Recruiting Rumor Mill: Feedback rolls in from big visits

There was so much happening over the weekend that a second national Recruiting Rumor Mill was needed this week. Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney has the latest.

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Anderson loved his Virginia Tech visit, his family loved it in Blacksburg and the Hokies have to be considered one of the main front-runners for the high three-star receiver from Virginia Beach (Va.) Green Run. He also had great talks with coach Brent Pry and position coach Fontel Mines where they made it clear he’s a priority but weren’t being pushy with him.

Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia and Maryland are others to watch.

LSU is going to be one of the programs involved with Chapman throughout his recruitment and his visit to Baton Rouge over the weekend definitely left a major impression mainly because it wasn’t all football talk with the 2026 offensive lineman from New Orleans (La.) Warren Easton.

The Tigers will be there until the end and then Florida State, Oregon and Alabama are also standing out.

The rumor is that Iowa could have the edge for Cooney but Illinois and Northwestern are two others to watch and his visit to Champaign over the weekend went really well. The three-star linebacker from Oswego, Ill., especially loved that he felt like everyone within the Illini program treated him like family so while the Hawkeyes could have the edge there are other Big Ten programs battling.

The 2026 athlete from Matthews (N.C.) Weddington could not make the South Carolina junior day over the weekend because of a 7-on-7 tournament and even though he’s in the early stages of his recruitment, there are plenty of schools standing out.

Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Clemson, Georgia, Florida State and North Carolina are the teams to watch. His father by the same name played at Georgia and then was a first-round draft pick.

The 2025 three-star defensive end from Miami (Fla.) Norland could not make it to UCF’s Friday night event but the Knights are still one of the top teams in his recruitment. The team to watch is Miami, though, as Desir visited over the weekend and it’s right down the road so the Hurricanes could stand out most.

Texas A&M, Illinois and Pitt are also up there.

Florida is one main program to watch for the 2026 high four-star safety from Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy and one big reason why the Gators stand out so much is because of Fort’s relationship with new position coach Will Harris.

During a visit last week, Fort had a phenomenal talk with Harris, who is also from California, and that could be huge when the 2026 standout is ready to make his decision.

Florida State, Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan, Oregon and others remain in the mix.

The 2026 four-star cornerback could not make the visit to LSU over the weekend but the word is that the Tigers are still very, very strong in his recruitment.

LSU is the standout program for the New Orleans (La.) Edna Karr but Florida State, Texas and Georgia are the other ones pursuing Hall the most.

After landing an offer from Florida State over the weekend, it could be very tough to beat the Seminoles for the Lyons (Ga.) Toombs County standout. Hayward grew up wanting to play for Florida State and now he has the opportunity plus he loved how “real” coach Mike Norvell was during the visit.

Tennessee, UCF and North Carolina also stand out but FSU should be watched in Hayward’s recruitment.

Because it was Miami, Hicks thought the campus would be busy and loud but he was pleasantly surprised that it was quiet and peaceful on the Coral Gables campus and that really stood out to the 2026 athlete from Carrollton, Ga.

Hicks also loved the facilities at Miami as Clemson, USC and LSU are the other standouts in his recruitment.

Oregon was already one of the front-runners among a long list of programs for the four-star running back from Belleville (Ill.) Althoff and after visiting Eugene this past weekend the Ducks could be moving higher. Hill loved coach Dan Lanning and how he runs the program, he hit it off with the other coaches and the four-star running back feels he fits Oregon’s style of play.

Georgia, Louisville, Illinois, Nebraska, Penn State, Kansas, Kansas State and many others remain in the mix.

UCF showed a ton of love and attention to Hudson during his visit Friday night with a bunch of other top recruits and that will keep the Knights among the front-runners for the Daytona Beach (Fla.) Mainland defensive tackle.

There will be serious competition here, though as Iowa, Iowa State, West Virginia, Indiana and Maryland are also heavily involved and now Oklahoma and Georgia are starting to show more interest.

The five-star USC quarterback commit was at Colorado over the weekend and although it’s a stretch to believe Lewis will end up there, some encouraging signs have emerged. The push from coach Deion Sanders and his staff is that Lewis is their guy for 2025, that offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur has NFL experience and that the scheme is going to have QB Shedeur Sanders prepared for the NFL.

USC still has the prolific five-star locked up but Georgia is the main competition right now.

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Illinois is making a serious run at Lovett and the attention to detail he received from the coaching staff over the weekend made a major impression since they told him they love his playing style and how physical and smart he is as a football player.

