On3 Elite Series: Five recruiting storylines to follow

Many of the nation’s top high school football prospects are in Nashville this week for the second-annual On3 Elite Series.

The purpose of the On3 Elite Series is to educate and inform high school athletes how to safely and successfully navigate the NIL era. On3 Elite will bring in former college and professional athletes, marketing executives, legal and financial experts, and other relevant voices to a private two-day event.

Players and their families begin arriving on Tuesday morning and there are a lot of recruiting storylines to keep tabs on with these blue-chip recruits.

Here are five things we are keeping an eye on.

No. 1 recruit headlines Elite Series

Belleville (Mich.) Five-Star Plus+ quarterback and LSU commit Bryce Underwood will attend. Back on Jan. 6 he chose the Tigers over Alabama, Michigan and many others. As LSU is in line to sign one of the top classes in the country, we look forward to hearing who Underwood is helping the staff recruit.

Are programs still trying to recruit Underwood? Is he listening at all? We’ll check into that as well.

David Sanders Jr. is the top uncommitted prospect in the country

Charlotte (NC) Providence Day School Five-Star Plus+ offensive tackle David Sanders Jr. arrives after spending time in Knoxville for Tennessee’s 865 Live summer recruiting extravaganza.

This was Sanders third time at Tennessee this calendar year as the Vols are prominent in a top six that also includes Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State and South Carolina. The reigning North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year also took a Mother’s Day Weekend official visit to Nebraska.

June will be a busy month for the 6-foot-7, 285-pound Sanders as he takes officials to Clemson, Georgia, Tennessee and Ohio State over the next four weekends while sandwiching Alabama between the Vols and Buckeyes.

Is there a pecking order for Sanders going into his final wave of visits? Who do his parents like? His sisters? This will be a family decision. Also, now that college football programs can distribute revenue, how does that element factor into Sanders’ decision?

We look forward to hearing those answers.

The potential flip watches

Birmingham (Ala.) Parker five-star cornerback Na’eem Offord has been a verbal to Ohio State since Feb. 4 but is keeping programs like Oregon warm where he recently visited. Auburn and Georgia are some of the regionally-based programs still working to be in the hunt.

Carrollton (Ga.) five-star quarterback Julian Lewis gave USC a verbal in August but Auburn, Colorado and Indiana are all still in the mix heading into June official visits. There’s been buzz around The Plains and optimism is also high around Boulder. Lewis’s best relationship is with the quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri in Bloomington. Lincoln Riley and his staff are obviously going to have to battle to keep the Georgia Gatorade Player of the Year in the fold.

Tampa Bay (Fla.) Tech five-star receiver Dallas Wilson gave Oregon his verbal back in January of 2023. Miami and Florida are a couple of the programs trying to change that.

We don’t expect Warner Robins (Ga.) edge Isaiah Gibson to sign with USC. Georgia is certainly in there. Tennessee is another pushing as well.

We’ll check on the status Ole Miss running back commit Akylin Dear , four-star athletes and Alabama verbal commits Darrell Johnson and Derick Smith along with quarterbacks Keelon Russell (SMU), Deuce Knight (Notre Dame) and KJ Lacey (Texas).

Blue-chip battles

The nation’s No. 1 receiver in Duncanville (Texas) Five-Star Plus+ Dakorien Moore recently decommitted from LSU and has upcoming officials set for Ohio State, Oregon and Texas. The Longhorns position looks strong so what will it take for the Buckeyes and Ducks to lure the electric playmaker away from the Lone Star State?

At one point in the spring Zephyrhills (Fla.) HIgh five-star plus cornerback DJ Pickett said LSU and Miami were at the top of the list. That was before return trips to Oregon and Florida. Georgia is also in this one.

LSU and Texas A&M have taken their rivalry onto the recruiting trail for the nation’s No. 1 ranked safety, Jonah Williams . Where does early favorite Oklahoma fit in? Oregon just got a visit. How much of a factor is baseball in Williams decision? Do those coaches have a say in what happens as well?

Other five-star recruitments include offensive tackles Ty Haywood and Michael Fasusi , receivers Kaliq Lockett , Caleb Cunningham and Jaime Ffrench , cornerbacks Dorian Brew and Dijon Lee and safety Trey McNutt . We’ll get a chance to sit down with each of those coveted prospects and get the pulse on where things stand.

We also look forward to tapping in with four-star receiver Vernell Brown III . Will he stay in-state or can Ohio State lure him away from Florida, Florida State and Miami? Is Georgia picking up steam as they battle Florida State for On300 linebacker Tavion Wallace ? Those two programs are also battling for another elite linebacker in Ty Jackson . We’ll get the latest on Peach State blue-chip receivers Travis Smith Jr. and CJ Wiley , and it looks like Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State have emerged for safety JaDon Blair . Does Elkhart (Ind.) four-star EDGE Mariyon Dye stay in Big Ten country or go the SEC route?

Live announcement from the event

Shreveport (La.) Calvary Baptist On300 running back James Simon will make a live announcement from the rooftop of the W Hotel looking over downtown Nashville. Alabama, LSU, Notre Dame, Texas and Texas A&M are the finalists.

On3 ranks the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Simon as the nation’s No. 8 running back. He is an every-down player who carried 192 times for 1,600 yards and 21 touchdowns as a junior with another 20 receptions for 214 yards and three scores. He had 25 touchdowns combined during a sophomore campaign that saw him evolve into a national recruit.

Texas is the On3 RPM favorite heading into the announcement.

Click here for the On3 Elite Series Full Roster

The post On3 Elite Series: Five recruiting storylines to follow appeared first on On3 .