On300: Going inside the numbers shows SEC dominance in 2022 recruiting cycle

Having been around college football recruiting for nearly three decades, I’ve learned to love numbers. Numbers help you identify small shifts that lead to changing tides and eventual seismic movements in the recruiting world. That’s why it’s important to sift through ranking lists to see what trends are emerging, and that’s what we’re doing here with the new release of the On300 for the Class of 2022.

77 in On300

It should come as no surprise from those that follow college football, but the SEC is dominating recruiting in the Class of 2022. The newly updated On300 features 77 players committed to SEC schools. To put it another way, that’s 25% of the On300 that has committed to schools in the SEC.

Alabama leads the way with 17 commitments in the On300. Georgia has 16. Texas A&M has 10. LSU has seven. Florida has five. Kentucky and Tennessee have four. Arkansas has three. Auburn, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt have two, and Mississippi State has one.

With those 77 players committed to SEC schools, the On3 2022 Consensus Team Recruiting Rank is littered with SEC schools at the top. Alabama is at No. 1 overall, followed by Georgia at No. 2 and A&M at No. 3.

59

There are 59 uncommitted players in the On300 with 23 days left to the start of the early signing period. That means almost 20% of the top players in the country – including top-ranked Marvin Jones Jr., five players in the top 10 and nine five-star recruits – remain on the board, and we’re set for a crazy run-up to December 15.

As one veteran SEC recruiter said, the close of the recruiting cycle might be the wildest he’s seen in the past decade.

“With so many coaching changes already happening and more on the way, I can see more decommitments and flips than we’ve ever seen,” the coach said. “I think we’ll see some surprise changes and things coming out of left field.”

50 in On300

There are 50 players from Texas in the On300, and many local observers are calling it the deepest recruiting class in a long, long time. On3 national analyst and longtime Texas high school football follower Gerry Hamilton takes it a step further and calls it the best talent pool to ever come out of the Lone Star State.

“There is elite, national-level talent at all positions, but also big-time depth at just about every position,” Hamilton said. “This is the ultimate year to come recruit in Texas. There is no reason not to recruit the state.”

This 2022 class – headlined by five-star prospects Evan Stewart of Frisco Liberty, Harold Perkins of Cypress Cy Park, Denver Harris of Houston North Shore and Terrance Brooks of Little Elm High – reminds me a lot of 2001.

That 2001 class in Texas featured numerous players who became household names in college football, like linebacker Derrick Johnson of Waco High, defensive tackle Tommie Harris of Killeen Ellison, offensive lineman Ben Wilkerson of Hemphill High and running backs Cedric Benson of Midland Lee and Joseph Addai of Houston Sharpstown.

To put the 2022 crop on that same level says a lot, but this senior class is special.

46

The 2022 recruiting class is insanely deep at wide receiver, with 46 receivers in the On300. What makes the group unique is that it’s not just receivers from the typical talent-producing states of California, Florida, Georgia and Texas.

There are plenty of other states represented with quality players, like Oklahoma State commitment Talyn Shettron from Edmond (Okla.) Santa Fe, Notre Dame pledge Tobias Merriweather of Camas (Wash.) Union, Kevin Coleman out of St. Louis St. Mary’s and Virginia commitment Dominique McKenzie from St. George (Utah) Pine View. Heck, there are even two On300 receivers from Oregon, including fast-rising Darrius Clemons from Portland.

In all, there are 22 states represented at receiver in the On300.

40 in On300

The penultimate update to the On300 came after months and months of evaluations during the Class of 2022 senior seasons. The updated On300 features 40 new names.

The highest debut comes from offensive tackle Nikolas Hall, a Kentucky commitment from Austin (Texas) Adkins. Hall previously was a top-100 player in Texas. He now is the No. 91 player overall.

Izaiah Reed, an offensive tackle from Jackson (Tenn.) North Side committed to Louisville, made the next-highest debut, at No. 120. He previously was ranked as the No. 55 offensive tackle in the country.

Purdue quarterback commitment Brady Allen also made a big move in the On300. Allen, from Fort Branch (Ind.) Gibson Southern, previously was ranked as the 17^th-best quarterback in the country, but he climbed to No. 125 overall in the country and is the No. 10 quarterback.

10

The newly updated On300 features 10 players committed to Group of 5 programs. UCF and SMU lead the way with three commitments each in the updated rankings. But Boise State (running back Ashton Jeanty), East Carolina (wide receiver Kaleb Webb) and Tulane (EDGE Avery Sledge) also have commits from top-300 prospects.

The highest-ranked player committed to a Group of 5 program is four-star receiver Jordan Hudson, who is No. 26 in the country. Hudson is committed to SMU. Recruiting fans are watching Hudson’s recruitment closely because he is a candidate to flip to another school.

4

There are three new five-star recruits in the On300, headlined by Penn State quarterback commitment Drew Allar of Medina (Ohio) High. Allar has been outstanding as a senior and earned five-star recognition.

“This is much more than just a big-armed passer who slings the ball around,” On3 Director of Scouting and Rankings Charles Power wrote last week. “Allar isn’t sitting back in the pocket untouched. He often plays from an empty set and is forced to make second reaction plays and quick decisions when blitzed. He’s playing with supreme confidence and the game is moving slow.”

Joining Allar as new five stars: offensive tackle Kelvin Banks, cornerback Toriano Pride (Clemson commit) and running back Nick Singleton (Penn State commit).