SAN ANTONIO – The plan at Saturday’s All-American Bowl is to have eight commitments – six from players in the game and two from a pair of 2024 standouts. Here is a breakdown of their recruitments and a commitment prediction on each.
Overview: Although it’s about a year until National Signing Day for the 2024 class, Capers seems ready to make his decision with Louisville, Georgia, Colorado, Miami and USC as his five finalists.
The Miami (Fla.) Columbus five-star linebacker will absolutely still be pursued after his commitment this weekend but it looks like the Cardinals are the favorite at this point. The new staff has come on for Capers and he loves the defensive system and how involved the linebackers are in it.
Prediction: Louisville
*****
Overview: Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Notre Dame are the four finalists for the four-star receiver from Chicago (Ill.) Simeon and while the Badgers do present an interesting option since he was committed to new coach Luke Fickell when he was at Cincinnati, it looks like the Illini have emerged as the favorite.
Elzy has talked highly of coach Bret Bielema and the early success he’s had in Champaign, plus the idea of staying in-state is alluring.
Prediction: Illinois
*****
Overview: Harrison-Pilot is ready to commit on Saturday and it’s down to TCU and Houston. His official visit to see the Horned Frogs went incredibly well, a lot of commits were there in Fort Worth and the offensive staff discussed how they developed star receiver Quentin Johnston. That’s a very compelling case.
On the other side, Harrison-Pilot is a Houston legacy as his dad played for the Cougars and he has a bunch of family in the area. That is also swaying his final decision.
Prediction: Houston
*****
Overview: The four-star tight end from Inglewood, Calif., has remained committed to Louisville since April but after the coaching change that sent Scott Satterfield to Cincinnati and brought in Jeff Brohm, Johnson took a step back to look at his recruitment again.
Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Oregon have emerged as the four contenders and after trips to all those schools except Cincinnati (he already knows the new coaching staff there well) the four-star is ready to close it down for good.
Prediction: Louisville
*****
Overview: Florida and Texas A&M are the front-runners for Jones but Houston is also making a strong push to land the massive three-star offensive lineman from New Orleans (La.) De La Salle. A long-standing previous relationship with coach Billy Napier and a lot of his assistants from their time at Louisiana should pay off here as the Gators have emerged as the front-runner. It would be a surprise if they didn’t win out.
Prediction: Florida
*****
Overview: After an earlier commitment to Oklahoma State, the four-star athlete from Waco (Texas) Connally backed off his pledge in late October but the Cowboys remain one of three contenders for him along with Texas and TCU. Both those Big 12 programs have a shot to land McDonald.
He has been playing cornerback this week at the All-American Bowl but could easily move to safety or maybe even outside linebacker in the years to come. His position versatility makes him super special and it looks like the Longhorns have the edge heading into his decision.
Prediction: Texas
*****
Overview: The former Arkansas State commit has seen his recruitment take off in recent months and now Auburn, Texas, Michigan and USC are in the running heading into his decision. The four-star cornerback from Mableton (Ga.) Pebblebrook has been highly complimentary of all four programs but it looks like Auburn has emerged as the clear leader heading into Saturday. His quickly-built relationship with new coach Hugh Freeze is a big reason why.
Prediction: Auburn
*****
Overview: Over the last few months, Ohio State and Georgia had been battling it out for the No. 1 safety in the 2024 class but now it’s Texas as the biggest threat to the Bulldogs. The Longhorns did not make Woodyard’s top list when it was released in December but over the last few weeks they have completely surged up his list as a top contender.
This is shaping up to be a decision between Georgia and Texas and it’s definitely interesting Woodyard has decided to announce his choice in San Antonio, about 80 miles from Austin. Still, it’s always very tough to beat the Dawgs for someone they want.
Prediction: Georgia
