The Late Signing Period for the 2021 class will open on Feb. 3. Although the Early Signing Period has become the signing period in college football recruiting over the last few years, there are still several storylines to follow and recruitments to wrap up. Here are several predictions on what will transpire in the Midwest region over the next few weeks.
TOWNLEY GOES BIG TEN
The momentum appeared to be building for Minneapolis defensive end Davon Townley to sign last month in the days leading up to the Early Signing Period. If that signing would have happened, Arizona State was the team with the most momentum. The night before the early period opened, however, Townley told me he would be waiting until February to sign.
Now a month removed from that early period, the momentum has shifted back to Big Ten programs in Townley’s recruitment. The hometown Minnesota Gophers have been involved in this recruitment since the early stages, but Penn State seems to have the most momentum lately. Nebraska has been putting in a strong, late effort, however, and Michigan State is still involved for the four-star.
POWER FIVE EARLY PERIOD SIGNINGS WILL TOP 90 PERCENT
In recent years, the number of prospects who signed with Power Five programs in the early period hovered around 85 percent of all Power Five signings for a class. This year, I expect that number to be north of 90 percent. In the class of 2020 there were 1,254 high school prospects who signed with Power Five programs. Last month, 1,115 high school prospects signed with Power Five schools, which is 89 percent of all signees in the 2020 class. There are several factors that would suggest the total number of prospects signed in the 2021 class will be fewer than the 2020 class, including college seniors getting an extra year of eligibility and college coaches extending fewer overall offers due to less evaluation opportunities.
BENNY STICKS WITH THE SPARTANS
Rivals100 defensive tackle Rayshaun Benny is the highest-ranked commitment of the Mel Tucker era at Michigan State, but the four-star caused some consternation for the Spartan faithful when he announced he would not be signing in the early period despite announcing his commitment a month earlier. In the months leading up to his senior season, Benny was adamant about not making a decision before official visits were allowed to be taken. He only relented when the NCAA pushed the dead period out past a reasonable timeframe.
There was speculation that Benny was having second thoughts and that Michigan was ready to flip the four-star, but not signing early completely fits Benny’s modus operandi. With the MHSAA playoffs pushed into January, Benny put his focus on finishing out his high school career, and will clean up the rest of his recruitment when the late period opens next month.
DICKERSON WILL STAY IN-STATE
My initial title for this segment was, “Dickerson will make the switch,” but then four-star Avante Dickerson announced his decommitment from Minnesota Sunday afternoon. The four-star from Omaha pledged to the Gophers last spring without having visited their Minneapolis campus.
Several months prior to his commitment, Dickerson listed a top three of LSU, Nebraska and Ohio State. The interest from Ohio State and LSU had started to fall off last spring, but Dickerson’s decision to go off the board and commit to Minnesota was a surprise. The decision to not sign in the early period, then, and ultimately decommit from Minnesota was not a big surprise. The home-state Nebraska Cornhuskers never gave up in this recruitment, and I like their chances of signing Dickerson in February.
BIELEMA WILL FOCUS ON THE TRANSFER PORTAL
After Illinois signed a 14-man class in December, I talked about how that was the perfect number to give the Illini’s next head coach a foundation to work from, while still affording plenty of room to maneuver. Technically, Illinois is close to the 85 total scholarship number, but Bielema should not be concerned with that. There are always departures in the first 6-8 months of a new head coach’s tenure, and there will be room under the 85 total scholarship cap (which may be adjusted this year anyway, with current players granted an extra year of eligibility).
In the first few weeks of his tenure, though, Bielema has extended very few new offers in the 2021 class, which suggests Illinois will not have many new adds in the Late Signing Period. Expect Illinois to address their needs through the Transfer Portal this off-season.
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