Can Fran Brown make Syracuse a powerhouse?
-
Andrea Adelson, ESPN Senior Writer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — When Fran Brown saw the Syracuse job come open last November, he watched a clip of athletic director John Wildhack ticking off what he would be looking for in his next head coach.
Ties to the northeast? Brown could check that box off 10 times over. Head-coaching and coordinator experience on the Power 5 level? Brown had neither of those, but in his view, those qualifications did not matter. He wanted the job. So he picked up the phone.
He called Wildhack himself.
“What John said he was looking for early on, experience and all these things, I’m like, ‘He doesn’t really know what he’s looking for. He’s looking for me,'” Brown said during a recent interview in his office. “I was a perfect fit.”
“Literally, five minutes before I was going to call Fran, my phone rings,” Wildhack told ESPN in a phone interview. “I don’t recognize the number, so I don’t pick it up. It goes to voicemail. I play the voicemail back. It’s Fran.
“Sometimes you think, ‘Is this a little divine intervention here or what?'”
An initial 15-minute conversation led to text exchanges, a two-hour Zoom and then an interview in front of the search committee. They agreed unanimously — Brown was the perfect fit. Brown grew up in Camden, New Jersey, a northeast guy through and through. He worked for well-respected coaches, including Matt Rhule, Greg Schiano and Kirby Smart, and he was one of the top recruiters in the country.
Though Brown had no head-coaching experience, Wildhack said that could be overlooked since so many other factors made sense.
Five months in, it seems like Wildhack was right.
Without playing a game, Brown has brought attention to a Syracuse program that has not won a conference title in 20 years. He has done it thanks to eye-opening offseason moves, starting with Ohio State transfer quarterback Kyle McCord — the highest profile transfer to ever sign at Syracuse.
More transfers followed, including defensive lineman Fadil Diggs from Texas A&M. Syracuse wound up with 18 players from the transfer portal — 12 from the Power 5, seven from the SEC, unprecedented at a school that has won 10 games once since 2002.
Top-tier recruits have also signed with Syracuse, too. This past December, defensive end KingJoseph Edwards became the first ESPN300 prospect to sign with the Orange. In all, Brown signed four four-star prospects, more than the five previous seasons combined. Syracuse finished with the No. 42 signing class, its highest ranking since ESPN started ranking the top 75 in 2014.
This has energized and engaged people in and around the program. Wildhack said donors have stepped up to improve their NIL efforts, though he said they preferred to remain anonymous. A record 16,500 people showed up for the spring game. Wildhack said Syracuse is well ahead of its usual pace with season ticket sales and renewals.
“It’s been phenomenal,” Wildhack said. “I’ve not seen anything like it in my time here, just how he has energized the community, our fan base, our football alums.”
To remind himself of that, Brown has a framed $10 bill in his office, in a temporary location while construction on a new football operations center continues. A yellow Post-It note came with the money: “Coach Brown — Watched your interview on the Syracuse Orange. Just wanted you to know from one coach to another I am all in!! Here is my $10.00! Go Orange”
THE PROGRAM BROWN inherits had some recent success under former coach Dino Babers, going to back-to-back bowl games for the first time since 2012-13. Brown also inherits a strong core of returning players, including running back LeQuint Allen, tight end Oronde Gadsden II, linebacker Marlowe Wax and defensive backs Justin Barron and Alijah Clark.
But each season, Babers’ Orange were unable to close strong after getting off to fast starts. Last season, Syracuse opened 4-0, then lost five straight. In 2022, Syracuse opened 6-0 before another five-game losing streak.
Brown, of course, knows to truly make Syracuse relevant again, he has to do more than start fast. Though history says it’s unlikely that a team from the northeast will win national championships, Brown believes it is possible. Since 2006, teams from the south have won every national championship except two (Ohio State in 2014 and Michigan in 2023). Penn State was the last team from the northeast to win a national title, and that was in 1986.
Growing up in Camden, Brown paid close attention to schools like Syracuse, Penn State and Pittsburgh — which all took their respective turns on the national stage. Why can’t that happen again, he asks?
He dismisses any notion that Syracuse is at a disadvantage in the transfer portal and NIL era because it does not have the same resources as the top-tier football programs in its own conference, let alone the one he just came from in Athens, Georgia.