The Blue Island (Ill.) Eisenhower standout has Illinois high on the list but Missouri, Iowa, Tennessee, Purdue, Arizona State and Louisville are there as well.

Matthews is serious about playing baseball and football at his future destination – he’s only talking to the programs that will allow him to do both – so it was big over the weekend that the two Virginia Tech staffs got together to make a mock schedule of how that would look for him in Blacksburg.

That left a big impression on the Bridgewater (Va.) Turner Ashby three-star receiver as the Hokies along with North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Clemson and West Virginia stand out most.

Florida State is standing out most to the 2026 quarterback from Kingston (Ga.) Cass especially because every visit to Tallahassee he feels like a “top priority” so the Seminoles stand out in his recruitment.

West Virginia, Clemson and LSU are the three others to watch early on.

Oregon has emerged as one of the front-runners along with Utah in Mulitalo’s early recruitment especially after getting offered on his visit to Eugene over the weekend.

The attention paid to him by the Ducks’ coaching staff really stands out to the 2026 defensive end from Highland (Utah) Lone Peak and he loved how the coaches talked about the players and the team on his trip.

The three-star defensive end from Los Angeles (Calif.) King Drew had an outstanding visit to USC over the weekend and he’s bonded well with position coach Shaun Nua and the new defensive staff but the Trojans have not offered yet. If they’re looking to land Onyeagoro, USC better hurry up because he’s considering a spring commitment timetable.

Staying home would be preferable but Onyeagoro is considering other schools as well with Tennessee, Oregon, UCLA, Washington, Michigan, Arizona and Arizona State among the top options.

It was new UCF offensive coordinator Tim Harris Jr.’s first day on the job but Peterson still connected really well with him during a visit Friday night. For the Gainesville (Fla.) Buchholz receiver, getting around some of the new staff at UCF definitely made a big impression as Penn State and South Florida stand out most in his recruitment now.

He recently visited Florida as well and will be at FSU soon.

Weekend visits to UCF and Miami have given Sparks some early indicators of what Sparks is looking for most in schools as both in-state programs impressed the 2026 offensive lineman from Jacksonville (Fla.) Bolles. Coach Gus Malzahn and position coach Herb Hand made a big impression on Sparks plus he loves Hand’s mentality on running the ball.

At Miami, the technology used in the OL room by position coach Alex Mirabal is the same so that familiarity could be key moving forward.

LSU has not offered yet even after the Lutcher, La., defensive end visited over the weekend but if the Tigers do it would be really tough to beat them. Sterling loved the energy from the entire coaching staff as they were pushing local players to stay home and play in Baton Rouge.

Tulane and Cincinnati are the programs to watch now but if LSU offers, a commitment from Sterling might not be far behind.

Even though the players were not required to be in the facility, Verdon was struck by how many were hanging around and spending time together during his weekend visit to Iowa State and it’s drawing him to the Cyclones even more. Coach Matt Campbell and the staff stood out a lot.

But seeing the players so close was an even bigger draw to the Hamilton, Ohio defensive end who has Indiana, Purdue, Louisville, Wake Forest, Michigan and Pitt in his top group.

Miami, Ole Miss and Penn State are the three standouts for the four-star linebacker who had been committed to Michigan but now Florida State could be seriously entering the picture as well.

The Buford, Ga., standout loved coach Mike Norvell’s energy all weekend and the “realness” of linebackers coach Randy Shannon made the biggest impression. Shannon compared Walker to former FSU LB DJ Lundy and that was definitely a positive.

LSU could have the edge for the four-star receiver from Pearland (Texas) Shadow Creek especially after another great visit to Baton Rouge over the weekend. Watson was comfortable there, it felt like home and he loved the hospitality plus the talks with coach Brian Kelly.

Texas is battling hard as well with Missouri, Ole Miss and Kansas but LSU might be the team to watch.

The four-star tight end from Mukilteo (Wash.) Kamiak has been to Oregon numerous times so he’s getting more in-depth with the trainers and sports science people now in Eugene and it’s pushing the Ducks even higher up his list.

Florida State, Michigan, Auburn and Miami are others to watch but after numerous talks over long stretches with the coaches and others the Ducks are in great shape.

Iowa State and Minnesota are two programs to closely watch with the De Soto, Kan., three-star defensive end especially after visits to both schools over the weekend. Woleben loved his talks with coach PJ Fleck and position coach Winston DeLattiboudere III during his time with the Golden Gophers plus he liked how he’d fit in their scheme.

In Ames, Woleben felt like a top priority and so that’s why the Cyclones stand out.

The in-state prospect is still hearing “quite a bit” from Kansas but his recent visits definitely left a big impression.