You see Oregon trotting out five 5-stars in the 2026 class and everybody wants to crown them the Big Ten kings already. Fine, whaever. But I am watching the 2027 board and what the USC staff is doing in the summer dead period right now and it is genuinely terrifying for the rest of the conference. The crystal ball activity around the top uncommitted five-star prospects in the 2027 year is starting to trend our way in a way I have not seen since the Carroll years. Hearing from sources close to the program that multiple elite targets have gone silent in the last two weeks. That is the tell. Silent commits are real and they are happening.
The 247 composite for 2027 has us sitting solid but what the rankings do not capture is the positioning. We have the bagmen structure cleaner than anybody right now. The NIL deals are being built with performance bonuses that actually make sense for the long haul instead of just throwing cash at a kid and hoping he sticks. Meanwhile Oregon is burning through their NIL war chest on the 2026 class and I keep hearing their bagmen are getting nervous about how much they have tied up in one year. That is going to bite them when 2027 priority targets start looking at who has the deeper pockets for the next wave.
Do not sleep on what is happening behind the scenes right now. The 2027 five-star tracker is about to get a whole lot more interesting for us.