“How can you say we don’t have what they have?” Brown asks. “You’ve got to talk to the players to see what they want, and if I’m developing you the right way, are you going to leave here for $20,000? Is that all you’re looking at your future to be about?”
“Georgia coaches football well. Everyone tries to take away from that. You could go, ‘They’re only winning because of this.’ That’s what chumps say. We all have the same opportunity. Just figure out how to get it done.”
He can easily point to the work he has done in the transfer portal as proof that he can bring in elite players to play for him at Syracuse. It started on Day 1. Brown was introduced as Syracuse coach Dec. 4. That same day, McCord announced he was in the portal after three seasons at Ohio State.
McCord started his final season at Ohio State, going 229-of-348 for 3,170 yards with 24 touchdowns and six interceptions, winning third-team All-Big Ten honors. But Ohio State lost to Michigan to close out the regular season, dashing its College Football Playoff hopes. Afterward, McCord said he had “tough conversations” with the Ohio State coaching staff.
“The vision that they had was different than the vision that I had,” McCord said. “In a perfect world, we win, go undefeated, win the national championship and I’m probably not in this position, probably not here, but everything happens for a reason. So when they told me that they thought they wanted to go in another direction, that’s the harsh reality of it.”
McCord grew up in New Jersey, and his relationship with Brown goes back years, to when McCord was in sixth grade. His dad, Derek, worked in the same hospital as Brown’s wife, Teara. Derek was known to brag on McCord from time to time. Teara told Fran he should go and watch Kyle play. He attended youth football games and they struck up a relationship.
Still, McCord says now, “You never think it’s going to turn into this.”
Brown flew to Columbus, Ohio, shortly after McCord entered the portal and met with him in his apartment. McCord remembers Brown selling his vision for Syracuse, and his belief they could win right away. Another big selling point: Brown hired Jeff Nixon as his offensive coordinator, another coach McCord knows from New Jersey. McCord and Nixon’s son, Will, played youth football together starting at age 5 in South Jersey, when Nixon was an assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles. (Last week, Will Nixon transferred from Washington to Syracuse.) Nixon had previously worked with Brown and when he was hired, Nixon immediately texted and said, “Coach, I’m available.”
“That was music to my ears,” McCord said. “The vision that he had of going out and competing and being able to win a lot of games early on, and having input in the offense and just things like that was really what sold me.”
There is one more connection Nixon has that McCord finds helpful — Nixon and Ohio State coach Ryan Day served on the same offensive staff at two different stops during their respective careers. McCord says the Syracuse offense is similar to what he ran at Ohio State, even including some plays with the same names.
McCord committed Dec. 17, which Brown says lent instant credibility to the program. Two days later, Diggs — originally from East Camden, New Jersey — announced he was transferring in from Texas A&M. Already, Brown was assembling a big transfer haul — Georgia receivers Jackson Meeks and Zeed Haynes had already decided they were coming with him from Athens. Then in early January, cornerback Duce Chestnut announced he would transfer back to Syracuse after spending last season at LSU.
McCord points out that he played youth football with several of his now-teammates, including Chestnut. He also played against Diggs in high school. McCord said building back northeast football at the college level, as players from the region, is something they want to do.
And Brown is determined to build a winning program with players predominantly from the region. On the 2024 roster, 40 players are from the northeast, including seven of the 11 transfers who enrolled in January. Four of those players attended Camden High, where Brown played quarterback and set the then-single-season school record with 47 touchdown passes.
“It’s kind of been like a childhood dream for a lot of us to play together,” McCord said. “You look around the building. It’s guys from New Jersey and Pennsylvania and New York. … I think we can really change the program around pretty quickly. You see what Coach Fran has been doing in these first few months here, and I think if we can just stay on that trajectory, things are going to go upward.”
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR ELIJAH Robinson and Brown played Little League Football together in Camden. They also shared the same godfather, who made sure they stayed on the right track. Robinson knew, even as Brown starred on their high school team, that one day his friend would be headed for big things. Brown had a natural charisma about him, but also a dogged determination to make it.
“There was never a doubt in my mind he would be here at some point because of who he is,” Robinson said. “I know who Francis Brown is, as a young man who overcame so much adversity. I know the Francis Brown that went to JUCO, who would drink a gallon of water because he didn’t have enough money for food and went to sleep early so he wouldn’t think about being hungry. People like that, who do things the right way, they climb.”
