The two biggest recruiting services are busy shuffling their rankings based on what they have seen in the spring. Rivals and Scout have both put out some fruits of their labor today as Scout released their latest 2014 rankings and Rivals.com just released their updated 2013 list. While a lot will be learned over the next month, these rankings should be directionally correct look at how the prospects stack up in each cycle. Starting with the Rivals rankings, there are a number of familiar names:
#11 - Robert Hubbs
#34 - Karviar Shepherd
#48 - Xavier Rathan-Mayes
#77 - Jordan Bell
#81 - Kendal Harris
#97 - Jordan Mathews
#119 - Goodluck Okonoboh
#141 - Elliott Pitts
#142 - Josh Brown
A number of these names are pipe dreams, to be honest. I've quickly bolded the names that I would expect to hear more from in the future. Guys like Hubbs, Shepherd, and Rathan-Mayes appear to be looking more like BCS-locks. I think the Zags have a great chance with Mathews, Harris, and Okonoboh. Brown being on the East Coast is a bit harder to lock in on but it is our impression that the Zags are making a big push.
Turning a quick eye to Scout.com's 2014 rankings, we have two names that have meaningful Zag interest:
#35 - Malik Pope
#45 - Namon Wright
Obviously the 2014 class is still very much in the discovery phase but these are two guys that have accumulated a lot of offers and a lot of interest to date. Malik's recruitment blew up quickly and Namon has also had a steady rise over the past few months but each of their recruitments still has a long way to go.
As always, we'll keep everyone updated on the progress of each Zag prospect. July is a crazy time and we really expect to see some definitive targets emerge. With two commits already in 2013, the staff has three schollies to work with so we expect this to be a very fun summer!