Visit season is clicking on all cylinders right now and prospects from every corner of the country are taking trips to get a closer look at some of their top programs. We take a look at five of the most surprising and interesting upcoming visits this week, continuing today in the Midwest region.
THIS SERIES: Five notable visits for top East Coast prospects | Mid-South | Southeast
MORE MIDWEST: Nebraska loses AD, Ryan Day searches for assistant, Notre Dame QB commit
NICOLAI BROOKS’ VISIT TO IOWA
This recruitment has been mostly a mystery. Brooks moved back to Iowa and then committed to Iowa only to decommit from the program in November. After that his recruitment went very quiet. There was talk that he wasn’t even responding to most coaches reaching out.
Brooks will end up taking visits though and the one on my radar is an official visit back to Iowa City. Now that former five-star Kadyn Proctor is back home that may give Brooks even more of a reason to jump back in the Hawkeyes’ class.
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LINKON CURE’S VISIT TO KANSAS STATE
Cure has a chance to be the highest-ranked tight end in the nation for this recruiting cycle. His recruitment reminds me a lot of Nebraska’s Carter Nelson last cycle. Both are highly rated dynamic tight ends who leaned toward the in-state program despite offers from around the country.
Kansas State enters the official visit season as the front-runner in this race despite planned unofficial visits to Oregon, Texas A&M and others. There is a trust with the coaching staff at Kansas State and a comfort level that may prove hard to overcome.
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DAWSON MERRITT’S VISIT TO NEBRASKA
Merritt just released a top 10 that included Oklahoma, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Missouri, Alabama, Florida State, Kansas, Texas A&M, USC and Michigan.
However, it’s the official visit to Nebraska that is most intriguing. The reason is pretty simple. He’s building a great relationship with Huskers linebackers coach Rob Dvoracek.
“Honestly, I think I can say he’s doing the best job out of all the schools that I’m talking to right now when it comes to a pure relationship outside of football,” Merritt said of Dvoracek. “We’ll get on the phone and we don’t even have to bring up football once, we’ll talk about anything. That’s probably the thing I like about him most. Then obviously, he’s a very intense guy, which I also like.”
Things are always fluid with that many programs involved but Nebraska is a good dark horse here.
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RYAN MONTGOMERY’S VISIT TO SOUTH CAROLINA
Montgomery’s visit is the only unofficial visit that I have included in this list. The four-star quarterback does have big unofficials with Georgia and Florida but it’s the South Carolina trip that has me most intrigued.
The quarterback situation is more open in Columbia for Montgomery to play early. The relationship is strong with him and the Gamecocks staff. Coach Shane Beamer and his staff have also prioritized him as their No. 1 target all cycle The Gamecocks will try to end this recruitment without him needing to take any official visits.
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COREY SIMMS’ VISIT TO MISSOURI
The new No. 1 prospect in Missouri is the latest big-time receiver to come out of the state. His offer list has continued to swell this winter with USC, LSU, Georgia and others joining recently. He’s got an official visit to Tennessee on the books but that’s not the one in the spotlight for me.
He just came off an unofficial visit to Missouri and continues to feel like a top priority for the Tigers. Simms already had an official visit scheduled with them before that visit. That summer official could end up giving him the confirmation he needs to jump in the 2025 class for coach Eli Drinkwitz.
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Greg Smith, National Recruiting Analyst