Brown has a gift from a parent sitting on his desk that encapsulates what he tries to keep in mind every day — a knight in armor, on one knee, with arms outstretched. A clear message: I am giving my son over to you for the time being.
Coaches often speak in broad platitudes about wanting to make a lasting impact on their players. One of the reasons Brown says he never wanted to be a coordinator is because that would mean having influence over only part of the team; he wanted to be able to reach every single player.
So he bided his time, preparing his entire coaching career for this moment. On his iPad, he has folders from every stop along the way, with notes, schedules, schemes, reminders and plans for how he would run his own program.
That is only part of the job. What he believes in most of all is what makes all those around him believers, too.
“The original definition of coach is a horse-drawn buggy that takes important people from where they are to where they want to be,” Brown says. “You’re an important person, I’m the horse-drawn buggy. So I’ve got to take you from where you are right now to get you to where you want to be.”
-
Seth Wickersham
Close
Seth Wickersham
ESPN Senior Writer
- Senior Writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine
- Joined ESPN The Magazine after graduating from the University of Missouri.
- Although he primarily covers the NFL, his assignments also have taken him to the Athens Olympics, the World Series, the NCAA tournament and the NHL and NBA playoffs.
Stanford has hired former Nike CEO John Donahoe as the school’s new athletic director, the university announced Thursday.
Donahoe, 65, will arrive in the collegiate athletic director space with a vast swath of business experience, as Stanford officials viewed him as a “unicorn candidate” because of both his business ties and history at the school. Stanford coveted a nontraditional candidate for the role, and Donahoe’s hire delivers a seasoned CEO with stints at Nike, Bain & Company and eBay. He also served as the board chair of PayPal.
He also brings strong Stanford ties as a 1986 MBA graduate. He has had two stints on the Stanford business school’s advisory board, including currently serving in that role.
“My north star for 40 years has been servant leadership, and it is a tremendous honor to be able to come back to serve a university I love and to lead Stanford Athletics through a pivotal and tumultuous time in collegiate sports,” Donahoe said in a statement. “Stanford has enormous strengths and enormous potential in a changing environment, including being the model for achieving both academic and athletic excellence at the highest levels. I can’t wait to work in partnership with the Stanford team to build momentum for Stanford Athletics and ensure the best possible experiences for our student-athletes.”
Donahoe replaces Bernard Muir, who announced in February that he was stepping down after serving in that role since 2012. Alden Mitchell has been the school’s interim athletic director.
The hire is a head-turning one for Stanford, bringing in someone with Donahoe’s high-level business experience. And it comes at a time when the athletic department has struggled in its highest-profile sports, as football is amid four consecutive 3-9 seasons and the men’s basketball team hasn’t reached the NCAA tournament since 2014.
In hiring Donahoe, Stanford is aiming for someone who can find an innovative way to support general manager Andrew Luck and the football program while also figuring out a sustainable model for the future of Stanford’s Olympic sports.
“Stanford occupies a unique place in the national athletics landscape,” university president Jonathan Levin said in a statement. “We needed a distinctive leader — someone with the vision, judgment, and strategic acumen for a new era of college athletics, and with a deep appreciation for Stanford’s model of scholar-athlete excellence. John embodies these characteristics. We’re grateful he has agreed to lead Stanford Athletics through this critical period in college sports.”
Stanford’s Olympic sports remain the best in the country, as Stanford athletes or former athletes accounted for 39 medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics. If Stanford were a country, it would have tied with Canada for the 11th-most medals. Stanford has also won 26 of the possible 31 director’s cups for overall athletic success in college, including a 25-year streak from 1995 to 2019.
School officials approached Donahoe in recent weeks about the position, with both Levin and former women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer among the chief recruiters. Donahoe has a long-standing relationship with both, as he maintained strong ties to the school throughout his career.
Sources said Luck will report to Donahoe. Luck spent time with him in the interview process and is excited to work with him, sources said. It’s also a change from the prior structure, as upon Luck’s hiring he had been slated to report to Levin.
“I am absolutely thrilled John Donahoe is joining as our next athletic director,” Luck said in a statement. “He brings unparalleled experience and elite leadership to our athletic department in a time of opportunity and change. I could not be more excited to partner with and learn from him.”
Stanford is set to begin a football season in which it is picked to finish last in the 17-team ACC. Former NFL coach Frank Reich is the interim coach, and both sides have made clear this is a definitive interim situation and that he won’t return after the 2025 season.
-
Max Olson
Iowa State and coach Matt Campbell have finalized a contract extension through 2032 after the winningest coach in program history led the Cyclones to their first-ever 11-win season in 2024.
Campbell will earn $5 million per year in total compensation, according to a copy of the contract obtained by ESPN on Friday. The three-time Big 12 Coach of the Year honoree took a discount on the deal, sources told ESPN, to ensure that his staff salary pool increased and to allow Iowa State to allocate an additional $1 million to revenue-sharing funds for its football roster.
Campbell earned $4 million in 2024 while leading the Cyclones to a Big 12 championship game appearance, an 11-3 record and a No. 15 finish in the AP poll. He’s entering his 10th season in Ames and has won a school record of 64 games during his tenure.
Colorado coach Deion Sanders will be the Big 12’s highest-paid head coach this year at $10 million after landing a five-year, $54 million contract extension in March. Campbell’s new salary will not rank among the top five in the conference, but he prioritized maximizing Iowa State’s ability to invest in its football roster following a historic season.
Campbell, 45, told ESPN in July at Big 12 media days that “probably our top 20 guys took a pay cut to come back to Iowa State” for 2025, relative to what they could’ve earned in NIL compensation by entering the transfer portal.
The head coach’s deal includes performance incentives based on the Cyclones’ regular-season record, starting at $250,000 for seven wins and climbing to $1.5 million for a 12-0 season. He’ll earn at least $100,000 for a Big 12 title game appearance and up to $500,000 for a Big 12 championship. The deal also permits him to distribute up to $100,000 of his performance incentive earnings each year to his football staff.
If Campbell accepts another Power 4 head coaching job before the end of his contract, his buyout would be $2 million. He would not owe liquidated damages if he departs for an NFL coaching opportunity. Campbell interviewed with the Chicago Bears in January during the organization’s head coaching search.
Campbell surpassed Dan McCarney as the program’s winningest head coach last season and has led the Cyclones to bowl games in seven of the past eight seasons, including a Fiesta Bowl victory and a top-10 finish in 2020.
-
Eli Lederman
The busiest 60 days of the annual recruiting calendar are officially behind us. And while another four months still remain before the December early signing period, college football’s top programs have already wrapped up the majority of their business in the 2026 cycle.
Per ESPN Research, a total of 155 prospects in the 2026 ESPN 300 made commitments in an avalanche of summer recruiting business from June 1 to July 31. In the wake of that, only 16 uncommitteds remain in the ESPN 300 as of Saturday morning. Within that group are just nine top-100 recruits, with five-star defensive end Jake Kreul, No. 2 running back Savion Hiter and No. 2 defensive tackle Deuce Geralds among those expected to come off the board in August.
More settled by this point of the cycle than any other in recent memory, college football’s 2026 class is unfolding against the backdrop of yet another moment of change in the sport. The House settlement and earliest ebbs of college athletics’ revenue sharing era have already shaped the 2026 cycle, and their effects will continue to ripple across the class until February’s national signing day.
As the recruiting trail prepares to take a (relative) back seat to fall camp practices, here’s a look at how the cycle played out this summer and what could come next for the class of 2026:
Revenue sharing and a new era in recruiting
The House settlement, which now permits schools to pay their athletes directly, among other sweeping changes, officially took effect July 1.
But according to personnel staffers, agents, recruits and parents surveyed by ESPN this month on the condition of anonymity, byproducts of college football’s new reality and the initial revenue sharing cap of $20.5 million across all sports have been steering the 2026 cycle for months. “In the past, collectives would always say we’re only going to offer what we know we can pay you,” a player agent told ESPN. “Now programs know what the budget will be, and harder numbers were discussed earlier than usual. The ability for programs to get those numbers out there early was huge.” As schools prepared roster budgets and braced for post-settlement oversight this spring, a number of Power 4 programs began front-loading their 2025 rosters in the lead-up to July 1.
