Spring has concluded and the college football season will be here within a blink of an eye. Many teams have held their summer camp and will soon host numerous one day/night camps as the summer winds down. A college team’s summer camp is an opportunity to spend quality time with a recruit as well as evaluate his talent level and ultimately determine if that recruit would be a good fit for a particular school. It’s also a chance for colleges to pick up some valuable recruiting momentum as the summer winds down and the season quickly approaches. Here’s a closer look at several schools that could use some recruiting momentum heading in to the college football season.
ACC: Pittsburgh
Commits: 5
ESPN 300 commits: 0
Overview: Only two of Pittsburgh’s five commits, quarterback Thomas MacVittie and and offensive tackle Brandon Ford, are ranked at all in the Recruiting Nation rankings and both are three-star prospects. After signing only 15 prospects in the 2015 recruiting cycle, the Panthers need a big year. The good news is that there are still several in-state prospects who are still considering Pittsburgh. With local ESPN 300 prospects such as defensive end Karamo Dioubate, cornerback Damar Hamlin, and tight ends Naseir Upshur and Cary Angeline still available there is still hope for a strong finish from the Panthers.
Big 12: Texas and Oklahoma
Commits: UT, 6; OU, 7
ESPN 300 commits: UT, 2; OU, 1
Overview: It’s a rare site to see Texas Tech, TCU, West Virginia and Baylor all ahead of Texas and Oklahoma in Big 12 recruiting. Sure, there is a long way to go and based off the recruiting history of Bob Stoops and Charlie Strong and the fact that both recruit the state of Texas so well, both teams will be just fine, but there is work to be done. With TCU and Baylor having so much success lately there has been a lot of parody with the in-state recruiting battles. With 21 uncommitted ESPN 300 prospects from Texas including No. 1 and 2 safeties Brandon Jones and Deontay Anderson, running back Devwah Whaley and wide receiver Devin Duvernay, there will be some great recruiting battles going on in the Big 12 this recruiting cycle and Texas and Oklahoma will end up with their share of talented prospects.
Big Ten: Indiana and Purdue
Commits: 7 for each
ESPN 300 commits: 0 for each
Overview: These two schools from the Hoosier state have certainly gotten off to a slow start. Both teams have only seven commits and only two total players between the two programs, quarterback Peyton Ramsey of Indiana and cornerback Brandon Shuman of Purdue, are ranked as three-star prospects. The other 12 commits are not ranked in the Recruiting Nation star ranking system. On top of that, the top three players from the state of Indiana have committed to Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. In fact, 12 of the top 14 players in the state are committed to out-of-state schools. The other two are uncommitted. The good news for the two teams, however, is that they were each able to land six commits this month. They’ll need that momentum to continue as the season nears.
Pac-12: Arizona
Commits: 6
ESPN 300 commits: 1
Overview: Though Arizona doesn’t have the worst class in the Pac-12 right now, they are certainly off to a slow start considering they finished with a 10-2 regular-season record. They have not quite been able to take advantage of last year's success, which is surprising considering it happened with a freshman quarterback. Despite the slow start, Arizona has more than enough time to finish strong. There are four ESPN 300 prospects in-state and other top targets including ESPN 300 running back Damian Alloway and former Arizona running back commit Trevor Speights, who is still considering the Wildcats. Arizona is also targeting Southern California prospects Jacob Colacion and J.J. Taylor. Another year like last season and there’s little doubt that Arizona will be able to make up significant ground before signing day.
SEC: South Carolina
Commits: 5
ESPN 300 commits: 1
Overview: While certainly not a bad class, the South Carolina class is very low in numbers. For comparison, there are 11 schools in the SEC with at least 10 commits including three that have 15 or more commits. The Gamecocks also lost their top commit when ESPN 300 wide receiver Kyle Davis decided to back off his pledge in May. The good news for South Carolina is that Davis is still considering the Gamecocks and so are other ESPN 300 in-state prospects such as Nyles Pinckney and Javon Kinlaw. Three-star safety Marlon Character, ESPN 300 defensive tackle Antwuan Jackson Jr., and four-star outside linebacker P.J. Blue are also top targets for the Gamecocks.