford and the school had lost it’s luster as a destination. After a season where the Bears started the year 5-0, got back into the Top 25 and finished the season with a commanding win over Air Force in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl, we see that Cal is back on the map. It helps that Dykes also guided quarterback Jared Goff to the top of the 2016 NFL Draft (selected No. 1 overall by the St. Louis Rams). All of these reasons are why Cal is now winning on the recruiting trail and should be even stronger in the years to come.
Alabama Crimson Tide
It’s another case of the rich getting richer on the recruiting trail, the defending SEC and national champion Crimson Tide getting off to a strong start recruiting in the month of May. Head coach Nick Saban already locked in his sixth consecutive No. 1 recruiting class for 2016 and May brought him another intriguing piece in Hawaii native Tua Tagovailoa. The No. 58 overall quarterback in the 2017 cycle committed to Alabama in early May with the decision to join Saban and the Tide over offers from UCLA, Ole Miss and Auburn. The No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the country is yet another weapon added to Saban’s arsenal at Alabama and it will be very interesting to see how soon Tagovailoa makes an impact on the football field. Although this is the offseason, these are the months when Alabama and Nick Saban are working overtime as that’s what gives them the eventual edge over everyone else. That was clear this May.
