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Deion Sanders: Recruiting Rankings Biased Against Colorado

Head Coach Deion Sanders took to Twitter last night to post what many college football fans have been saying about their own school for years – the recruiting sites don’t like their team and are biased against them.

The tweet in question above almost definitely refers to Julian Lewis, the composite 5-star (for now), who was recently knocked from a 5-star to a 4-star on both On3 and 247Sports individual ratings.

Lewis is currently committed to USC, but has been staying in contact with other schools, especially Auburn, Indiana, and Colorado. All three of these schools are looking to flip the talented recruit from Georgia.

Ross Dellenger: Early Conversations Between Florida State, Clemson, and Big 12

The conference realignment rumor mill never stops, only takes breaks, and it would appear as though the most recent break is over. The Big 12 is reportedly in early conversations with Florida State and Clemson to leave the ACC.

With Florida State’s and Clemson’s lawsuits against the ACC working through the court system, it’s clear that their leaving the ACC is not a matter of “if” but a matter of “when.” Remove Florida State and Clemson, and the ACC is left with 15 teams combining for 0 College Football Playoff appearances.

And the Big 12, does, have two schools who have made the College Football Playoff, though TCU and Cincinnati went a combined 8-16 only one and two years, respectively following their CFP appearance.

But, ultimately, this comes down to money and being proactive – two factors which would point decisively towards the Big 12’s creative marketing and media rights situation.

North Carolina Court Issues ACC a Small Win Over Clemson

Clemson’s lawsuit against the ACC (and the ACC’s countersuit against Clemson) is working its way through the courts. And the ACC picked up a small victory over Clemson when the court allowed the case to remain in North Carolina.

The court also dismissed Clemson’s motion to dismiss, meaning the court believes that North Carolina is the rightful venue for the ACC’s suit against Clemson.

The judge in the case issued a 53-page decision where he stated that Clemson’s actions in North Carolina are commercial, pointing out Clemson made hundreds of millions thanks to the ACC’s grant of rights – which were made in North Carolina and are governed by North Carolina law.

Ultimately, this is a fairly small victory as many in the media space are anticipating some sort of settlement and this is ultimately a lawsuit over whether the case proceeds in North Carolina or South Carolina (or NC vs. FL in the Florida State case). Given how quickly Clemson and Florida State want to move, a lawsuit of this nature would take much longer than writing a large settlement check (but smaller than $572 million like the ACC would require). The value in these small victories is that they raise or lower the number that the settlement check will end up being.

EA Sports CFB 25 Releases Top 100 Player Ratings

EA Sports College Football 25 revealed its top 100 player ratings yesterday.

Looking at the Top 10, only the top 3 players are 96 overall, with no one receiving a rating of 97, 98, or 99. Many have speculated that there may be regular updates throughout the season as games are played.

Looking at the QB position, the top 2 QBs are Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Georgia’s Carson Beck, both only 93 overalls.

5-Star S Trey McNutt Sets Commitment Date

Composite 5-star Trey McNutt has set a commitment date of July 19th where he will choose between Florida, Ohio State, Oregon, USC, and Texas A&M.

McNutt ranks anywhere from the best safety (247Sports) to the 3rd best safety (ESPN) and is 2nd in On3’s composite rankings for his position. Overall, his ranking ranges from 20th (Rivals) to 47th (On3), and his On3’s composite ranking is 20th, with 247Sports as the long recruiting service to give him that elusive 5th star.

According to On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine, Oregon has a 78.1% chance to land the talent, followed by Ohio State at 15.7% and USC with 1.2%. Both Florida and Texas A&M are listed as having <1% chance.

McNutt could be Oregon’s 3rd 5-star in the 2025 class, tied for the most 5 stars with Ohio State and Georgia.

4-Star IOL Alai Kalaniuvalu Commits to Oregon

4-Star IOL Alai Kalaniuvalu committed to Oregon over Nebraska, USC, and Michigan, among others.

Kalaniuvalu visited Eugene, OR the weekend of June 21st, and now commits to the Ducks less than one month later.

The lineman is currently ranked 229th nationally and 18th at his position according to On3’s composite ranking, but this would likely be much higher if not for On3’s 3-star ranking when the other 3 major recruiting services rank him anywhere from 103rd to 176th nationally and anywhere from 1st (ESPN) to 9th at his position.

Kalaniuvalu is Oregon’s 15th Blue Chip commitment and 16th commitment overall, for a 2025 class which ranks 4th nationally and 2nd in the Big Ten.

4-Star WR Micah Matthews Commits to Virginia Tech

4-Star WR Micah Matthews has committed to Virginia Tech over other finalist programs North Carolina, Virginia, BYU, and Utah.

Matthews will also play baseball after having previously been a South Carolina baseball verbal commit.

Matthews is ranked as high as 118th nationally and 4th at his position according to 247Sports. On On3’s composite ranking, Matthews is 272nd nationally and 42nd at his position, largely because of Rivals’ middle 3-star rating for the player.

This is Virginia Tech’s 15th commitment for the 2025 class, which ranks 44th nationally and 9th in the ACC.

Kansas QB Jalon Daniels: Would Be “Perfectly Fine” if Games Were Tomorrow

Kansas’ exciting QB Jalon Daniels spoke on his health during the Big 12 Media Days. Daniels stated that it’s been a journey, but if games were tomorrow, he’d “be perfectly fine.”

Daniels only appeared in 3 games last season, after not finishing the 2022 season healthy, either.

The Jayhawks open its season at home against the Lindenwood Lions, one of college football’s newest FCS teams.

4-Star S Charles Bass Commits to Missouri

Composite 4-star S Charles Bass has committed to Missouri over offers from schools like LSU, Michigan, Oregon, Texas A&M, and others.

The Saint Louis, MO native stated that what stood out most with Missouri was how it felt like home and the connection he had with the coaches.

Bass ranks 97th on Rivals overall and 9th at the safety position. The On3 industry ranking places Bass 369th nationally and 34th at his position, though.

Bass is Missouri’s 10th Blue Chip commitment and 17th commitment overall for a 2025 class that now finds itself 13th in the country and 6th in the SEC.

On3’s Top 10 SEC Conference Games

On3’s Jesse Simonton has looked at a loaded SEC slate going into 2024 and narrowed the list down to his top 10.

Leading the list is Georgia at Alabama on Sep. 28, followed by Texas at Texas A&M on Nov. 30, Georgia at Texas on Oct. 19, Tennessee at Oklahoma on Sep. 21, and Alabama at LSU on Nov. 9.

Perhaps most impressive from the SEC’s schedule makers is it takes until #8 on this list for their to be overlapping dates, meaning the SEC’s best game of the week will likely not be cannibalizing its audience with another popular matchup.