National Signing Day Heating Up in the 2022 Class with Top Players Committing
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @RyanWrightRNG
In any normal year, the college football world would be in hyperactivity over the current crop of seniors speculating on which way are they leaning or to which school will receive a highly coveted prospect’s signed National Letter of Intent. With 2020 panning out the way it did, many Class of 2021 recruits verbally committed ahead of schedule with the vast majority signing during the early period in December. With National Signing Day coming on Wednesday, Feb. 3, for the 2021 class, the juniors are ready to step into the spotlight on the recruiting trail with a bevy of activity over the last week that included one of the nation’s best verbally committing.
Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, LSU, and Clemson sit atop the 2021 recruiting rankings with seemingly all the available five-star recruits possible. Very early on in the process, but the 2022 look has a different feel. Ohio State is leading the way with three five-stars and six four-stars committed followed by Penn State, Georgia, LSU, and Notre Dame.
Georgia got a boost in the rankings on Thursday (Jan. 28) landing the top-rated dual-threat in the nation, in-state product Gunner Stockton. Stockton, already a three-year vet on the gridiron with Rabun County, just wrapped another prolific season passing for over 3,100 yards with 45 touchdowns against just four interceptions while rushing for 1,581 with 26 more scores. On Friday (Jan. 22), the Bulldogs landed another in-state talent, three-star outside linebacker Donovan Westmoreland out of Griffin High School.
On Wednesday, four-star San Diego defensive end Gracen Halton became the third attached talent to Oregon’s 2020 class helping the Ducks slide up to 17th nationally. Another big commitment came on Sunday when four-star Acadiana corner Laterrance Welch decided to stay home with LSU.
A&M heated up the trail last week with a pair of Dickson High School four-stars committing, offensive tackle PJ Williams and tight end Donovan Green. The Aggies have three total commits sitting at No. 10 in the 2022 rankings.
One of the biggest early wins in the recruiting battles happened on Saturday when Belleville (MI) four-star athlete Jeremiah Caldwell jumped on the Kentucky Wildcats bandwagon.
To the delight of football fans in Los Angeles, USC is regaining their recruiting swagger. The 2021 class is big with one five-star and 13 four-star talents slotted at No. 8 nationally. The 2022 class is loading up. With five-star Mater Dei corner Domani Jackson committing on Saturday, that paves the way for other top California recruits to follow suit. Jackson bypassed 38 other offers to side with the Trojans. USC has accepted verbal commits from four-star Bishop Gorman (NV) corner Fabian Ross and four-star Queen Creek (AZ) quarterback Devin Brown.
While the fireworks for the 2021 class may not be as big of a display on National Signing Day, the 2022 class may continue to bring some early firepower to the mix.
Photo credit: RNG; Domani Jackson