The Hotline is delighted to provide West Coast fans with a regular dive into the recruiting process through the eyes and ears of Brandon Huffman, the Seattle-based national recruiting editor for 247Sports. He submitted the following report on Aug. 28 …
Wonky calendar, explained
While Hawaii was the only western-based team to host a game on Week 0, the regular season begins with full force this weekend.
The August kickoff dates allow schools playing at home to host recruits even though the recruiting dead period doesn’t end until Sunday night.
Of course, there’s a catch.
Schools are allowed to host players for up to 48 hours before a home game or 48 hours after the game. That means games held on Thursday could have recruits on campus as early as Tuesday and as late as Saturday. Games on Friday allow for Wednesday through Sunday recruiting visits. And standard Saturday games create a window from Thursday until Monday.
But none of the three games scheduled for this Sunday or Monday are on western campuses — the host schools are South Carolina, Miami and North Carolina — so those days are moot.
With September comes the evaluation period, which lasts through November. It permits a maximum of 33 evaluation days for school visits, game visits, etc.
The early-signing period begins Dec. 3 and lasts three days, ending just before championship weekend, bowl announcements and the opening of the winter transfer portal. Any official visits to campuses must conclude by Nov. 30.
Got all that?
This weekend also marks the end of the longest recruiting dead period in recent memory, with the exception of the COVID summer.
It began June 22, meaning recruits haven’t been able to visit campuses for more than two months.
But with the games returning this weekend, so will the visits.
Where the ’26 class stands
The majority of recruiting for the high school class of 2026 is complete. Every four- and five-star prospect in the West has announced a commitment.
What now? There may be some late flips in advance of the early-signing period. But late-stage changes have been minimized with the onset of revenue sharing and financial deals that are consummated prior to commitments.
If there’s one recruitment to watch, it involves the No. 1 prospect in California, quarterback Ryder Lyons of Folsom High School outside Sacramento.
Lyons committed to Brigham Young in June, and there’s no indication he’s waffling. But with Lyons planning to serve a one-year church mission beginning this winter, schools remain open to him.
That said, it’s difficult to see the process ending any way other than Lyons signing with the Cougars.
Theoretically, players could sign in December and then leave in January via the transfer portal without having their eligibility impacted.
That’s essentially what happened with Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who committed in July 2024, flipped to Oregon on signing day in December, suited up for the Ducks in the Rose Bowl and was in the transfer portal by Jan. 3. He arrived in Berkeley three days later.
And it worked out masterfully for Sagapolutele. He was named the Bears’ starter for their season opener against Oregon State this weekend.
Could that happen again? In this day and age, anything is possible.
What’s the focus?
The attention this fall will be on the current high school juniors and, in some cases, sophomores.
With a recent uptick in players reclassifying, schools know which sophomores may be candidates to jump one academic year and enroll in college — and collect a paycheck — sooner than later.
But the main focus for recruiters will be on the juniors, and that includes game-day visits and in-person evaluations at their high school games.
The junior year is crucial in the evaluation process, and a number of states have new No. 1 prospects among the senior class — the players who used their junior year as a catapult.
Coaches and personnel staffs will spend ample time watching the juniors this fall while keeping an eye on the sophomores and, yes, even the freshmen.
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