Where will Laremy Tunsil, David Dawson commit? The top uncommitted OL recruits
With three months until National Signing Day, we take a look at the top uncommitted offensive line recruits.
Tunsil is the unanimous top offensive tackle in the country. Tunsil is thought to be favoring Alabama and Georgia, with Florida and Florida State trailing. You can follow Tunsil’s recruitment in the Laremy Tunsil story stream.
Tyrone Crowder | Rockingham (NC) Richmond
Crowder has tremendous power and is a consensus four-star recruit at the guard position. Clemson and Georgia seem to have the lead here for the 6’2, 325-pounder, but North Carolina is still in the running. Crowder is not expected to sign until National Signing Day.
Dorian Johnson | Belle Vernon (PA)
Johnson is perhaps the most athletic offensive tackle recruit in the country. The former Penn State commitment has great length at 6’6 and should eventually see his 270-pound frame north of 300 pounds. Johnson is thought to be favoring Pitt, though Ohio State cannot be counted out of the race. The Nittany Lions are no longer a factor after the NCAA bombshell. Johnson has more than 30 offers and would be a major coup for Pitt. The work that Pitt’s staff did at Wisconsin with offensive linemen plays a large factor here for Johnson, as does the hometown advantage.
Na’Ty Rodgers | Pomfret (MD) Maurice J. McDonough
Rodgers is a very impressive prospect who is likely underrated by some services, despite being a consensus three-star recruit. He has been heavily recruited by South Carolina for a while, having tripped to Columbia several times. Oklahoma, Arkansas and Maryland are also pursuing him. Rodgers has long arms and is very athletic. Once his 6’5, 275-pound frame fills out he could be a real steal. It would be a surprise to see him sign anywhere but South Carolina. I spoke with South Carolina site Garnet and Black Attack about Rodgers in October.
David Dawson | Detroit (MI) Cass Tech
Dawson’s recruitment has been a wild ride. He committed to Michigan, then decommitted after visiting, then named a handful of SEC schools as leaders, visited Florida, then visited Michigan State and named the Spartans as his new leader with Ohio State and Wisconsin also close behind. Even if Dawson makes a decision soon, it would be wise to wait until the ink is dry on National Signing Day. Still, for the school who lands Dawson, this circus will have been worth it, as the 6’4, 290-pound recruit is a very good prospect.
Darius Lathum | Indianapolis (IN) North Central
Lathum is a recent decommitment from Wisconsin, and some believe he is all but sewn up to Indiana. Like Johnson and Pitt, Lathum to Indiana would be a major signing for Kevin Wilson. Wisconsin might be able to get back in the race, however.
Reeve Koehler | Honolulu (HI) St. Louis
Koehler is a powerful guard recruit who is also capable of playing defensive tackle. At 6’3 and 330 pounds, he’ll have to do some reshaping when he gets to college, but his wide frame is promising. Koehler named Tennessee his leader in early October, but there’s no telling what will happen if Tennessee cleans house and brings in a new coaching staff.
Denver Kirkland | Miami (Fla.) Booker T
There is some question as to whether Kirkland, who is a consensus three-star recruit, can play tackle at the next level. There’s no doubt that he could slide inside to guard and be a very good player. At 6’4 and 330 pounds, Kirkland has a lot of reshaping to do. This one shapes up as a Miami-Florida State battle, with USF on the outside looking in. If Florida State fills its need first, expect to see Kirkland headed to Coral Gables.
Two offensive linemen yet to decide are from Texas, and for that we turn to SB Nation’s Wescott Eberts’ recent piece on the top remaining uncommitted recruits from the Lone Star State:
Caleb Benenoch | Katy (TX) Seven Lakes
Favorites: Texas, Oklahoma, UCLA
The Skinny: The 6-5, 320-pound Benenoch committed to Michigan State in March, only to see his recruitment heat up through the spring evaluation period and summer camp season.
A Texas offer at a June camp sparked talk in the immediate aftermath that he was a silent commitment to the Longhorns, but time proved that theory wrong, even as Texas maintained the top spot on his list. A longtime Texas fan, Benenoch has been vocal throughout the process about his affinity for the Longhorns.
The Sooners followed with an offer shortly after the Longorns extended their own and made a dent in his recruitment, as the Aggies seemingly did as well before both sides moved on about a month ago. After briefly dropping from his top spot following a trip to College Station for the game against Florida, Benenoch reinserted the Longhorns as his leader after enjoying the atmosphere at the Texas-West Virginia game.
Key Factors: Though many prospects talk about the importance of academics, the actual quality of education provided by a prospective school rarely makes much of a difference in the player's recruitment. Benenoch has backed up his talk by dropping Oklahoma down his list after researching the academics in Norman.
Visits: UCLA, Baylor in December.
Timetable: December.
Andrew Billings | Waco (TX)
Favorites: Texas, TCU, Baylor
The Skinny: One of the strongest players in the entire state as the Texas powerlifting champion, Billings is projectable on both sides of the line of scrimmage as a prospect, which has attracted the attention of many programs within the state.
Billings and his family made some trips during the summer to schools like Mississippi State and Indiana, but is now done to the in-state schools mentioned above. Of those schools, hometown Baylor and Texas have both received multiple visits from the 6-1, 315-pounder.
Like many prospects at this point in their recruitments, Billings has said little publicly to tip his hand and does not appear to have any childhood allegiances that will impact his decision.
Key Factors: Billings and his family have maintained that academics will play a large role in his eventual decision, which bodes well for the Longhorns.
Another potential key is that Texas is recruiting the two-way high school star to play along the offensive line, while Baylor and TCU are both recruiting him as a defensive tackle. Billilngs seems open to the possibility of playing offense in college, as evidenced by the fact that Texas is still in the race for his services.
Visits: An unofficial visit to Texas is in the works, but a date has not yet been set.
Timetable: Billings has pushed his decision back several times and currently does not have a timetable to announce his commitment.
JUCO Prospects
Desmond Harrison | San Pablo (Calif.) Contra Costa C.C.
Harrison is a top JUCO recruit and a massive tackle prospect at 6’8 and 300+ pounds. He has already officially visited N.C. State, and plans to visit Oklahoma, Arizona State and Texas in the coming weeks, with trips to USC or Ole Miss also possible. He would likely start or play significant snaps for all of the listed programs.
Trenton Brown | Georgia Military College
Brown is a massive prospect at 6’8 and 350 pounds. I recently profiled Brown here, and the only new news on his recruitment is that Florida State extended a new offer to him last week.
While we’re here, let’s watch some of the many fine college football videos from SB Nation’s YouTube channel:
