Who won the month of October in recruiting?

Things are heating up in recruiting. We have entered the month of November, and in a month and a half, the early signing period will be upon us.

Dec. 15 is not far away and some highly-ranked recruits in the 2022 class announced their decisions last month. Three five-stars added their names to a commitment list, over half a dozen top-100 prospects committed, and some big names came off the board.

Who won the month of October?

Georgia’s surging to the top

As hot as Georgia has been on the field, the Bulldogs have been just as hot on the recruiting trail.

The first of four to commit in October was four-star tight end Oscar Delp. Clemson, Michigan and South Carolina were the others involved, but this one had been Georgia’s to lose for months.

Then a couple of flips came Georgia’s way. Four-star offensive lineman Alioh Bah flipped from Florida State, then five-star defensive lineman Mykel Williams flipped from USC.

The Williams news, when talking timing, surprised some, but not like the news that came to close out Georgia’s run in October. Bear Alexander, a top player in the country committed to Georgia a second time. That caught many off-guard.

With this big month, Georgia has shot up to the No. 2 in the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking.

Oklahoma goes in and out of state to land top targets

Lincoln Riley wants to keep the best of the best at home and he did that with Gentry Williams. Schools like Arkansas, Florida and USC gave the four-star athlete something to compare the Sooners to, but he committed to the in-state school.

Williams wasn’t the only highly-touted defender to commit to the Sooners last month. Oklahoma went into Florida to land five-star defensive lineman Gabriel Brownlow-Dindy. The No. 3 player in the country chose Oklahoma over Texas A&M. Dindy’s parents graduated from Oklahoma.

Oklahoma has the No. 6 class in the country.

Alabama adds playmakers

Alabama is sitting on top with the No. 1 class in the country, and the Crimson Tide added two more pieces to a strong class in October.

Five-star tight end Jaleel Skinner got things started when he committed to the program in Tuscaloosa over Florida, Miami, Texas, and others. The play of Alabama’s offense this season pushed them to the top this fall.

Skinner is No. 17 in the country and he could be lining up next to Aaron Anderson, the No. 114-ranked player.

Anderson committed to LSU in Dec. 2019, but Alabama continued to recruit the star out of New Orleans. Once Ed Orgeron was removed as head coach in Baton Rouge, Anderson backed off his commitment to the Tigers.

Just over a week later, Anderson committed to Alabama. You can bet the next coach at LSU is going to push for Anderson to stay home, so this will be one to watch leading up to the early signing period.

Florida is a push in October

Florida picked up two big commitments, but it also lost a couple.

Starting with the good news, the Gators picked up commitments from four-star defensive lineman Jamari Lyons and four-star wide receiver Jayden Gibson.

The bad news is, four-star linebacker Shemar James and four-star cornerback Julian Humphrey re-opened their recruitment.

Florida ranks No. 17 in the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking, but Dan Mullen and his staff need to close strong to get this class closer to the top 10.

Auburn, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio State, Texas, and UCLA add key pieces

• Auburn needs help up front and it picked up commitments from two key offensive line targets. Drew Bobo committed first, then his teammate, Eston Harris Jr. committed shortly after. Harris is more of a tackle and Bobo is an interior lineman.
  
• Missouri held off Georgia for Luther Burden, a highly-ranked wide receiver only a couple of hours outside Columbia. This was a huge win for the Tigers.
  
• North Carolina went back into Virginia, where it has had real success this cycle, to add offensive tackle Zach Rice.
  
• Ohio State loves to recruit the state of Florida, and the Buckeyes went way south to beat Clemson and Oklahoma for four-star EDGE Kenyatta Jackson Jr.
  
• Playmakers want to play in Steve Sarkisian’s offense and the Longhorns landed one in Brennan Thompson.

• Former California commit, quarterback Justyn Martin, committed to UCLA last week. Landing the athletic quarteback out of Inglewood was big for Chip Kelly.