The 2023 recruiting cycle is in full swing with 67 of the ESPN Junior 300 recruits already committed.
Notre Dame has gotten off to the best start thus far with eight ESPN Jr. 300 commitments in the class. Among those, five are ranked in the top 65 with defensive end Keon Keeley ranked the highest, at No. 33.
Georgia has the next most ESPN Jr. 300 commits with five, followed by Ohio State and Arkansas, who each have four. USC had a rough 2022 cycle, finishing with only eight high school commitments after a coaching change.
Lincoln Riley brought in quite a few transfers, though, including quarterback Caleb Williams, and has gotten off to a fast start in 2023 by landing three ESPN Jr. 300 commitments. He was able to convince quarterback Malachi Nelson, the No. 2 prospect overall, to flip from Oklahoma to USC and also has commitments from ESPN Jr. 300 wide receivers Zachariah Branch and Makai Lemon.
While Nelson is off the board, there are still quite a few top quarterbacks who remain uncommitted in a cycle with plenty of talent to choose from. Here is a look at what’s happening with those top quarterbacks and a few 2022 recruits who have yet to sign with a team.
2023 quarterbacks
The quarterbacks are usually some of the most intriguing group of prospects, and the 2023 class is no different. There are 20 ESPN Junior 300 quarterbacks in the class with 10 already committed.
Seven of those 20 quarterbacks are ranked inside the top 50. That includes Arch Manning and Nelson, who are the No. 1- and 2-ranked recruits overall, respectively, in the class.
Nelson already is committed to USC and made the switch from Oklahoma shortly after Riley took the Trojans job.
Manning, however, is uncommitted and has attracted national attention for quite some time. He is the nephew of Peyton and Eli, the grandson of Archie and the son of Cooper, so he has the football lineage. Manning has mainly kept to himself throughout the recruiting process and focused on his football and basketball seasons.
But, according to his high school coach, Nelson Stewart, Manning has taken visits recently and has a few more planned in the near future.
“He went to Georgia last weekend. He’s going to Texas this weekend,” Stewart said Wednesday. “He’s going to try to see Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss and LSU in no particular order. He’s had Zooms, so he’s excited to get out and see practices.”
The recruiting calendar is currently in a quiet period, which means recruits can visit college campuses, but coaches can’t visit prospects off campus. That has provided Manning and his coach a brief break from the constant parade of coaches that have been in their high school to see the top prospect.
Stewart said he has never had as many coaches visit during a recruiting cycle, and at one point, he had eight coaches in his office at once to save time.
Now that Manning is on the road and taking visits, he has been able to take in different aspects of the schools to help compare. He still doesn’t have a timeline for a decision and hasn’t made a top list, Stewart said, but the visits have helped give him a better picture of how he would fit at each school.
“I think he’s still very open, but he told me he wants to go see practices and sit in meetings. He really is a meat-and-potatoes kid,” Stewart said. “He’s going to be really thorough, he’s going to get through this round and see where it is. He just wants to be a recruit, wants to be treated like a player and he’s really enjoyed that.”
Outside of Manning and Nelson, Detroit quarterback Dante Moore is the next highest ranked quarterback at No. 14. Since January, Moore has taken visits to Miami, Michigan State, Oregon, LSU, Florida and a handful of others.
Notre Dame is in the mix, and Texas A&M recently offered, as plenty of schools are vying for his commitment. Just behind Moore is Nicholaus Iamaleava, the No. 24 prospect overall, who recently committed to Tennessee.
If he signs with the Vols, he will be the highest ranked prospect to sign with Tennessee since ESPN started its rankings in 2006.
Jaden Rashada is ranked No. 25 overall and is the top dual-threat quarterback in the class. Rashada has offers from Ole Miss, Miami, Oregon and BYU among others. He has already taken a few visits, but hasn’t publicly announced a timetable for a decision.
After Rashada, Jackson Arnold is next at No. 41. Arnold has been committed to Oklahoma since January, and is a 6-foot-1, 195-pound prospect from Denton, Texas.
Dylan Lonergan is the final quarterback in the top 50 and is currently uncommitted. Lonergan is a 6-2, 210-pound signal caller from Snellville, Georgia. He has already taken visits to Georgia, Georgia Tech and Stanford and is planning to see Florida, Ohio State and South Carolina in the next month.
2022 recruits still on the board
Most of the 2022 prospects signed in December and February, but two big recruits still remain unsigned.
ESPN 300 offensive lineman Joshua Conerly Jr. had said from the start that he wanted to wait and take his time. Nothing says recruits have to sign on the first day in February, and Conerly wanted to make sure he made the right decision.
He announced a top six in January that consisted of Washington, Oklahoma, Oregon, Michigan, USC and Miami. Conerly has since said he will announce his decision on April 8 from his top list. Conerly has taken visits to Miami, Michigan, Oklahoma and Oregon, with a trip to USC still planned.
Outside of Conerly, a new 2022 recruit emerged after the early signing period in February when 2023 ESPN Junior 300 recruit Lebbeus Overton reclassified to the 2022 class. He was the No. 1 recruit in 2023, and has the chance to join a team a year earlier than expected.
He named a top five of Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon and Texas A&M at the time, and his father, Milton Overton, said his son will take all five of his official visits. Overton has already visited Oregon and Georgia, and will visit Texas A&M next.
