Recruiting Insiders: Top 10 news
— -- Huge wins for Alabama, Ohio State and Louisville caused some big moves in the ESPN College Football Power Rankings after Week 3.
Recruits were extremely impressed, especially the pair of five-stars keeping an eye on Ohio State. Here's all the recruiting news for the top 10 teams:
1.? Alabama Crimson Tide
Despite playing on the road this weekend, the Crimson Tide had the opportunity to impress the No. 1-ranked player in the ESPN 300, Trey Smith, who took an unofficial visit to Ole Miss this weekend.
"Alabama's offense simply played like Alabama," Smith said. "They slowly and methodically wore down the opponent physically."
Smith is a top priority for Alabama which is one of six schools the five-star offensive tackle is still considering. Smith's other favorites include Ole Miss, Tennessee, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Clemson. Alabama already has a five-star tackle, Alex Leatherwood, committed, but Leatherwood has planned to take several visits this year including one on Saturday to Auburn.
-- Derek Tyson
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
Wins and losses don't mean everything to recruits, but Ohio State put on a show during one of Oklahoma's biggest recruiting weekends of the season. The Sooners had five-stars Jeffrey Okudah and Marvin Wilson on hand among a plethora of other top prospects.
When asked if Ohio State's performance made Wilson think any different of the Buckeyes, the No. 7 ranked prospect replied with, "Hell, yeah. They impressed me."
Okudah has Ohio State as his leader and saw an outstanding defensive performance from the Buckeyes, including two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown. He also took notice of Noah Brown's impressive touchdown catch over the back of the Oklahoma defender.
Ohio State commit Chase Young was watching the game at home, but took the time to talk about Ohio State's dominance while blasting the SEC.
Ohio State already has the No. 1 ranked class in the country, but this win will resonate nationally for the Buckeyes going forward. -- Tom VanHaaren
3.? Louisville Cardinals
Not only did the Cardinals put together the most impressive win over the weekend by beating Florida State 63-20, but did so with a number of top 2017 and 2018 targets in the stands. The state of Georgia has been key for Louisville in the 2017 class, and a number of Peach State prospects were on hand Saturday including ESPN 300 receiver and verbal Justin Marshall and three-star receiver Corey Reed Jr. On defense, the Cardinals have loaded up on defensive backs with seven secondary prospects on the commit list. With that said, four-star Russ Yeast II remains a top target and he saw Saturday's game as well. Yeast II, a Kentucky legacy and former Wildcats verbal, is considered a lean to Louisville.
-- Gerry Hamilton
4.? Houston Cougars
The Cougars took advantage of another nationally televised victory to promote their program with top prospects. The win over Cincinnati on ESPN was the focus of a social media blitz of edits and videos sent out to recruits all high on Houston's board. With two out of next three games on the road, the Cougars are looking to make the Oct. 14 home game against Tulsa a key recruiting weekend. -- Jeremy Crabtree
5.? Clemson Tigers
The Tigers had a cakewalk win on Saturday, but it's the October 1 game against Louisville that will be the next recruiting event for Clemson. The top-five showdown will bring in a number of top targets, committed and still on the board, including Under Armour All-America Game safety C.J. Avery, who is scheduled to be in town for his official visit. Linebacker remains a key position of need for Clemson in the 2017 class, and ESPN 300s Justin Foster and Drew Singleton are both at least 50-50 bets to ink with the Tigers. The main competition for Foster is Tennessee, while Michigan is battling with Clemson for Singleton. Singleton, an Under Armour All-America Game selection, is out for the season with a knee injury. --? Hamilton
6. Stanford Cardinal
Stanford's Christian McCaffery has been a nightmare for defenses the past two years, but he's always quick to deflect praise to his offensive linemen and blockers. While the Cardinal don't have a McCaffery replacement at running back in this 2017 class, they are doing a terrific job building that offensive foundation around the tailback position. Quarterback Davis Mills is on board, along with tight ends Colby Parkinson and Tucker Fisk. Going forward, Stanford hopes to add ESPN 300 offensive tackle prospects Foster Sarell and Walker Little to the class. Both Sarell and Little were in attendance this weekend, a significant statement of their interest in the Cardinal.
--? Erik McKinney
7. Michigan Wolverines
The Wolverines had all-everything quarterback Tom Brady on campus as an honorary captain Saturday. While NCAA rules prohibit Michigan from using Brady as a recruiting tool, recruits were well aware that the Super Bowl winning quarterback was at the game.
Some of the visitors, including ESPN 300 offensive line commit Ja'Raymond Hall, got a first-hand view of Brady and coach Jim Harbaugh playing catch before the game at midfield.
-- VanHaaren
8. Michigan State Spartans
The Spartans had a slow start to the season, but exploded on Saturday night to beat Notre Dame 36-28. Quarterback Tyler O'Connor threw for two touchdown passes in the game, including one to freshman receiver Donnie Corley out of Detroit.
When Corley caught the pass, which was reminiscent to his game-winning catch in the high school state championship game, quite a few Detroit prospects took to Twitter showing their excitement for Corley and the Spartans.
That included Corley's former Martin Luther King Jr. teammate, ESPN 300 athlete Ambry Thomas.
Michigan State has been making a push for more and more prospects from the Detroit area, and getting Corley involved in the offense early could eventually be a good selling point for the Spartans in the future. --? VanHaaren
9. Washington Huskies
The Huskies are off to a 3-0 start, though the level of competition hasn't exactly had recruits buzzing. They'll have a chance to change that in two weeks with a home game against Stanford, but in the meantime, Washington's in-state commits proved Friday night that the Huskies know what they're doing when it comes to targeting local prospects. Running back Connor Wedington rushed for five touchdowns and more than 270 yards in a blowout win. Tight end commit Cade Otton fought through illness to grab two touchdowns, including a game-winning 26-yard toss into traffic to beat Bellevue.
--? McKinney
10. Texas A&M Aggies
The Aggies make their way in to the top 10 for the first time this year and Texas A&M currently has the 15th best recruiting class in the nation. The Aggies class has 19 commits including five ranked in the ESPN 300. Quarterback Trevor Knight is third in the SEC in passing yards and Texas A&M fans are hoping their future quarterback, commit Kellen Mond, will have a similar impact when he gets on campus. Mond is a dual threat quarterback from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Four games in to his senior season, the ESPN 300 quarterback has thrown for 11 touchdowns, and is over halfway to breaking IMG's single season passing touchdown record (18), an impressive feat considering past IMG QBs include Deondre Francois and Shea Patterson.
"I think the offense has been really good but they can still get so much better having the weapons that they have," Mond said about the Aggies' performance against Auburn. "The most impressive thing that I've noticed is that the defense is playing like a top defense in the country and that's what it takes to win big games." --? Tyson
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