Recruiting Weekly Recap of 2016 and 2017 Commitments
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
Several college football teams added to their 2016 and 2017 recruiting classes last week but the top two programs to win the week were arguably Wisconsin and Utah.
Western Michigan had a good week picking up two in-state recruits in athlete Mitchell Heimbuch and wide receiver Rodney Graves, same as Utah, but the Utes were able to pull two 3-star recruits to push their 2016 class to 21 players. Utah landed linebacker Alema Pilimai over offers from BYU, Utah State, Washington State, and Oregon State. The Utes other addition was slot receiver R.J. Hubert. Hubert, verbally committed to Utah over offers from Army, Weber State, Northern Arizona, and Nevada.
Looking at a two-class perspective, Wisconsin won the week landing Class of 2016 defensive tackle Garrett Rand and Class of 2017 offensive lineman Kaden Lyles. Both commits are from Arizona with Lyles joining his brother Kare, a Badgers 2016 commit, as legacies heading back to Wisconsin.
Rand had offers from Washington, Vanderbilt, Nebraska, Boston College, Colorado, Illinois, UCLA, and in-state powers Arizona and Arizona State. Lyles, a 4-star like Rand, was already in the neighborhood of 20 offers with top schools from around the nation having extended offers. The programs included Utah, USC, UCLA, Notre Dame, Missouri, Michigan, Cal, Arizona, Arizona State, Ohio State, and Oklahoma among others.
Houston pushed their class to 17 commits in 2016 with JUCO cornerback JJ Dallas on Thursday. Also committing on Thursday was New Jersey wide receiver Kelvin Harmon. Harmon landed with South Carolina over offers from Boston College, West Virginia, Syracuse, Rutgers, North Carolina, and N.C. State among others.
Saturday was a good day for Oklahoma, Missouri, Temple, and Florida. The Owls, Tigers, and Gators each landed 3-star recruits and the Sooners went home with a 4-star California cornerback. Temple added commitment No. 12 in Montel Aaron. The California native is a lanky under the radar recruit listed at 6’5”, 190 pounds. Missouri went into Alabama to pull out strong-side defensive end Tyreic Martin. Martin had double-digit offers from primarily Group of Five programs but over the last three years has there been a better judge in defensive end talent than Missouri making Martin a possible steal for the Tigers.
The Gators picked up all-purpose back McArthur Burnett adding running back No. 4 to the class or wide receiver No. 5. Either way, first-year head coach Jim McElwain has placed a great emphasis on the skill positions, but hopefully not too much without filling in needed spots along the trenches.
Oklahoma landed one of the bigger gems of the week picking up California cornerback Jordan Parker over offers from UCLA, USC, Washington, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon State, Utah, and Tennessee among others. The Sooners have slow played recruiting with Parker being just the 11th commitment to their 2016 class.
Sunday Virginia Tech landed the highest rated recruit to their 2016 class in cornerback Khalil Ladler. Ladler, an IMG Academy recruit, has missed his senior season to date with an ACL injury. In mid-September the Georgia native had a Top 5 of LSU, Georgia, Miami, Tennessee, and Florida State but an official visit over the weekend sold him on the Hokies.
Sept. 28 – Oct. 4 Verbal Commitments
Monday, Sept. 28
ATH Lawrence White, 6’0”, 170 lbs, Ridgeview HS, Bakersfield, CA – Iowa State
WR Kolton Huber, 6’2”, 195 lbs, St. Peter’s Prep, Jersey City, NJ – Pennsylvania
Tuesday, Sept. 29
WR Spencer Hemmingway, 6’1”, 180 lbs, Pace Academy, Atlanta, GA – Brown
ATH Mitchell Heimbuch, 6’3”, 220 lbs, Romeo HS, Romeo, MI – Western Michigan
Wednesday, Sept. 30
DT Jeremy Darvin, 6’2”, 280 lbs, Father Ryan, Nashville, TN – Western Kentucky
WR Braxton Westfield, 6’4”, 195 lbs, Christ Church Episcopal, Greenville, SC – James Madison
TE Jordan Berner, 6’5”, 238 lbs, Chester HS, Chester, IL – Southern Illinois
Thursday, Oct. 1
DT Garrett Rand, 6’3”, 275 lbs, Hamilton HS, Chandler, AZ – Wisconsin
WR R.J. Hubert, 5’11”, 178 lbs, Moapa Valley, Overton, NV – Utah
ATH Alema Pilimai, 6’4”, 200 lbs, Tustin HS, Tustin, CA – Utah
DT Johnnie Williams, 6’3”, 281 lbs, LBJ HS, Austin, TX – Tulsa
WR Cedrick Wilson, 6’3”, 170 lbs, Coffeyville C.C., Coffeyville, Kansas – UT-Martin
CB JJ Dallas, 6’0”, 200 lbs, Blinn College, Brenham, TX – Houston
ATH Robert Awunganyi, 6’0”, 170 lbs, Burroughs HS, Burbank, CA – UTEP
Friday, Oct. 2
SDE Jake Walter, 6’4”, 245 lbs, Haddonfield Memorial, Haddonfield, NJ – William & Mary
Saturday, Oct. 3
CB Jordan Parker, 5’11”, 180 lbs, Pittsburg Senior, Pittsburg, CA – Oklahoma
RB McArthur Burnett, 5’10”, 175 lbs, Pahokee HS, Pahokee, Florida – Florida
SDE Tyreic Martin, 6’3”, 270 lbs, Valley HS, Valley, AL – Missouri
QB Montel Aaron, 6’5”, 190 lbs, Antelope HS, Antelope, CA – Temple
Sunday, Oct. 4
CB Khalil Ladler, 5’10”, 168 lbs, IMG Academy, Bradenton, FL – Virginia Tech
OT Connor Morehart, 6’4”, 315 lbs, Nassau C.C., Garden City, NY – Buffalo
SS Tayte Doddy, 5’11”, 195 lbs, Second Baptist HS, Houston, TX – Pennsylvania
WR Rodney Graves, 6’2”, 185 lbs, Cody High School, Detroit, MI – Western Michigan
Class of 2017
Thursday, Oct. 1
OG Kayden Lyles, 6’3”, 290 lbs, Saguaro HS, Scottsdale, AZ – Wisconsin
FS Rhedi Short, 6’0”, 175 lbs, Cathedral HS, Los Angeles, CA – UCLA
Friday, Oct. 2
TE Cole Kmet, 6’5”, 230 lbs, St. Viator HS, Arlington Heights, Illinois – Notre Dame
SS Brendon White, 6’2”, 195 lbs, Olentangy Liberty, Powell, Ohio – Ohio State
Photo credit: rivals.com Kayden Lyles warms up before a Saguaro game.