With only weeks to go before National Signing Day, Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney shares what he’s hearing on the quarterback dominoes heading into early December.
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Florida State landed a commitment from Jones in April and despite numerous rumors over many months that he was going to flip to Florida, the Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin standout has stuck firm with the Seminoles and denied all that chatter.
But over the weekend, Florida State coach Mike Norvell fired offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, defensive coordinator Adam Fuller and receivers coach Ron Dugans as the debacle of a season continues for the Seminoles, now 1-9 after losing by 49 points to Notre Dame over the weekend.
Last week, the rumors started up again. Florida is not in a really enviable position sitting at 4-5 with games against LSU and Ole Miss coming up next but athletics director Scott Stricklin reaffirmed his support of coach Billy Napier. The Gators are definitely in a position to flip Jones, but the four-star has made no moves yet.
“I haven’t done any flipping or decommitting from anywhere,” Jones said last week.
The high four-star lefty from Lucedale (Miss.) George County committed to Notre Dame last September and that lasted for more than a year but in the closing months it started to become painfully clear to everyone that he was going to flip to Auburn.
That finally happened in October as the Tigers are desperately looking for immediate help at the quarterback position and if he ends up on The Plains, Knight could be in line for early playing time.
A wrench was thrown in the works over the weekend though when the in-state standout showed up at Ole Miss as the Rebels never have given up on recruiting Knight and continue to make a push for him. After the visit, Knight has gone quiet about where things stand as Ole Miss is riding high after beating Georgia while Auburn is mired in a 3-6 season.
Lewis has been committed to USC since August 2023 and playing for coach Lincoln Riley continues to be a massive draw for the Carrollton, Ga., standout. Whether it’s been Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, Caleb Williams or others, Riley has developed Heisman winners and No. 1 NFL Draft picks. Lewis could be next – if he sticks with the Trojans.
The five-star is probably not thrilled with USC’s 4-5 season but the defense is playing better and that was a concern of his heading into the season. Colorado looks to be clearly the biggest threat now as coach Deion Sanders made the Buffaloes a real contender now and Shedeur Sanders will be an early first-round draft pick.
Indiana is still in the race and the Hoosiers’ unbelievable season under first-year coach Curt Cignetti (and Lewis’ long relationship with position coach Tino Sunseri) are playing factors although it feels like Colorado would be the one to watch. There have been rumors of other programs trying to get involved but not enough to name them yet.
After an early commitment to Cal didn’t work out, McDaniel chose Arizona in May and remains locked in with the Wildcats. But after an impressive showing at the Elite 11 this summer many other programs started reaching out.
Florida was one of them but that might have slowed down as the Gators look to flip four-star Florida State commit Tramell Jones. Indiana had been rumored to be after the high three-star from Hughson, Calif., but he didn’t make the trip to Bloomington this past weekend.
As it stands now, McDaniel remains fully committed to Arizona but there are definitely some other programs poking around and as the quarterback dominoes fall he could become a top target in the closing days.
A Cal commitment since July, things got really ramped up in Sagapolutele’s recruitment after a phenomenal performance at the Elite 11. Oregon and Georgia started pushing hard for the four-star lefty from Ewa Beach (Hawaii) Campbell.
As of the last few days, Sagapolutele has remained torn on sticking with Cal – which has shown loyalty from the beginning of his recruitment and improvement this season. – or flipping to Oregon, the childhood dream school that produced Hawaii QBs Marcus Mariota and Dillon Gabriel.
Georgia continues to push as well and Sagapolutele is planning a trip to Athens for this weekend’s matchup against Tennessee although his playoff schedule could change things. The feeling right now is that this is a Cal-Oregon battle that could be settled in the coming days, but a Georgia visit could make things more compelling.
With the news that Michigan was making another run at five-star Bryce Underwood from down the road, Smith backed off his long pledge to the Wolverines in recent weeks and his recruitment is once again coming into form.
The Fort Myers (Fla.) Bishop Verot four-star standout will be at Wisconsin this weekend and it looks as if the Badgers are the leader in his recruitment. Smith might play things slowly since Florida State is also reaching out but if Smith wants to make a quick decision and lock in a spot then Wisconsin would be the place.
The Macon (Miss.) Noxubee County four-star has been committed to Mississippi State for more than a year and he loves first-year coach Jeff Lebby’s vision for him and how he would be developed in Starkville. The 2-8 season could be concerning but it could also be a major opportunity for someone with Taylor’s skill set to come in early and make an impact.
But Georgia offered on Sunday. And Taylor isn’t talking much about it as the Bulldogs are looking to take a second quarterback in this class. They’ve been working on Cal commit Jaron Sagapolutele but as that looks more like a Cal-Oregon battle, Taylor is now in the works as well and that could be an intriguing situation down the stretch.
The five-star quarterback committed to LSU in January and it looked like his recruitment was signed, sealed and delivered. But in recent weeks, Michigan has re-emerged as a serious player for the Belleville, Mich., standout which has included a rumored hefty NIL package as the Wolverines look to quickly fix their major quarterback issues.
Underwood was back at LSU over the weekend and despite a massive flop against Alabama, all signs point to a great visit to Baton Rouge for the five-star. Final decision time is here: Flip to Michigan and be a hometown hero or stick with the Tigers as numerous LSU commits told me over the weekend they feel Underwood knows where home is – and that’s in the South.
Things perked up recently when the long-time Missouri commit took a visit to Penn State for the Ohio State matchup but following that visit there didn’t seem to be a lot of steam going in the Nittany Lions’ direction.
Penn State could be looking for a second quarterback in this class but the Royersford (Pa.) Spring Ford four-star standout was back at Missouri over the weekend and it seems the Tigers could be stronger than ever in his recruitment.
Maybe Zollers is playing everything really close to the vest and a signing day flip could be underway but it feels very unlikely. He’s recruiting for Missouri’s class and he seems to be really loved by that staff. That’s going a long way to keeping him locked in with the Tigers.
