One of the most highly sought after recruits in the nation is set to announce where he'll be playing his college football next week! Five star running back Akylin Dear from Quitman, Mississippi let the world know that he would be committing on August 20th a while back, but gave us some clarity as to his final few schools in the mix as of this Thursday.
According to Hayes Fawcett of On3 Sports, Akylin Dear has officially narrowed down his choices of school down to Alabama, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State. The 2025 five star is one of the highest remaining recruits left to commit, so this decision could have a huge impact on final team class rankings for next spring.
Akylin Dear has garnered nearly 30 FBS scholarship offers over the years, raking in interest from top schools around the country like Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, and more. Why so much interest in this elite playmaker? Let's dive in and see if we can predict where he's going to land while we're at it.
Akylin Dear, Five Star Running Back
Akylin Dear was already considered one of the best running backs in the nation coming into this past season as a consensus Top 300 player in the country by all the major recruiting services, but then he went off like never before.
As a junior, Dear tallied over 2,000 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns as he carried Quitman to the Mississippi high school football state quarterfinals. Throughout that dominant journey Dear displayed extremely special athleticism as documented by Reel Analytics, a company that specializes in verified on-field athletic measurements. In fact, Dear played so well, that he posted the highest in-game athletic score in the nation among all 2025 recruiting class running backs.
This verified athleticism shouldn't surprise anyone who has seen Dear play. He's a track star with excellent balance, burst, and long speed to finish when he gets to the second and third levels of defenses. Wherever he lands Dear will make his physical presence felt as one of the best athletes on the team immediately. But where will he end up committing?
Dear actually committed and decommitted to Ole Miss earlier this year. He chose Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin in March immediately following an in-person visit to Oxford this spring. But then he chose to decommit near the end of June after his official visits schedule concluded. Since that time Dear has gone out of his way to visit yet again with Alabama for another unofficial, leading many to believe he's going to be joining Kalen DeBoer and the Crimson Tide.
Having visited with Alabama just as often as he has Ole Miss over the past two years and the recent point of contact being with DeBoer, it's likely he ends up committing to Alabama. However, Lane Kiffin's recent track record of pumping up running back production as soon as they land on campus has to be rather tantalizing. And while Mississippi State technically has a hat on the table, there's really no reason to believe they're actually seriously in the mix. There's been very little documented traction with Starkville throughout Dear's recruitment.
Related: Three potential Alabama Crimson Tide breakout players for the 2024 college football season
We'll be back with more on Akylin Dear soon after he commits. Be looking for more College Football coverage here at A to Z Sports all year long! Follow me (@FF_TravisM) and A to Z Sports (@AtoZSportsNFL) on X for all the latest football news!
And if you want to watch some of the plays that have made Akylin Dear a five star college football recruit just check out his junior season highlights video from below!
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