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October’s winners and losers on the recruiting trail
October saw a bunch of commitments and nearly 50 decommitments, which was inordinately high for this time of year. Here is a look at five programs that won the month – and three that lost it.
WINNERS
The transfer portal has been a major focus for coach Deion Sanders as he looks to rebuild Colorado’s roster but the Buffaloes really picked their spots in October and landed two major flips – and they’re still very much in the running for five-star quarterback Julian Lewis.
Four-star receiver Adrian Wilson flipped to Colorado from Arizona State. High three-star defensive tackle Christian Hudson flipped to the Buffaloes from UCF.
Colorado is once again a very competitive football team in the Big 12 and Lewis was on campus again last weekend as Sanders and his staff look to land another splash commitment since the five-star has been committed to USC for more than a year.
Georgia has a top-four recruiting class nationally – which is actually low for the Bulldogs compared to other years under coach Kirby Smart – but the Dawgs made up some good ground in October by landing three commitments.
Beating Auburn and Florida State for four-star running back Ousmane Kromah was important but finally sealing the pledge of five-star defensive lineman Elijah Griffin could be a game-changer in this class. Three-star linebacker Anthony Kruah flipped his commitment from North Carolina to Georgia and that should not go unnoticed, either.
Kentucky has had a miserable month on the football field with losses to Vanderbilt, Florida and Auburn with a game at Tennessee this weekend but recruiting has actually been pretty productive.
The Wildcats landed four pledges in the month with receiver Montavin Quisenberry flipping from West Virginia and tight end Mikkel Skinner flipping from Cincinnati as he could be a stellar addition to the class.
Three-star offensive lineman Jayden Clark along with three-star safety Dyllon Williams, a former Missouri pledge, added to Kentucky’s class that now sits at No. 20 in the 2025 rankings.
Losing high four-star quarterback Deuce Knight hurts, there’s no way around that, but the Irish didn’t sulk in a corner when the Lucedale (Miss.) George County standout flipped to Auburn. Instead, Notre Dame went out and flipped Clemson four-star quarterback commit Blake Hebert.
That was one big commit in October for the Irish and there were two others in in-state offensive lineman Cameron Herron, a former Iowa pledge, and high three-star safety Antavious Richardson, a former South Florida commitment.
Notre Dame was also hoping for a commitment from San Juan Capistrano (Calif.) JSerra Catholic’s Madden Faraimo in October. That didn’t happen as USC is making a significant push for him but the Irish are still right there in his recruitment.
On the field, it’s been a wildly frustrating month for USC as the Trojans lost to Minnesota, Penn State and Maryland – all by a touchdown or less. They bounced back last week against Rutgers in a 42-20 win and travel to Washington this weekend.
In recruiting, there was good news and none of it came from in-state prospects. The Trojans landed a commitment from four-star defensive tackle Floyd Boucard from Miami (Fla.) Central as he is a former Oklahoma pledge.
Three-star athlete Stephen Miller from Greensboro (Ga.) Greene County also committed – and he visited campus with four-star FSU defensive tackle commit Kevin Wynn, who’s also now looking at USC, Georgia and others. Massive four-star offensive tackle Aaron Dunn from Spanish Fork, Utah, also flipped his commitment from the Utes to USC as the Trojans keep looking to beef up along their lines.
LOSERS
It’s been a no good, very bad year for Florida State on the field and the month of October did the Seminoles no favors in recruiting, either.
Florida State landed commitments from offensive linemen Mario Nash Jr. and Daniel Pierre Louis but lost pledges from three four-star receivers in CJ Wiley, Daylan McCuthceon and Malik Clark. That is a ton of firepower to lose this late in the recruiting cycle.
Oh, and Florida State is 1-7 this season. Just hard to believe.
First-year coach Jeff Lebby is trying to build something special at Mississippi State. It’s been a struggle in a brutal SEC and October did him no favors.
The Bulldogs are 1-7, losers of seven straight after beating Eastern Kentucky, 56-7, in the season opener.
Mississippi State also had four decommitments in October and they were big ones as four-star JUCO defensive end Kevonte Henry flipped to Alabama, four-star offensive lineman Mario Nash went to Florida State, three-star linebacker Austin Howard backed off his pledge and three-star athlete Stephen Miller flipped to USC.
North Carolina had no decommitments in its 2025 class – until October. That’s when three-star tight ends Marshall Pritchett and Logan Farrell backed off their pledges as they committed to Alabama and Illinois, respectively.
That’s not all. The Tar Heels also suffered a decommitment from high three-star linebacker Anthony Kruah, who flipped to Georgia.
The Tar Heels have also lost four of their last five games and coach Mack Brown seemed to hint at retirement after a loss earlier this season to James Madison.
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