In some cases, that meant negotiating updated, pre-settlement contracts with transfers and current players, deals that will not count against the post-July 1 revenue share cap. In others, sources told ESPN that programs and collectives found workarounds on the recruiting trail, doling out upfront payments as high as $25,000 per month to committed recruits in the 2026 class, primarily through advantageous high school NIL laws that exist in states such as California, Oregon and Washington.
Those front-loading efforts helped several programs jump out to fast starts in the 2026 cycle. Per sources, the impending arrival of revenue sharing also played a significant role in speeding up the 2026 class this spring. With programs in position to present firmer financial figures, a flurry of elite prospects committed to schools on verbal agreements before July 1.
“People rushed to get deals done pre-House,” a Power 4 personnel staffer told ESPN. “You know there’s only so much money available, and schools let kids know that. The first one to say yes gets it.”
Friday loomed especially large in the short-lived history of the House settlement.
Per the settlement, Aug. 1 was the first official date rising seniors could formally receive written revenue share contracts from programs and NIL collectives, the latter of which will now operate under looser regulation from the newly founded College Sports Commission, per a memo sent to athletic directors on Thursday. Put another way, Aug. 1 was the first day committed prospects and their families could officially learn whether terms they had agreed to earlier this year were legit.
“We’re going to see how serious these schools are,” said the parent of an ESPN 300 quarterback. “I think we might see some kids decommit and find new schools this fall.”
Across the industry, sources believe programs will, for the most part, deliver on the verbal agreements. Multiple agents and personnel staffers told ESPN that a number of programs have also generally ignored the Aug. 1 stipulation across the spring and summer, presenting frameworks of agreements to prospective recruits or flouting the rule entirely. Another question hovering over the months ahead: How much will these agreements do to contain the annual shuffle of flips, decommitments and late-cycle drama in the 2026 class?
“These deals should keep things more in check,” another Power 4 personnel staffer said. “But I’m not naive to think some won’t flip. There’s some snakes out there.”
0:46
No. 1 overall prospect Lamar Brown commits to LSU
No. 1 overall prospect Lamar Brown stays home and commits to play for the LSU Tigers.
Where do things stand with the 2026 five-star class?
Oregon offensive tackle commit Immanuel Iheanacho, No. 13 in the 2026 ESPN 300, initially planned to announce his commitment Aug. 5. But, like many of the 2026 five-stars who entered late spring still uncommitted, Iheanacho felt the heat of an accelerated market in June.
“There were a couple of schools I was looking at that asked me to commit early, really wanting to get me in their class,” Iheanacho told ESPN. “Oregon didn’t rush me at all.”
Even so, Iheanacho eventually shifted his commitment timeline forward more than a month. ESPN’s second-ranked offensive line prospect picked the Ducks over Auburn, LSU and Penn State on July 3, landing as one of 11 five-star recruits to commit between June 14 and July 20.
-
DT Lamar Brown, LSU, No. 1 overall
-
RB Derrek Cooper, Texas, No. 7 overall
-
DE JaReylan McCoy, Florida, No. 9 overall
-
DE Richard Wesley, Texas, No. 11 overall
-
OT Immanuel Iheanacho, Oregon, No. 13 overall
-
OLB Tyler Atkinson, Texas, No. 14 overall
-
ATH Brandon Arrington, Texas A&M, No. 15 overall
-
TE Kaiden Prothro, Georgia, No. 19 overall
-
OT Felix Ojo, Texas Tech, No. 20 overall
-
S Jett Washington, Oregon, No. 21 overall
-
S Jireh Edwards, Alabama, No. 23 overall
As of Saturday morning, only one of the record 23 five-star prospects in ESPN’s class rankings for 2026 remains uncommitted. LSU secured a class cornerstone and the highest-ranked pledge of the Brian Kelly era in No. 1 overall recruit Lamar Brown on July 10. Meanwhile, Florida (McCoy) and Texas A&M (Arrington) each landed a top-15 defender, Ojo landed a historic deal with Texas Tech, and Texas closed July with the most five-star pledges — four — in the country.
With Kreul, the skilled pass rusher from Florida’s IMG Academy nearing a decision from among Ole Miss, Oklahoma and Texas, ESPN’s 2026 five-star class could be closed out before Week 0.
