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5-Star OT Ty Haywood Commits to Alabama, Alabama now #1 Class

5-Star OT Ty Haywood committed to Alabama yesterday over Oklahoma and other offers.

For Haywood, his biggest draw was the winning culture at Alabama. Despite Nick Saban retiring, Haywood believes in Coach Kalen DeBoer and his ability to keep the winning ways going in Tuscaloosa.

Haywood is a 5-star according to On3 and 247Sports, with a composite ranking of 11th nationally and 2nd at the OT position.

Haywood’s commitment now brings Alabama’s 2025 class up to 1st nationally, largely due to having an extra 5-star (4 compared to 3) against Ohio State, the program previously in 1st.

Haywood is Alabama’s 18th Blue Chip commitment and 23rd overall.

4-Star S Rashad Johnson Commits to Georgia

4-Star Safety Rashad Johnson has committed to Georgia over Penn State, among 20+ other offers.

Johnson noted the fit at Georgia being unmatched for him, an understandable feeling given the winning and momentum Georgia has as a program.

Johnson is rated a 4-star by both 247Sports and Rivals, ranking 361st overall nationally and 32nd at the safety position.

This is Georgia’s 18th Blue Chip commitment and 20th overall, which currently ranks 3rd nationally and 2nd in the SEC.

Wisconsin Expected to Be Much Improved on Defense

An anonymous coach provided some quotes to Athlon Sports recently, in which the anonymous coach shared that they believe Wisconsin will be much improved on defense in 2024.

The coach disclosed that he’s not worried about the defensive side of the ball given Wisconsin Coach Luke Fickell’s track record of developing defensive talent, especially in his 2nd year with a program.

Some names to note include S Hunter Wohler and CB Ricardo Hallman who put up impressive numbers for the Badgers last year, as well as transfer DL John Pius.

Belief in Big 12: Clemson and Florida Likely to Join

Jason Scheer, Senior Editor and Publisher of WildcatAuthority.com, an Arizona website, has shared that there is an internal belief in the Big 12 that Florida State and Clemson are likely to join the Big 12 before the 2025 season kicks off.

This comes a day or two after it was reported that there have been some initial talks between Florida State and Clemson with the Big 12.

TCU’s Success Will Ride on QB Play, Per Opposing Coach

An opposing coach anonymously shared with Athlon Sports that TCU will have a fine season if it can find some continuity and consistency at the QB position in 2024.

Keen observers will recognize that in each of the last two seasons, TCU’s best QB was not named the starter at the beginning of the season, as Chandler Morris won both QB battles before being replaced.

Josh Hoover looked impressive early in his first starts in the middle of last season, but he suffered some bad injury luck late in the season.

Now, TCU’s QB room has Hoover as the presumed and incumbent starter, the Vandy transfer Ken Seals, and true freshman Hauss Hejny.

3-Star DB Bryson Webber Commits to Nebraska

3-Star DB Bryson Webber committed to Nebraska yesterday over Utah, TCU, and others.

Webber presents interesting size for a defensive back at 6-foot-3, 175-pounds.

On3’s database lists Webber as a CB, where he ranks 46th in the composite for the position – but as high as 18th on ESPN – and is the 515th ranked prospect nationally.

This is Nebraska’s 16th commitment, and the Huskers have the 29th ranked class nationally and 9th ranked class in the Big Ten.

Anonymous Coach Believes West Virginia Could Be Sleeper in Big 12

The West Virginia Mountaineers returning stalwart LT Wyatt Milum to block for returning QB Garrett Greene is one of many reasons an anonymous coach recently revealed West Virginia as their pick for a surprise Big 12 contender.

The key will be for some of the freshman Coach Neal Brown brought in to really take a step forward, especially on offense. The tandem of CJ Donaldson and Jaheim White should help the Mountaineers own one of the most consistently productive running attacks in the country.

3-Star ATH Jade Card Commits to FAU

High 3-Star ATH Jade Card committed to FAU yesterday over schools on his offer sheet like Miami, Florida State, Ole Miss, and others.

Card, according to On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine, appeared most likely to be headed to Miami, but now the Owls pick up a commitment from one of its highest rated commitments ever.

Ranked as high as 14th at his position and rated 4-stars by Rivals, Card is currently ranked 531st nationally and 21st at his position.

On3 has yet to update Card’s commitment, but it will be FAU’s 18th commitment and best commitment by a wide margin. The Owls currently rank 75th nationally before Card’s commitment, and 3rd in the new look AAC which has replaced the loss of SMU with Army.

ACC Schedules Ranked by Travel Distance

As the ACC adds SMU, Cal, and Stanford for 2024 and beyond, 247Sports looked at the various ACC schedules ranked by miles traveled.

Unsurprisingly, newcomers Cal and Stanford are #1 and #2, respectively. Perhaps a little surprisingly, newcomer SMU is #6 despite not being close to any team in the conference.

Clemson, Virginia, Duke, and Pitt all miss having to travel to Cal or Stanford, and only Pitt has to travel to SMU, which understandably is why these teams have the four fewest amount of travel miles this season.

Athlon’s SEC Preseason Bowl Game Predictions

Athlon Sports recently shared its preseason picks for bowls for the SEC teams.

Feel free to click the link above to see them all, but Vandy, Mississippi State, and Arkansas fans might want to avoid clicking due to being left off.

Florida and hot seat coach Billy Napier are being projected to the Gasparilla Bowl against SMU, which would be an interesting matchup.

After playing in Orlando, FL in the Cheez-It Bowl last year, Tennessee is being mocked to the Reliaquest Bowl against Nebraska.

As for the CFP, Athlon projects Georgia will get a first round bye and Texas will face Notre Dame, Ole Miss will face Penn State, and Alabama will face Michigan.