Elite 11 Standouts, Big 12 Predictions, Miami & LSU Recruiting Updates, and More

College Football Roundup – June 21, 2024

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Elite 11 Standouts – Keelon Russell Wins MVP

Alabama commit Keelon Russell won the overall Elite 11 MVP Award this week. The former SMU commit recently flipped to Alabama after his official visit to the Crimson Tide.

Notre Dame commit Deuce Knight was also a winner, winning the On3 MVP for the week. Texas A&M commit Husan Longstreet, Ohio State commit Tavien St. Clair, and Missouri commit Matt Zollers, among others, also impressed.

4-Star S Amari Wallace Commits to Miami

4-Star S Amari Wallace committed to the Miami Hurricanes yesterday. The commitment places the Hurricanes class at 20th in the country for the Class of 2025 and marks the 10th commitment of the class.

Wallace chose his hometown school over the likes of Florida, Auburn, and LSU, and also held offers from over twenty Power 4 programs from Alabama to Texas to USC.

4-Star IOL Carius Curne Commits to LSU

On3’s top-rated interior OL in the country has committed to the LSU Tigers. The consensus 4-Star committed to LSU over in-state Arkansas and Missouri, where he took an official visit a few weeks. Curne also held offers from a handful of other large programs, like Ole Miss, Tennessee, Florida, and Georgia.

This brings LSU’s 2025 class to 12 total commitments and 2nd overall in On3’s industry ranking.

Klatt: “Pretty Surprised” if Utah Not in Big 12 Championship Game

Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt said on the most recent edition of his show that he would be surprised if Utah does not make the Big 12 Championship in Utah’s first year in the Big 12.

As for why Klatt believes this, he cited Kyle Whittingham’s coaching prowess and the roster consistency with Cam Rising and Brant Kuite, among others, coming back.

McElroy: Oklahoma State Will Win the Big 12

ESPN’s Greg McElroy recently said that Oklahoma State is his pick to win the Big 12 in 2024. As for why, Oklahoma State has about as much returning production as anyone in the conference.

Doak Walker Award winner Ollie Gordon is returning, the Cowboys have one of the most experience OLs in the country, starting QB Alan Bowman is back for his seventh season of college football, and All Big 12 defenders Nick Martin, Kendal Daniels, and Trey Rucker are also all back.

2026 4-Star RB Decommits from Texas

2026 4-Star RB Raycine Guillory decommitted from Texas yesterday. Guillory has been committed to the Longhorns since January, but is now exploring his other options.

According to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine, his most likely options, in order, are SMU (24.7%), a recommitment to Texas (21.6%), Arkansas (18.5%), and USC (15.4%).

Missouri Lands Commitment from 3-Star WR

Consensus 3-Star WR Shaun Terry has committed to Missouri over the likes of Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State, and West Virginia, among others. This is the Tigers’ 11th commitment in this class, and brings Missouri to the 17th ranked class in the cycle.

4-Star Edge Michael Riles Commits to Oklahoma State

4-Star edge rusher Michael Riles committed to Oklahoma State yesterday. Riles committed to Coach Mike Gundy and the Cowboys over the likes of Texas A&M, Florida, UCF, Texas Tech, and Nebraska, among others.

Riles’ commitment marks the 16th commitment for this class for Oklahoma State, and brings Oklahoma State to 33rd in the national On3 team recruiting rankings and 5th in the Big 12.

Opposing Coaches: Conner Weigman is Key for Texas A&M

Anonymously, a Coach recently gave his thoughts on Texas A&M in Year One of Mike Elko. The anonymous Coach cited Jimbo Fisher’s struggles with QB consistency as for the issue with the Aggies under his tenure, which makes Conner Weigman’s health in 2024 the key to a strong first year for Coach Elko and the Aggies.

The Coach also cited Coach Elko’s history as a coach where Coach Elko is proven as a good coach doing more with less, but now he has more talent across the board which has contributed to more optimism both in and out of College Station.

Texas Transfer WR/RB Commits to Nevada

Gadget guy Savion Red has committed to Nevada after transferring from Texas. Despite Texas’ overall roster talent and Red showing up to Texas the lowest rated high school recruit (of the non-specialists) in Texas’ fifth-rated 2022 class – and by a wide margin, he saw the field in specialized packages appearing in 21 total games in his two seasons with the Longhorns.

Red held four scholarship offers coming out of high school: Texas, SMU (where he was committed for some time), Kansas, and Mississippi Valley State.