It’s mid-June, so of course recruiting is in full swing. Let’s get you caught up on what’s going on.
Note: All rankings are from the 247Sports Composite.
A big day for Texas A&M … again
A major domino fell Thursday afternoon when five-star linebacker Kaden Henderson of Tampa, Fla., committed to Texas A&M live on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Henderson, ranked No. 22 overall and the top linebacker in the country, picked the Aggies over Notre Dame and LSU after some analysts had projected him to the Fighting Irish earlier this week. He also officially visited Miami late last month, though the in-state Hurricanes didn’t make his final cut.
The 6-foot-2, 215-pound linebacker finished his junior season with 49 tackles, including 13 for loss and nine sacks, and gave coach Mike Elko another huge piece as the nation’s top class gets only stronger. Henderson is the 10th top-100 prospect and sixth five-star in A&M’s class.
“It starts with Elko,” Henderson said live during his commitment. “He’s a great coach, and I think he’s building something special in College Station, building a dynasty. I definitely want to be a part of that.”
Breaking: Kaden Henderson, the 24th ranked recruit in the 2027 SC Next 300, has committed to Texas A&M, he announced on the @PatMcAfeeShow.
He is the No. 1 ranked outside linebacker in the nation. pic.twitter.com/i7opely5ce
— SportsCenter NEXT (@SCNext) June 18, 2026
Knox Kiffin’s recruitment picks up
Kiffin may be just a rising junior, but Lane Kiffin’s son is settling into life in Baton Rouge quite nicely — and is turning heads on the recruiting front.
The younger Kiffin, ranked the No. 525 prospect and No. 52 quarterback in the 2028 class, has been busy over the last couple of months traveling to schools to throw in front of coaches, and so far, so good. In the last eight days, Kiffin has picked up offers from Georgia Tech, Memphis and Vanderbilt. SMU also offered in May 2024; Washington and Cal came into the fold in December; and Missouri offered last month, rounding out Kiffin’s Power 4 offers to this point.
“There’s going to be some more offers that come and some more things that are happening,” said Andy Martin, Kiffin’s coach at University Lab in Baton Rouge. “But (even) if he just stopped right now, he’d have a bunch of great schools to choose from.”
Martin said Kiffin, who came to Louisiana by way of Mississippi after his father took the LSU job in November, has transitioned nicely among his new teammates and already has a strong understanding of the team’s culture. University Lab is no stranger to offspring of prominent in-state figures — politicians and coaches often send their children to the school — so in that sense, Kiffin’s being there isn’t outside the norm.
This spring, Martin got to see Kiffin’s skill set on the field for the first time during spring practices and walked away impressed with the 6-foot-2, 185-pounder.
“He’s got such a high football IQ,” he said. “He’s a student of the game. You can tell he’s been coached up in that way. He’s a quarterback that’s got a plus arm. He can really push the ball down the field. He’s also sneaky athletic. I mean, he really is. He can run … and I think teams are going to be a little bit surprised by that.
“You don’t know what you get when a guy comes in, a coach’s son, and you hope that he’s good. And he really is. He fits the part.”
Martin said he didn’t think Kiffin was in any hurry to make major decisions but that he could see him wanting to issue a commitment about a year from now before his senior season begins.
Dad and LSU haven’t offered yet. One of the more fascinating storylines of the 2028 Class will be Knox and Lane and whether they want to team up at LSU.
“I haven’t talked to him about that,” Martin said. “Can (Knox) play there? I’m sure he can. His skill level is very high. Do (Lane) and Knox want to do that? I don’t know that. There’s just a pressure that comes with that type of thing, and I don’t know that that’s what they want, so I really can’t answer that on how they want that to happen.”
LSU rolling
Speaking of the elder Kiffin, LSU is rolling on the recruiting trail.
Wednesday, the Tigers landed a commitment from five-star edge rusher Chris Whitehead, a Virginia native who ranks No. 31 overall in the Class of 2027.
Whitehead is one of four top-150 prospects who have committed to LSU in June. The other three are edge rusher KJ Green from Georgia, running back David Segarra from South Carolina and interior offensive lineman Terrance Smith from Pennsylvania. The Tigers’ class ranks only 18th nationally — due to its size (13 commits) — but its average player rating of 93.05 is fourth.
“LSU is doing a great job of recruiting our guys. They really are,” University Lab’s Martin said. “We’ve got some good players on our team, and they’re doing it the right way; they’re doing a lot of evaluations and a lot of things like that because a lot of people in Louisiana, when you put that offer out, there are a lot of people that want to go to LSU. So they’ve got to make sure it’s the right kid and the right opportunity bringing him on. I think all of their coaches have just been doing an outstanding job of recruiting not only our guys but even guys in the area.”
Of course, it all starts with in-state recruiting for LSU, which has received verbals from four of the top seven prospects in Louisiana this cycle. But the Tigers have also landed commitments from recruits in Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Florida, California and Texas.
What’s ahead
June visits always bring a slew of commitments, and this year is no exception.
The big one to keep an eye on: Five-star cornerback John Meredith III, the nation’s No. 2 prospect and the top cornerback, is set to issue a commitment Friday.
Meredith, from Fort Worth, Texas, is down to a final trio of Alabama, Texas and Texas A&M, though it feels like a fight between the in-state Aggies and Longhorns, considering Meredith shared photos of official visits to both places in recent weeks, but not Alabama.
Given the national landscape of recruiting in this era of the sport, it’s not as common for two in-state rivals to go head-to-head for a recruit, but Meredith is the type of prospect worth pulling out all the stops (and resources) for. Should the Longhorns land him, he’d be coach Steve Sarkisian’s second five-star in this class, joining wide receiver Easton Royal out of New Orleans. Texas has three top-100 prospects and 10 blue-chippers in what should be another strong class. If A&M is the choice, the Aggies would score a second major win in as many days after the Henderson commitment and continue their tear through this recruiting cycle.
A few other notable upcoming commitments to keep an eye on:
• Also on Friday: four-star linebacker Jalaythan Mayfield, the nation’s No. 216 prospect out of North Carolina, is choosing between Georgia, Indiana and Miami. Four-star edge James Pace III, the nation’s No. 155 prospect out of Maryland, will pick between Tennessee, Maryland, Auburn, South Carolina and Georgia, though he also recently took an official visit to see Deion Sanders at Colorado. And rounding out a busy day, four-star athlete Israel Hammons, an Oklahoma native who ranks No. 174 overall, is set to pick between several Power 4 schools, including in-state Oklahoma State.
• Four-star wide receiver Amare Patterson from South Carolina, ranked No. 230, is committing Saturday and is down to Georgia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and South Carolina.
• Last but certainly not least, we’ll kick off next week with a splash when four-star receiver Julius Jones, ranked No. 75, issues a commitment on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Monday. The Florida native and son of a former Notre Dame and NFL running back of the same name is down to the Fighting Irish and Miami.
