As we move into the second big weekend of official visits, here’s a look at what we should be paying attention to on the recruiting trail.
Note: All rankings are from the 247Sports Composite.
1. Clemson hasn’t finished with a top-10 class since the 2022 cycle and hasn’t finished in the top 15 since 2024. And it seems like every offseason there are existential questions about the Tigers’ trajectory.
That’s no different this year as Clemson comes off a massively disappointing 7-6 season. Everything from talent — even though the Tigers produced nine NFL Draft picks in April — to coaching has come into question.
But Dabo Swinney’s program has been on a strong recruiting run as of late. Clemson has added 11 commitments over the last few weeks, headlined by four-star edge rusher Desmond Malpress, a Florida native who is ranked No. 147 overall.
Malpress is one of nine blue-chip prospects who have committed to the Tigers since the beginning of May.
“They’re doing an awesome job,” an ACC personnel staffer said.
The Tigers’ class ranks sixth nationally and includes 22 commitments. The average player rating of 89.98 isn’t elite, but they’ve done a lot to improve that in recent weeks.
There’s been a lot to nitpick with Clemson lately, but this recent recruiting run provides some positivity for a program that could really use it.
2. Texas A&M has the No. 1 recruiting class in the country and bolstered it with the addition of top-100 prospect Frederick Ards on Tuesday. Ards is a four-star edge rusher who plays for Jones High in Orlando, Fla. He’s one of nine top-100 prospects in the Aggies’ class and one of three commitments they’ve landed over the last week.
Texas A&M has done good work in Florida this cycle with Ards, five-star offensive tackle Mark Matthews and three-star safety Loia Valade.
3. Miami is up to four five-star prospects in its 2027 class after it flipped edge rusher Jaiden Bryant, a South Carolina native, from LSU on Wednesday. Bryant is ranked No. 20 nationally and is one of six top-100 commits in the Hurricanes’ class. Miami, which also added four-star linebacker Noah Glover, a Virginia native, to its class Sunday, is recruiting at an extremely high level.
The Hurricanes’ class ranks third nationally, with an average player rating of 92.99 (fifth).
HOW ABOUT THEM CANES 🙌🏾
Recruiting shut down‼️@coach_Cristobal @dtrain2901@kwincyhall0@canesfootball @coachfield@lewis_damione@jasontaylor pic.twitter.com/SgN9YyI97Z
— Jaiden “Boog” Bryant 🦍 (@jboog24_) June 3, 2026
4. North Carolina will be under the microscope as long as Bill Belichick roams the sidelines in Chapel Hill. After Belichick’s first season got off to a very rough start, general manager Michael Lombardi sent a letter to donors detailing the program’s roster-building strategy.
Belichick and Lombardi hit the portal hard shortly after taking over, but Lombardi said the strategy moving forward was to build the program through traditional high school recruiting. North Carolina signed a whopping 41 high school players in the 2026 cycle and finished 19th in the rankings. That may explain why the Tar Heels have a smaller number of commitments right now, just six.
On Monday, North Carolina landed a commitment from offensive tackle Lauifi Tosi, who is not rated in the 247Sports Composite.
The small class may be alarming for some, but the bigger issue is that none of the commits are rated in the top 600 nationally. The Tar Heels signed 12 blue-chip prospects last year, so we’ll see if they can get back on the scoreboard in the coming weeks.
5. Utah landed a commitment from three-star offensive tackle Sire Stewart on Tuesday. First-year head coach Morgan Scalley has had to work hard to keep the program on stable footing after Kyle Whittingham stepped down and later took the Michigan job — and took several coaches and notable transfers with him.
Scalley will have a lot of ground to make up on the recruiting trail over the next few months as well. Stewart was just the fourth commitment in Utah’s class, and none are rated in the top 1,000 nationally. The low average player rating (85.88) and small commit total have contributed to Utah’s No. 73 ranking.
Whittingham won a lot with a strong evaluate-and-develop formula, but Scalley is unproven as a head coach in that regard. One player potentially worth keeping an eye on is four-star receiver Blake Wong of Norco (Calif.) High, who will announce his commitment on June 27.
6. Last week, we highlighted the 10 most interesting programs to watch in the 2027 recruiting cycle. Naturally, a majority of the list featured new head coaches in high-profile spots. So, in addition to Scalley, let’s check in on some other first-year coaches who weren’t mentioned in that story.
Michigan State received a verbal pledge from three-star linebacker Henry Sakalas on Wednesday. Sakalas is the ninth commitment in Pat Fitzgerald’s first full recruiting class with the Spartans. At Northwestern, the recruiting rankings were never really the focus, and Fitzgerald pursued prospects who obviously placed a significant emphasis on academics. Not that that won’t matter at Michigan State, but Fitzgerald won’t be restricted by academic standards in the same way. Does that change how he recruits? And how does he adjust to recruiting a different sort of prospect?
Dating back to the 2020 recruiting cycle, Iowa State has signed just six blue-chip recruits. So it’s a pretty big deal when the Cyclones land a four-star prospect. First-year coach Jimmy Rogers has received commitments from two of them this cycle, both from Iowa — offensive lineman Will Slagle and running back Isaiah Hansen. The Cyclones haven’t signed two blue-chip prospects in a class since the 2022 cycle. Iowa State landed three commitments over the weekend, and its class is 10 members deep and ranks 39th nationally.
Kansas State, now led by Collin Klein, has been pretty busy of late. The Wildcats have landed five commitments in the last week, headlined by four-star offensive lineman Brayden Harris, a Missouri native who is the No. 394 overall prospect and the top-rated player in Kansas State’s class.
Ole Miss’ Pete Golding and Auburn’s Alex Golesh also had strong recruiting wins over the last week.
Auburn landed two four-star recruits this week — top-150 prospect Isaac McNeil, a linebacker, and running back Kingston Miles. The Tigers have received five commitments since the start of official visits, and their class ranks 19th nationally.
Ole Miss ranks 20th after landing three blue-chip recruits this past weekend — linebacker Jeremiah Culpepper, receiver Miguel Whitley and defensive lineman Marvin Nguetsop.
Golding is taking over a program that prioritized the transfer portal over traditional high school recruiting under Lane Kiffin, while Golesh is building a roster for the first time in the SEC. It will be intriguing to watch how both attack roster construction.
7. Vanderbilt made a major splash when it flipped five-star quarterback Jared Curtis from Georgia in December. Curtis is the highest-rated signee in the program’s history. If everything holds, four-star 2027 linebacker commit Omarii Sanders figures to be the second-highest-rated.
The Commodores moved one step closer to that when Sanders announced Sunday that he’s shutting down his recruitment. The Nashville native, who ranks No. 51 in the class, had been considering a visit to LSU, among other schools.
Clark Lea and company received more good news Thursday when Jasper Ngokwere, a four-star offensive lineman from Texas, picked the Commodores over finalists Northwestern, Texas and Texas Tech. Vanderbilt’s class ranks No. 36 nationally.
8. Luke Fickell needs any wins he can get — on or off the field. So landing a commitment from cornerback Mekhi Williams, a top-200 prospect from Florida, on Wednesday was a notable triumph for the Wisconsin coach. The Badgers also received a pledge from four-star wideout Jai Jones, from Arizona, on Sunday.
Wisconsin’s 2027 class ranks 15th nationally, and it seems like the program has some decent recruiting buzz as Fickell prepares for a crucial fourth season.
