Despite the group of top coaches and recruiters hitting the beach in late July for the final vacation before the 2022 season, verbal commitments continued to fall in the 2023 class.
Dozens of programs continue to ride the momentum of the summer, especially after a busy month of June, while recruiting is expected, and many decisions are coming. rest from the point of view of fame.
Let’s look back (in chronological order) at the ones that stuck the most.
RB Justice Haynes – Alabama – July 17th
From an optical perspective, this could be one of the biggest recruiting wins of the entire 2023 cycle. Not only is Haynes a prospect and legacy of former Georgia Bulldog Verron Haynes, but he’s also a running back that most he was considered all but a lock for the national champions from the moment he became a national recruit. He’s also among the best in the country at the position (as the preseason SI99 rankings will reflect next month).
Now at Buford (Ga.) High School, Haynes certainly had UGA under consideration along with Ohio State, Florida and others. Georgia took its first official visit of the month of June and those in the business of predicting the commitment increased their confidence level in Kirby Smart not losing the in-state legacy in that position, one that the Bulldogs have recruited as well as any program in the last decade or so.
“That’s the way as a coach [Nick] Saban will hold me accountable, and just the development on and off the field as a person,” Haynes said said the day he committed. He credited the efforts of the group UA recruited him to, including off-field coaches like the strength staff, as part of the reason he’s leaving his home state for college.
The father of the new Crimson Tide commit went public with his first “Roll Tide” on Twitter shortly after his son announced his college choice.
OT Payton Kirkland – Texas – July 23rd
How about a promise of a never-before-seen view of the program?
The big Florida offensive tackle had become a national recruit earlier than most of the class, racking up more than 50 scholarship offers as a result. In-state programs Florida and Miami had long been linked to the Orlando (Fla.) star Dr. Phillips early in the process, only he stepped up this summer with official visits to each in June.
Oklahoma and Michigan State, which also received trips, were considered dark horses for Kirkland’s commitment, which he said would be down to four long before the July 23 announcement date. Then the industry started hearing about Texas as a possible choice, even though the Longhorns weren’t listed as a finalist.
Kirkland never visited UT as a recruit.
Not only her–a rarity in itself in the day and age of early unofficial visits, junior days and a bigger official visit window than ever before in sports–but in the days leading up to his election, Kirkland was pushing back against the Texas buzz on Twitter. He sent out a tweet cryptically throwing out a “fake news” caption before asking his followers why he would go to Texas in another.
Steve Sarkisian’s latest commitment came the next day, and the posts were removed in favor of burnt orange positivity, including Kirkland’s apparent communication with now-UT colleague Arch Manning.
TE Walker Lyons – Stanford – July 23
The geographic destination was no shocker here, as Lyons attends Folsom (Calif.) High School, about a 90-minute drive from Stanford’s campus. He’s also a tight end, one of the positions that David Shaw has consistently recruited well at the Farm.
But BYU and others had tried to stay in the hunt anyway. The Cougar pitch resonated with Lyons early in his recruitment, not only for the position’s history and scheme, but off the field as well, as the senior is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That made for optimism from BYU’s perspective, especially after an official visit in June to the most faith-based program.
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Instead, though, Stanford keeps another star at home in Lyons, who will take on a mission after graduating in December. He is expected to be at Stanford in the fall of 2024 after graduation.
“I always had a feeling if I didn’t choose Stanford, I would regret it forever,” Lyons said of Brandon Huffman.
The Cardinal will be led in 2022 by quarterback Tanner McKee, who also served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil after high school.
S Joenel Aguero – Georgia – July 23
After missing out on the legacy recruit in Haynes a week ago, Georgia has been on fire on the trail. The Bulldogs have added six commits in the month of July, mostly on defense at key positions such as defensive tackle, outside linebacker and safety.
Aguero could be the prize of the group in the end, and it was not an easy win for Smart’s program with the Massachusetts native. He stuck with Ohio State among those early on, even before a junior season at IMG Academy in 2021, and held true even with losses on the defensive staff, including secondary coach Jahmile Addae.
The program that added Addae, Miami, gained momentum after that move and confidence grew in Coral Gables amid the program’s big July on the trail.–especially in anticipation of the last official visit in June. Florida was the other finalist, but new position recruit Fran Brown helped push Aguero back to the Bulldogs just in time for the promise.
Aguero, AJ Harris, Daniel Harris and Justyn Rhett, Georgia’s secondary group of commits, could be the best in the 2023 cycle when all is said and done.
OT Chase Bisontis – Texas A&M – July 24th
Talk about time.
This recruitment wasn’t as dramatic or as surprising as others on this list, but it was much needed on all fronts for Jimbo Fisher this weekend. The New Jersey offensive tackle, who was considered one of the best available at the position before going public with the pick, moves A&M’s national recruiting narrative forward and fills a needed position on the track.
But the selection time–standing as the lone July commitment for the defending national recruiting champions after a disappointingly-slow start, including multiple layoffs already in the books–should serve as a reminder of the program’s capabilities. There are plenty of top uncommitted recruits left to commit to the state of Texas, and the program’s prowess across SEC country is sure to repeat itself to some degree later this year.
Bisontis is just the sixth public commitment to A&M to date, currently the third-smallest class in the SEC behind Auburn (four commitments) and Ole Miss (five) as of Tuesday morning.
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