No matter how it plays out from here, the cycle’s five-stars are already historically settled. As of Saturday morning, 95.6% of the five-star class is committed among 14 schools across the Power 4 conferences. Per ESPN Research, it’s by far the highest Aug. 1 five-star pledge rate in any cycle since at least 2020. Just over a decade ago, only six of the 20 five-stars (30%) in the 2015 cycle were committed on Aug. 1, 2014; nearly half the class committed after New Year’s Day.
Highest rate of five-star pledges by Aug. 1 since the start of the 2020 cycle
-
2026: 95.6%
-
2024: 76.1%
-
2025: 72.7%
-
2021: 66.6%
-
2020: 58.8%
A number of factors — the early signing period, NIL, transfer portal, new rules around recruiting windows and on-campus visits — explain why elite recruiting continues to inch further and further from the traditional February signing day. Amid the fallout of the House settlement, the latest five-star class seemingly received another nudge this summer.
What’s left for the 2026 QB market after summer moves?
The last major quarterback domino in the 2026 class fell July 18 when four-star Landon Duckworth (No. 178 overall) committed to South Carolina. More than four months from the early signing period, the quarterback market in 2026 is effectively closed.
After Ryder Lyons (BYU), Bowe Bentley (Oklahoma) and Jaden O’Neal (Florida State) found homes in June, Duckworth was the last uncommitted ESPN 300 quarterback. Further down the class, several major programs across the Big Ten and SEC dipped into the flip market or outside the top 300 to secure their 2026 quarterback pledge(s) this summer.
Notable quarterback moves since June 1:
-
Ryder Lyons, BYU, No. 49 overall
-
Jaden O’Neal, Florida State, No. 166 overall
-
Bowe Bentley, Oklahoma, No. 168 overall
-
Peyton Falzone, Auburn, No. 208 overall
-
Jett Thomalla, Alabama, No. 14 pocket passer
-
Bryson Beaver, Oregon, No. 15 pocket passer
-
Matt Ponatoski, Kentucky, No. 16 pocket passer
-
Tayden-Evan Kaawa, No. 24 pocket passer
-
Luke Fahey, Ohio State, No. 28 pocket passer
Oregon ended its monthslong chase for a quarterback pledge June 25 with former Boise State commit Beaver. One of the cycle’s top summer risers after a standout Elite 11 finals showing, Beaver landed with Ducks coach Dan Lanning and offensive coordinator Will Stein over interest Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Ole Miss in whirlwind, 13-day rerecruitment.
Alabama has five-star freshman Keelon Russell. But still repairing the program’s quarterback pipeline under coach Kalen DeBoer, the Crimson Tide added two pledges this summer between Thomalla — an Iowa State flip — and Kaawa. Across the state, Auburn and coach Hugh Freeze made their move June 26 flipping Falzone from Penn State before Ohio State (Fahey) and Kentucky (Ponatoski), another pair of quarterback-needy programs, landed pledges in July.
For now, the quarterback class is settled and only so many major programs are still searching in 2026.
Among the 68 Power 4 programs and Notre Dame, only 10 reached August without at least one pledge among the 106 quarterback prospects rated by ESPN: Colorado, Georgia Tech, LSU, Iowa, Iowa State, Maryland, Stanford, UCLA, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.
Who might still be looking within that group?
Colorado (Julian Lewis), Maryland (Malik Washington) and UCLA (Madden Iamaleava) each signed a top-300 quarterback in the 2025 class. With all three programs in the midst of roster rebuilds, none is likely to make a serious push at the position this fall.
With Garrett Nussmeier out of eligibility in 2025, and after the LSU lost No. 1 overall recruit Bryce Underwood to Michigan last fall, the Tigers remain a program to watch in the coming months.
What did ESPN’s top five classes do this summer?
The Trojans got the bulk of their work done on the trail this spring and began June with the most ESPN 300 pledges of any program nationally. That remains the case as USC has bolstered its top-ranked incoming class with five more ESPN 300 pledges over the past eight weeks, adding defenders Talanoa Ili (No. 54 overall), Luke Wafle (No. 104) and Peyton Dyer (No. 269), a July 4 pledge from No. 3 wide receiver Ethan “Boobie” Feaster (No. 25) and the commitment of highly regarded four-star offensive guard Breck Kolojay (No. 198) on Friday.
