Recruiting Update: College Football Prospects Gather for Under Armour Next All-America Game

ORLANDO, Fla. — About 100 top college football prospects made their way to Orlando this week for the Under Armour Next All-America Game, which kicks off on Wednesday. Friday was media day as prospects touched down in the Sunshine State.

Here are some takeaways:

All eyes on 5-stars yet to sign

Most of the top players in the country signed during the early signing period, but three five-stars who have not signed a national letter of intent are playing in the Under Armour All-America game: five-star wide receiver Ryan Williams of Saraland, Ala.; five-star athlete Terry Bussey of Timpson, Texas; and five-star defensive lineman Dominick McKinley of Lafayette, La.

Williams, the No. 12 prospect in the 247Sports Composite, was a member of the Class of 2025 before he reclassified to the Class of 2024 earlier this month. He committed to Alabama in October 2022 but is listening to pitches from Auburn and Texas in addition to the Crimson Tide before he signs in February. Bussey, who will visit Georgia next month and could possibly visit Texas A&M again, per On3, is committed to Texas A&M. So is McKinley.

“I had to wait it out because I didn’t know any of the coaches,” said McKinley, who committed to Texas A&M in September and decided last month to hold off on signing after Jimbo Fisher was fired so he could get to know Mike Elko and defensive line coach Sean Spencer better.

LSU, Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee are pushing for McKinley. The Louisiana native is visiting LSU and Tennessee in back-to-back weeks next month. He’s not sure if he’s going to take an official visit to Texas A&M, Oklahoma or Texas yet. He described his relationship with Spencer as “pretty good.”

Williams said he will make an official visit to Alabama on Jan. 20, followed by a visit to Texas on Jan. 27 and a visit to Auburn on Feb. 3. Hugh Freeze called dibs on his final visit, he said. The Longhorns then wanted the penultimate visit.

“I’m really just fully enjoying the process because I mean, I did skip a whole year,” Williams said laughing. “So I do at least want to enjoy the last part.”

Williams said Nick Saban and Alabama’s staff have been “very understanding” of his desire to explore the recruiting process and have let him enjoy it, as opposed to pressuring him to sign last week. His decision to sign in February was two-fold: Feb. 9 is his birthday and was also the day his father, Ryan Williams, signed with Auburn in the Class of 2007.

Five-star Auburn wide receiver Cam Coleman thinks it’s possible that Williams follows in his dad’s footsteps and signs with the Tigers.

“I talk to him probably about every other day but I don’t know. … I think we have a shot at him but I don’t know yet,” Coleman said. “Every time he’s at Auburn, he’s just having a good time. I think he feels like he’s at home but he doesn’t want to admit it. We’re gonna see.

“I’d say 60-40.”

Texas has openings at receiver with Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell expected to head to the NFL Draft. But Alabama could be the team to beat. Williams talked to Nick Saban as recently as Thursday night.

“It would definitely take a lot,” Williams said of what it would take for him to back off his Alabama pledge. “They’ve been very understanding of my entire process. They were the first to recruit me and they’ve never come off of that.

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Coleman on his flip to Auburn

Auburn scored its biggest recruiting win under Freeze when Coleman, the nation’s No. 4 prospect and No. 2 wide receiver behind only Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, flipped to the Tigers on Dec. 1.

The Tigers can thank Texas A&M for that.

Had Fisher not been fired, Coleman confirmed Friday, he would have signed with the Aggies.

“Texas A&M was the first school to offer me, and then it was really just my relationship with (wide receivers coach Dameyune Craig) and Jimbo. That’s really what set it off, because I was really locked in with them boys,” Coleman said. “When (Texas A&M) released them, I was like, ‘Dang. Welp. Time to go to Auburn. Let’s do it.”’

Coleman is from Phenix City, Ala., about 45 minutes away from Auburn’s campus, and said he knew immediately when he decommitted from Texas A&M that Freeze and the Tigers would be the choice. Penn State and Florida tried to make pitches after Fisher was fired, Coleman said, but he didn’t entertain either. His initial decision had already come down to the Aggies and Tigers, in large part thanks to how much he enjoyed his official visit to Auburn in June.

