The Hotline is thrilled to provide West Coast fans with a regular dive into the recruiting process through the eyes and ears of Brandon Huffman, the Phoenix-based national recruiting analyst for Rivals/On3. He submitted the following report on Oct. 8 …
Where have you gone, senior year evaluations?
When Iowa visits Washington on Friday night, true freshman quarterback Tradon Bessinger is unlikely to be on the Hawkeyes’ sideline. But if not for his senior season, he might instead be spending the weekend in Fresno as a backup for Boise State.
The following day, when UCLA visits Oregon, true freshman DJ Bordeaux probably will be watching the game from his dorm in Westwood. But if not for his senior season, he might instead be enjoying Boston College’s bye weekend.
Their career arcs are rapidly becoming extinct.
With an accelerated recruiting calendar and schools attempting to have their classes locked down by the July 4 weekend, do senior year evaluations matter? Do they even exist?
Yes, but infrequently.
At one time, Bessinger was committed to Boise State. But a breakout senior year sparked interest from more schools, and ultimately, Iowa landed his commitment.
Bordeaux, who spent his junior season in Georgia, committed to Boston College. But James Madison became interested during his senior year, so he decommitted from the Eagles. Once JMU coach Bob Chesney jumped to UCLA, his staff pushed for Bordeaux and eventually signed him.
Just a few years ago, that was the standard.
Take Devan Thompkins, for example.
Now a starting edge rusher for Alabama, he only played high school football as a senior, in the fall of 2021. Thompkins made an instant impact and ultimately chose USC over Arizona, Arizona State, Michigan State, Missouri, Utah, Washington State and Fresno State, which was coached by Kalen DeBoer, who now leads Alabama.
He entered the transfer portal last fall and ended up in Tuscaloosa, where he has 19 tackles, 4.5 tackles-for-loss and three sacks. Had Thompkins not been evaluated late, he may have never played college football.
Bordeaux and Bissinger are now anomalies: Quarterbacks who were committed to one school but used productive senior seasons to generate interest from bigger, richer programs.
Another example: Davian Whitener, a two-way standout for Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale. A senior, Whitener committed to Hawaii over the summer. But last weekend, Arizona welcomed him for an unofficial visit. The Wildcats are taking a long look.
In a worst-case scenario, he signs with Hawaii and is the Rainbow Warriors’ highest-rated commit.
But Arizona is the local school in a power conference, and Whitener has the ability to perform at that level, according to the Rivals rating system.
Hawaii is forced to wait and see if the Wildcats make an offer.
But he’s an anomaly.
Said a Big 12 recruiter: “The reality is, unless it’s a (Group of Six) commit who everyone missed on in the spring and is just doing insane things this fall, we’ve moved on to (the Class of) 2028 prospects. Or we can find a guy who is one year older in the portal this fall, and maybe he has some film. But unless it’s a no-brainer, we’re just not spending the time on seniors.”
Of course, money is also a factor. The schools must allocate their revenue sharing and NIL dollars early in the annual cycle.
“We’re done with 2027s, unless they want to come with no revenue share and no guarantees,” a Big Ten recruiting staffer said. “Otherwise, we’re capped.”
Even the Group of Six schools are reticent to make late moves. They spend more time trying to secure pledges who might flip to Power Four schools than trying to find a prospect who fell through the cracks.
“If we offer a senior, all it does is do the homework for a Power Four school, which has already been using our work for half their class,” a Pac-12 recruiting staffer explained. “So if it happens, it won’t be until right before December.”
The reality is that most Power Four schools are spending their weekends watching Group of Six and FCS programs, looking for the next candidate to ascend, rather than evaluating high school seniors.
One West Coast program assigns staff members to track players from specific conferences on lower tiers of the college game. If those staff members are watching high school players this fall, they’re likely juniors or sophomores.
The game has changed.
*** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to wilnerhotline@
*** Follow Huffman on the social media platform X via @BrandonHuffman and support @AveryStrongDIPG
*** Follow Jon Wilner on the social media platform X: @WilnerHotline
The post Huffman on West Coast recruiting: As the calendar speeds up, senior year evaluations become rarities first appeared on Sports360AZ.
Leave a Reply