Can USC hold on to secure its first No. 1 class since 2013? Time will tell. Sources told ESPN that the Trojans’ biggest moves in the cycle are likely finished while the program continues to target the tight end and safety positions, but there’s still time for plenty more to unfold this fall.
The Bulldogs went for volume and quality this summer, collecting 19 commitments including 12 from inside the ESPN 300. Georgia continued to build around five-star quarterback Jared Curtis with five-star tight end Kaiden Prothro, top-50 offensive tackle Ekene Ogboko, running back Jae Lamar and pass catchers Brayden Fogle and Craig Dandridge. On the other side of the ball, defensive backs Justice Fitzpatrick, Chase Calicut and Caden Harris, and defensive tackle Pierre Dean Jr. rank among the newest arrivals in an increasingly deep Bulldogs defensive class.
Georgia’s summer wasn’t without a few major misses. Losing out to Texas on No. 1 outside linebacker Tyler Atkinson — a priority in-state target — stung. Top running back Derrek Cooper’s subsequent pledge to the Longhorns marked another blow, as did wide receiver Vance Spafford‘s decision to flip to Miami in late June. But the Bulldogs are loaded up once again on top during this cycle and will hit the fall in line to secure the program’s 10th straight top-three signing class for 2026.
The Aggies landed a key local recruiting win over Texas on June 17 with a commitment from No. 5 running back K.J. Edwards, the state’s No. 6 prospect in 2026. But Texas A&M’s summer of recruiting was defined on defense, where coach Mike Elko is building another monster class.
Five-star athlete Brandon Arrington, who will play defensive back in college, became the program’s top-ranked 2026 pledge on June 19. Behind him, the Aggies have added top-150 defenders Bryce Perry-Wright, Camren Hamiel and Tristian Givens, and top 300 linebacker Daquives Beck since June 1 to a defensive class that features nine ESPN 300 pledges.
Even after narrowly missing on top defenders Lamar Brown (LSU) and Anthony Jones (Oregon) in July, Texas A&M holds one of the nation’s deepest classes and appears poised to contend later this year for its first top-five class since the Aggies went No. 1 in 2022.
It was a five-star bonanza for coach Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns this summer.
It began with a late-June pledge from Oregon decommit Richard Wesley, ESPN’s No. 3 defensive end. From there, Texas went on to secure its latest pair of recruiting wins over Georgia last month, swooping in to land Atkinson on July 15 before earning Derrek Cooper’s commitment five days later. With No. 1 quarterback Dia Bell already in the fold, the Longhorns have as many five-star pledges in 2026 as the program signed across 11 classes from 2011 to 2021.
Top-50 offensive lineman John Turntine III marked a key addition July 4, and the Longhorns got deeper on defense with commitments from cornerback Samari Matthews and former Georgia defensive tackle pledge James Johnson. But the five-star moves have been the story for Texas this summer, and Sarkisian & Co. might not be done yet with the Longhorns heavily in the mix for Jake Kreul, the last remaining five-star in the 2026 class.
After a productive spring, the Irish landed five ESPN 300 pledges after June 1, plugging the few remaining holes in the program’s 2026 class with a series of elite high school prospects.
Notre Dame landed its top two defensive back commitments within hours of each other on June 20 with pledges from cornerback Khary Adams and Joey O’Brien. On June 26, the Irish secured their highest-ranked tight end commit since the 2021 class in four-star Ian Premer. And in early July, Notre Dame bolstered its wide receiver class with an infusion of talent and NFL pedigree, adding Kaydon Finley (son of Jermichael Finley), Brayden Robinson and Devin Fitzgerald (son of Larry Fitzgerald).
Notre Dame’s trip to last season’s national title game arrived amid the program’s steady rise on the recruiting trail under coach Marcus Freeman. That has continued in 2026, where the Irish are poised to sign more ESPN 300 pledges — 17 — than in any cycle since at least 2006.
Five programs poised to push for a top-five finish this fall
Current ESPN class ranking: No. 6
Only one program can match USC’s count of nine top-100 pledges in 2026: Alabama.