“I knew it right off the bat, without a moment of doubt — without a second of doubt — that I was going to Auburn,” Coleman said. “My relationship with everybody … Every time I went there it felt like home. Right down the street. And really, I was just comfortable.”

In signing with Auburn, Coleman is now the program’s second-highest rated recruit of the modern era, behind only five-star defensive end Byron Cowart in the Class of 2015. He’ll enroll early and head to campus on Jan. 6. Auburn also signed five-star wide receiver Perry Thompson, four-star wide receiver Malcom Simmons and four-star wide receiver Bryce Cain, all top-250 players.

“Malcolm (is a) freak of nature. Dunking. Going crazy. Windmills. Bryce Cain (is) shifty. Gonna get you off your feet a little bit,” Coleman said. “Me and Perry, we play kind of similar.”

FSU commits miffed over CFP snub

On the heels of Florida State being left out of the College Football Playoff despite winning the ACC Championship Game and finishing undefeated, FSU administrators, coaches and players made it clear how they felt about the snub.

Behind the scenes, FSU’s Class of 2024 recruits were equally peeved.

“I was definitely mad,” four-star running back Kam Davis said. “Putting two one-loss teams in front of an undefeated, Power 5 champion, I just felt like … that shouldn’t happen at all in college football.”

Chairman Boo Corrigan said the selection committee left FSU out because of the season-ending leg injury to star quarterback Jordan Travis. The Seminoles were no longer the same team, he said.

That explanation didn’t sit well with Florida State commits — who make up the nation’s No. 9 class.

“We were mad. We all were in a group chat, everybody talking, everybody mad,” Davis continued. “All the guys made a big group chat and we talked a lot. Just being able to see those guys’ opinions and reactions on it, it was something that kept me (close to) that brotherhood.”

Seven recruits ranked in the top 100 of the 247Sports Composite announced their decisions to flip and sign elsewhere after the three-day early signing period began on Dec. 20.

Jeremiah McClellan, a four-star receiver (No. 49) from St. Charles (Mo.) Christian Brothers College, was committed to Ohio State since August but signed with Oregon along with Ryan Pellum, a top-100 receiver from Long Beach (Calif.) who dropped USC late for the Ducks.

But McClellan revealed he might’ve stayed home and signed with Missouri had five-star Ryan Wingo, a St. Louis native, flipped his pledge from Texas to the in-state Tigers. They had discussed it. But it never happened.

“He was waiting for me to go first,” McClellan said. “But I didn’t know if he was gonna go (through with it).”

Why didn’t McClellan do it first?

“I have no clue,” McClellan said. “For me, I’d say it was just too close to home. I wanted to get out and explore everything.”

Five-star Missouri defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri said he talked to Wingo up until the early signing period and thought Wingo would be heading to Columbia with him.

“I thought he was coming. I thought he was coming. But he made a decision that was best for himself,” Nwaneri said. “He was telling me he was gonna come! But I don’t know.”

McClellan said Oregon’s offensive coaching staff made him feel like their top priority. They put him in his own message thread and made two in-home visits. One involved the Ducks’ offensive staff coming to his house. Coach Dan Lanning made the other visit on his own. McClellan said Lanning “was blowing up” his phone on Dec. 20 to find out what he’d decided, but he ignored his calls so as not to spoil the surprise.

“I scared him,” McClellan said. “He told me, if you would have signed with Ohio State I would’ve had a defensive lineman line up in front of you and run through your face.”

McClellan said the NIL packages Oregon and Ohio State offered him were comparable.

Did the quarterback situation play a role?

“Yeah it did. It played a huge role, too,” McClellan said. “I knew Dillon (Gabriel) was going there and I knew Dante (Moore) was going there.”

(Top photo of Ryan Williams: Manny Navarro / The Athletic)

2023-12-30 17:33:50
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