Though the late spring and summer months are a virtual wasteland for college football news, this is the exact time that the annual recruiting cycle starts to heat up.
December’s early signing period has sped the entire process up by placing more emphasis on building early relationships with recruits. Fall visits are still valuable, but summer is often where the difference is made. The next handful of months will be heavy on visits before an onslaught of commitments in late-June and July. The top of the 2026 recruiting rankings are sure to shift fast and furiously when the commitment dominos begin to drop, but recently they’ve bee stable enough to allow a deep dive into the current top 10 classes before they change too much.
Let’s evaluate whether the schools off to quick starts are here to stay at the top of the class by the time national signing day rolls around.
Total commits: 16 (10 Top247 prospects)
Everyone who follows recruiting probably has USC’s 2025 class in the back of their mind when evaluating the current recruiting cycle. The Trojans got off to a blazing-hot start last year, reeling in blue-chip prospects from around the country while gradually climbing the rankings to the upper echelon. Then things unraveled late in the summer, and as the early signing period approached, the Trojans lost four five-star commits. Two of those — defensive lineman Justus Terry and edge rusher Isaiah Gibson — were from the state of Georgia. In total, USC had nine four or five-star prospects from the southeastern United States decommit from its 2025 class.
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So there’s likely some surface hesitancy when evaluating USC’s staying power in 2026. This time around, though, the Trojans have focused on placing a fence around Southern California. Four of their six highest-rated commits play in and around Los Angeles. USC will have to work to retain five-star athlete Xavier Griffin, who stars at Gainesville (Georgia) High School, but the emphasis on California should give this top class the gas it needs to finish top-10, at the very least.
Especially since it could get even better.
“Their new general manager, Chad Bowden, has come out and said he thinks this 2026 crop is probably the best crop of Southern California players in the last two decades,” 247Sports national scouting analyst Greg Biggins said. “I haven’t researched that exact claim myself, but I do think this is probably one of the better years for talent in Southern California in a while.”
Verdict: Buy
Total commits: 12 (4 Top247 prospects)
Reports of Clemson’s demise were greatly exaggerated. Clemson has taken the momentum it built from its second ACC title in three seasons and its first College Football Playoff appearance since 2020 and parlayed into a strong spring on the recruiting trail.
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All four of the top-ranked prospects in Clemson’s 2026 class committed in the month of March. The Tigers are doing well in Florida, a key state within their umbrella, and always have an extremely talented crop of prospects to dip into in the nearby battleground state of North Carolina. Fans point to a dip in quarterback recruiting since signing No. 2 QB prospect Cade Klubnik in 2022 as a foreboding sign for the future, though.
With Klubnik entering his final last season, Clemson is an early favorite to repeat as ACC champs and make it back to the playoff. With those expectations, it should be able to maintain a strong start to its talent acquisition efforts.
Verdict: Buy
Total commits: 9 (7 Top247 prospects)
This one is about as cut and dry as it gets. The Tigers have had just one class finish outside of the top-10 since 2018. They’ve always had a strong presence in the recruiting sphere, and their efforts have only been boosted by a big investment into name, image and likeness efforts. LSU is ideally located in Louisiana, which perennially pumps out some of the top athletes in America.
In fact, all nine of LSU’s commits in the 2026 class either hail from Louisiana or from a state that borders Louisiana. That includes Hattiesburg, Mississippi’s Tristen Keys, the No. 1 wide receiver and No. 4 prospect nationally.
Verdict: Buy
Total commits: 9 (6 Top247 prospects)
Recruiting has never really been the issue for Texas A&M. The only time the Aggies have dipped outside of the top-10 in recent years was from 2023-24, the tumultuous final years of the Jimbo Fisher era. Even first-year coach Mike Elko was able to sign the No. 9 class in 2025. Texas A&M is right back in the thick of it a year later thanks in large part to the program’s national reach. The Aggies currently have three four stars committed from California and one each from New Jersey and Utah. There’s still a wide talent base in Texas to tap.
Verdict: Buy
Total commits: 13 (2 Top247 prospects)
Let’s get this out of the way: Kansas is not going to finish in the top 10. But top 25 is certainly on the table, and that would be huge for the Jayhawks. Their current class is buoyed by a solid in-state crop, including a pair of four-star commits in athlete JJ Dunigan and offensive tackle Kaden Snyder. Those high-profile early pledges have given Lance Leipold and his staff some early momentum in-state and in surrounding areas like Oklahoma and Iowa.
“This is probably one of the better years for in-state talent in Kansas,” Biggins said. “They’re building a new facility and a new stadium. I think there’s like a new energy there with Kansas. Do I think they’re going to finish in the top 10? No, but I do think they have a chance to have their best class in a long time.”
Verdict: Sell
Total commits: 8 (5 Top247 prospects)
Oregon is not only a lock to finish in the top-10, but it’s also got No. 1 upside. Few schools have recruited as well as the Ducks under coach Dan Lanning, who led Oregon to a Big Ten title in its first year with the conference and a first-round bye as the top overall seed in the College Football Playoff in the first year of the 12-team format. Oregon already has three top-50 prospects committed, each from a different state, and is right in the top group for many more. Sure, the Phil Knight money is a big boon, but the energy from Lanning and his staff makes the real difference.
“As a staff, they probably recruit harder than anybody else,” Biggins said. “It starts with Lanning at the top and then all their assistants, they out-recruit everybody. They don’t just have one coach assigned to an area. They’ll have like two or three coaches recruiting each top kid, so the kid is hearing from the head coach, his position coach, his area recruiter plus maybe a coordinator.”
Verdict: Buy
Total commits: 12 (0 Top247 prospects)
Like Kansas, Louisville’s lofty ranking is largely due to the volume of prospects already in its class. Not that the Cardinals lack in quality. They’ve done a great job in-state thus far, where they hold commitments from four of the top-10 prospects in Kentucky. Coach Jeff Brohm’s deep ties are paying off in that regard.
Though it’s hard to see Louisville ranking anywhere near this high come national signing day, the Cardinals do have plenty of recruiting upside in the modern era.
“[Recruits] who visit campus talk about these big Fortune 500-type companies that are all really invested in Louisville,” Biggins said. “Not just basketball but football now, too. The facilities are there. Everything is kind of set up. If they continue to win games, they should be strong.”
Verdict: Sell
Total commits: 9 (5 Top247 prospects)
Despite its modern success under coach James Franklin, Penn State has not had a top-10 recruiting finish since 2022 — the class that gave it stalwarts like Drew Allar, Nick Singleton and Abdul Carter. That should change this cycle, fresh off Penn State’s College Football Playoff debut. The Nittany Lions are placing their recruiting emphasis on Pennsylvania itself and branching out from there. Four of the top-10 prospects in Pennsylvania have committed to Penn State, and the Nittany Lions are viewed as the favorite for top-rated in-state product Joey O’Brien. Penn State also has Daniel Jennings, the No. 1 player in West Virginia, in its crop of 2026 recruits.
“I think Pennsylvania is a lowkey really strong state to start your pipeline,” Biggins said. “Penn State does well locally, for starters. The national reach and brand are strong, it’s a high-energy staff that recruits well and they’ve been winning on the fifield — it’s kind of a perfect recipe for why Penn State should always be top-10, top-15.”
Verdict: Buy
Total commits: 8 (2 Top247 prospects)
Tennessee takes a slow-burn approach to recruiting. The Vols rarely pressure a recruit into making an early commitment, which means that a lot of their movement comes late in the summer and into the fall, when prospects can take official visits to watch a game. So it’s a good sign that Tennessee, which is a traditional recruiting power, is off to such a good start.
Reeling in quarterback Faizon Brandon, the No. 1 prospect nationally, so early is huge, since he’s the type of guy that other players want to be around. Having such a prolific magnet should pay dividends when Tennessee starts its process of pushing.
Verdict: Buy
Total commits: 10 (1 Top247 prospects)
Illinois has built itself into a legitimate Big Ten contender under coach Bret Bielema, who has a proven track record of player development — especially on the defensive side of the ball. So, though recruiting does matter, Bielema does a great job with whatever talent he is able to amass, and he and his staff have done a good job of riding their breakout 10-win season into a fast start in recruiting.
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The Illini have already landed Ohio cornerback Victor Singleton, the No. 5 cornerback and No. 57 prospect nationally in the 2026 class, and a firm core of Illinois-based athletes.
Verdict: Sell
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