The Crimson Tide’s second class under coach Kalen DeBoer boomed in June and July as the Crimson Tide secured a slew of commitments on defense with five-star safety Jireh Edwards (No. 23 overall), No. 3 outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 30) and defensive ends Nolan Wilson (No. 53) and Jamarion Matthews (No. 92). Priority in-state offensive targets Ezavier Crowell (No. 31) and Cederian Morgan (No. 47) marked two more key additions this summer.
Alabama whiffed on another major in-state recruit Thursday when four-star outside linebacker Anthony Jones, the state’s No. 1 prospect in 2026, committed to Oregon. Jones represented one of the last elite targets on the Crimson Tide’s board. But Alabama has already flipped four Power 4 commits this summer and could continue to climb this fall as long as DeBoer and his staff remain active within the class from now to the early signing period.
Current ESPN class ranking: No. 11
LSU enters the month with ESPN’s No. 1 overall recruit, a five-star wide receiver in Tristen Keys (No. 10 overall) and 10 total ESPN 300 commits in the program’s incoming recruiting class.
How can the Tigers climb into the upper reaches of the 2026 cycle this fall? First and foremost, they have to hang onto Keys, ESPN’s No. 3 wide receiver. He has been committed to LSU since March 19, but that didn’t keep him from taking multiple official visits in the spring or shield him from serious flips efforts from Miami, Tennessee and Texas A&M this summer.
The Tigers’ battle to keep Keys could stretch all the way to the early signing period.
Sources expect LSU to ramp up its own flip efforts with in-state safety and Ohio State pledge Blaine Bradford (No. 34 overall) in the coming months. The Tigers are also finalists for Deuce Geralds and remain top contenders in the recruitments of offensive linemen Darius Gray (No. 73) and wide receiver Jase Mathews, both of whom are set to commit in August. LSU can’t be counted out from renewing its work in the 2026 quarterback this fall, either.
Current ESPN class ranking: No. 7
The defending national champs had a relatively quiet summer atop the 2026 cycle, adding only four ESPN 300 pledges highlighted by the in-state pledges of outside linebacker Cincere Johnson (No. 82 overall) and running back Favour Akih (No. 160). Fahey, ESPN’s No. 28 pocket passer, will pad Ohio State’s future quarterback depth after Air Noland‘s offseason transfer, too.
One priority target who could help push the Buckeyes over the edge is four-star prospect Bralan Womack (No. 32). Ohio State has been consistent a leader in the recruitment of ESPN’s No. 3 safety through the spring and summer, and coach Ryan Day & Co. will have to hold off late pushes from fellow finalists Auburn, Florida and Texas A&M from now until Womack’s Aug. 22 commitment date. The Buckeyes also remain involved in the recruitments of No. 2 running back Savion Hiter and Darius Gray, the nation’s 10th-ranked offensive lineman.
Current ESPN class ranking: No. 8
Wolverines coach Sherrone Moore has filled out his class with nine ESPN 300 pledges since June 1, headlined by top-100 defender Carter Meadows (No. 88 overall), who trails only quarterback Brady Smigiel (No. 44) among the top prospects pledged to Michigan in 2026.
Who could be next for the Wolverines? Michigan are finalists for ESPN 300 defenders Davon Benjamin (No. 63) and Anthony Davis Jr. (No. 299) with each set for a decision Saturday. More prominently, the Wolverines remain focused on Hiter (No. 24 overall), a top priority for the Michigan staff this summer whose commitment date is set for Aug. 19. The Wolverines also continue to be linked with Syracuse wide receiver pledge Calvin Russell (No. 28). ESPN’s No. 4 wide receiver closed a narrowing process with a commitment to the Orange on July 5, but sources expect Michigan and Miami to remain involved with Russell this fall.
Current ESPN class ranking: No. 10
No. 2 outside linebacker Anthony Jones committed to the Ducks on Thursday, joining five-stars Immanuel Iheanacho and Jett Washington in a string of high-profile pledges for Oregon this summer.
Insiders believe the Ducks have backed off at the very top of the 2026 class after spending in the 2025 cycle, but Jones’ pledge could be the first move in a late-summer surge for coach Dan Lanning. Oregon is viewed as the front-runner for both Deuce Geralds and Davon Benjamin as the pair of top-65 prospects prepare to announce their commitments Saturday afternoon. If the Ducks land both, Lanning & Co. could be in position to sign another top-five class by December.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike