MWC Recruiting Roundup 9-28-20

Another week, another recruiting roundup.

One thing you may have noticed on Twitter this weekend was recruits tweeting about official offers. August 1st is the first day schools can give written or official offers. If you follow the recruiting of your favorite team closely, you may notice some verbal offers from the spring aren’t always backed up by official written offers. It’s a good time of year to see who are the high school athletes a team is actually recruiting strongly.

Another thing you may notice is a clear emphasis on the class of 2022 or beyond. In fact, only two offers this week was handed out to a recruit in the 2021 class. One of the reasons for this is that quite a few teams have secured most of their spots in their 2021 classes, so they can focus more attention on future classes. Another potential reason is with seniors being allowed to return for an extra year of eligibility, some teams may be taking smaller recruiting classes to balance their roster out. It is something to look for when following this recruiting cycle.

This past week saw five new verbals in to the Mountain West. New Mexico had two of the five, with Air Force, San Diego State, and San Jose State taking the other three. The Lobos were a fixture on the cover photo earlier in the year and take it back this week.

Class of 2021 Cover Photo Total:

• Air Force: 5
• New Mexico: 5
• Colorado State: 4
• Boise State: 3
• UNLV: 3
• San Diego State: 3
• Nevada: 2
• Fresno State: 2
• Hawaii: 1
• San Jose State: 1

Recruiting Calendar:

The dead period is still alive. But based on what the NCAA is allowing, it seems more like a contact period to some degree, as coaches can have unlimited calls and video meetings during this time.

September 1st marked the day that coaches can have direct contact with high school juniors, or the recruiting class of 2022. If you were on twitter at all, you saw the graphics and tweets and buzz going around about that.

Update: The Dead Period has been extending through the end of the 2020.

Air Force Commitment Tracker:

Looks like it’s time to bring this back. Since the Air Force Academy regularly has around 100 commits in each class, it’s kind of fun to track them over the course of the year.

Number of Falcon verbal commits: 36

A Glance At Colorado State Recruiting:

Colorado State was near the top of the MWC recruiting rankings under Mike Bobo. Now, with Steve Addazio, it will be interesting to see if the Rams can continue that.

The Rams have been one of the Mountain West teams this year who have secured the majority of their class early in the cycle. According to 247 composite rankings, CSU has 21 verbal commits, good for 4th in the conference and 72nd in the country. Out of those 21, 17 are rated three stars, which is a pretty good ratio.

Quarterback Luke McAlister committed last November and has stuck with the team during the coaching change. Interestingly, he’s one of three QBs in this class, which is a strategy similar to ones Hawaii and Utah State employed in some of their recent classes following coaching changes. They look to have a potential thunder and lightning tandem at running back and Drake Martinez is an intriguing option at tight end. They may have gotten a huge steal in lineman George Miki-Han, who is from powerhouse Mater-Dei and may have gotten knocked for being only 5’11”.

Their most talented players are on the defensive end. First is another small but skilled defensive back Lathan Adams, and the second is Tyler Quinn, who is hopefully their future defensive tackle once he adds some weight. Both are from prominent Texas high school football programs and are solid gets for the Rams.

On the other hand, Colorado State could use some additional talent at linebacker, in the secondary, and another playmaker for the offense. There’s nothing wrong with the class but they are lacking the premium talent they seemed to secure with ease in the past. Coach Addazio seems to be putting a bigger priority on local talent, with five players in this class from Colorado. It’s worth remembering that to see how many dividends that pays down the line. It’s a safe assumption that this class won’t look much different come February but that isn’t the worst thing for the Rams.

Recruiting Updates:

Offers

• DB Sammy Knipe was offered by Air Force
• 2023 WR Tiger Bachmeier was offered by Boise State
• WR Keithron Lee was offered by Fresno State
• 2022 QB Brandon Rose was offered by Nevada
• 2022 LB/TE Clayton Lynam was offered by Nevada
• 2022 ATH Quinton Jackson was offered by New Mexico
• 2022 DB Tristan Dunn was offered by Utah State

Commits

• LB Kyler Orr committed to Air Force
• DB Xavier Hailey committed to New Mexico
• WR Kai Jessie committed to New Mexico
• OL Brandon Logan committed to SDSU
• QB Walker Eget committed to SJSU

Decommits

• WR Herman Smith decommitted from SDSU

Follow @Mike_SBN on Twitter for all the latest recruiting news and updates.