Major recruiting news broke on Thursday afternoon as Texas announced that Five-Star Plus+ cornerback commit John Meredith, the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2027 cycle, had reclassified into the 2026 cycle and will join the Longhorns this fall.
With Meredith departing the class of 2027, that led to a slight shift in the Rivals Industry Ranking. Long Beach Poly (Calif.) five-star Donte Wright is now the nation's No. 1 CB in the cycle.
The Miami commit has continued to see his stock rise ahead of a big senior campaign this fall. Last week, he was named the No. 4 overall prospect and top-ranked CB in the new Rivals300. He's now the No. 9 recruit in the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all major recruiting media companies.
Wright is also the industry ranking's No. 1 player in the state of California. The 6-foot-0.5, 175-pounder has long looked like one of the best athletes in all of high school football.
"I'm not trying to sound arrogant but I do think I deserved this," Wright told Rivals' Greg Biggins after learning about his rise in the new Rivals300. "I know how hard I've worked and this has been my goal since day one.

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One of the underrated aspects of college football recruiting is scouting which players have the best chance to develop. It's easy to look at an athlete's rating and pursue them based on that, but it's an entirely different story to identify a lower-profile talent and mold them into the four- or five-star recruit that they have a chance to be.
Penn State snagged a pair of recruits in recent weeks, four-star prospects David Tarawallie and Elijah Guertin, but those ratings weren't a consensus among all recruiting services. Rivals initially had them listed as three-star players, also excluding them from the prestigious Rivals300, a comprehensive list of the 300 best prospects in the nation.
Now, the trusted institution has given each player their fourth star and added both of them to the Rivals300. Tarawallie is flirting with the top half of the list at No. 168 and Guertin just barely made it at No. 298. The exciting piece of this for the Nittany Lions is that each player has another season of high school football to continue making a strong impression and climbing up the list.
With most of the team's top recruits off the board for the Class of 2027, a sure fire way to improve its standing nationally is to have players add stars or ascend lists like these. Let's see just how high Tarawallie and Guertin can climb before they set foot in Happy Valley next year.
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The summer couldn't be going much better for the Oregon Ducks on the recruiting trail. Multiple commitments have followed the end of the official visit season and boosted Oregon's class among the best in the nation.
Oregon has added six commitments since wrapping up official visits, including wideout Xavier Sabb, corner Hayden Stepp, and two-way star Tae Walden Jr.
Dan Lanning and the Ducks are on pace for a top-five recruiting class finish for the fifth straight year, with a couple of other commitments still on the way. Stars don't mean a ton once players hit the field, but the ratings of Oregon's 24 commits could allow the Ducks to push for the best class in the country once signing day rolls around this winter.
Rivals revealed its updated Rivals300 rankings on Monday, and several Oregon commits improved their placement, including one commit earning a fifth star. Here's a look at which players moved up and down in the new rankings.
5-star QB Will Mencl down to No. 14 (Previously No. 13)

Notre Dame inked the No. 2 class in the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings last cycle. Could it do it again this winter?
Coming out of official visit season, it sure looks that way. As of July 13, Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish do in fact have the No. 2 class in the 2027 cycle. On Monday, four Notre Dame commits were named five-stars in the updated Rivals300.
Looking at the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all major recruiting media companies, eight top-100 prospects are locked in with the Irish. The program has some elite hauls at multiple position groups.
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The headlining haul is on the offensive line. Five-star offensive tackle Oluwasemilore Olubobola, five-star interior offensive lineman Albert Simien and four-star IOL James Halter are among the top-100 recruits in the class.

Following an action-packed summer filled with camps, circuits and commitments, Rivals has released the latest Rivals300 rankings for the 2027 class.
This new update comes after Rivals’ Scouting and Rankings Team got another look at prospects during myriad offseason events. There are 28 new additions to the rankings and plenty others who made big jumps inside the top 300. There are also now 23 five-stars, five of which are new to the list of cream-of-the-crop recruits.
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Ultimately, the list will finish with 32 five-stars to match the first round of the NFL Draft.
As we kick off the new rankings release, here’s a countdown of the 23 five-stars in the class, as determined by Rivals:

Rivals has updated its recruiting rankings — the Rivals300 — for the 2027 cycle. Five prospects have obtained five-star status, one of whom is Harper Woods (Mich.) wide receiver Dakota Guerrant.
Already the No. 1 recruit in the state of Michigan, Guerrant continues to cement himself as one of the nation’s top overall prospects. The Oregon commit checks in at No. 22 overall is one of just three receivers to be named a five-star in Monday’s update.
The 6-foot-1.5, 200-pounder is coming off a huge junior season that saw him haul in 55 receptions and turn them into 1,074 yards and 17 touchdowns. He also plays defensive back and had 40 tackles, three interceptions and nine pass-breakups in 2025.
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He enters his senior season as one of the more feared players in the Midwest. He’ll also now take the field for the first time as a five-star recruit this fall. His Harper Woods team enters the 2026 campaign as the No. 24 team in Michigan, per the Rivals Composite Rankings.

Gibsonia (Pa.) Pine-Richland Rivals300 receiver Khalil Taylor will play his college football at Nebraska, announcing his commitment to head coach Matt Rhule and his staff on Monday.
The four-star Taylor chose the Huskers over his other top schools in Penn State, Colorado and Alabama.
Ranked by the Rivals Industry as the nation’s No. 17 receiver and No. 90 prospect overall, Taylor becomes commit No. 22 for the Huskers in the 2027 class. He becomes one of the jewels of this haul that previously ranked No. 20 in the land.
Nebraska got the last official visit from Taylor the weekend of June 19.
“Development, stable coaching staff and a quarterback that’s committed in my class that I’m able to work with my years there,” Taylor said of what he was looking for in a school.

Winona (Miss.) four-star running back Yoshawn Hudson is back on the market.
Just weeks after committing to Mississippi State in June, the Rivals300 prospect announced he has reopened his recruitment and will once again explore his options heading into his senior season.
Hudson, the No. 194 prospect in the Rivals300, said his focus now shifts to helping Winona compete for a championship while allowing his recruitment to develop naturally.
“My plan now is just looking forward to my senior season, balling out and trying to win a championship,” Hudson told Rivals. “That’s my main focus right now. I want to make the right decision for me and my family and for my future.”
Hudson committed to the Bulldogs in June after an official visit, but ultimately decided the situation was no longer the right fit.

Joakim Gouda had plans to make his decision on July 1. The elite four-star linebacker from Powder Springs (Ga.) McEachern left his official visit to Georgia with a different timeline in mind.
After spending the weekend in Athens, the No. 31 prospect in the Rivals300 shut down his recruitment and committed to the Bulldogs, giving Kirby Smart another major in-state win.
“Really what made me accelerate and be 100 percent committed to Georgia is what I’ve seen during the weekend,” Gouda told Rivals. “What they have shown me is that they’re elite in everything they do.”
Georgia checked every box.
“It’s close to home, great academics, great life after football, great exposure, great development, good NIL,” he said. “It’s like I know what I want, and Georgia has what I want. So it’s like, why do I need to go on the other visits?”