The rumor mill continues to churn with no sign of stopping as prospects in the class of 2025 announce their verbal commitments and spots on college rosters fill with haste.
Today, as he does each week, Rivals national analyst Rob Cassidy guides fans through the smoke of what may be to come in the form of his Rumor Mill column. This edition includes notes on Villanova, Louisville and BYU targets in addition to information that might be intriguing to fans of a handful of other programs.
Related: Ranking the contenders for four-star Dante Allen
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‘NOVA TRENDING TO LEGACY RECRUIT
Four-star guard Dante Allen has narrowed his college options to include just Villanova, Tennessee and Georgia. He’s set to announce his commitment on Wednesday, and it seems as though the Wildcats are trending in the right direction as we speed toward decision day. Of course nothing in recruiting is ever certain until papers are signed, but buzz concerning the four-star prospect possibly following the footsteps of his father, Villanova graduate Malik Allen, is beginning to get louder.
Georgia can be ruled out of the running almost completely at this juncture, as it seems as though the Bulldogs have gotten the hint to move on when it comes to recruiting Allen’s position. Meanwhile, buzz between the Volunteers and the Florida-based Allen doesn’t seem to be quite as loud as it was a few weeks ago. This, of course, leaves Kyle Neptune’s Wildcats as the team to watch. Neptune and company have earned that title by prioritizing Allen and courting him with enthusiasm for more than a year now.
The world will get to hear Allen’s decision straight from his mouth on Wednesday afternoon, but there seems to be a wave of optimism washing over the Philly area as we head down the final stretch.
DYBANTSA WATCH HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN
The weekend carried utmost importance in Provo, as No. 1-ranked prospect A.J. Dybantsa toured campus as part of his official visit to BYU and all eyes were on the mega-prospect as he made his rounds. The visit was the final trip on Dybantsa’s schedule and carried an added aura of importance based on the fact that BYU has been seen as the front-runner to land his pledge for the better part of two months now.
Then, there are the other options. Kansas State has been rumored to turn up the heat on the five-star’s wing’s recruitment as of late. Alabama and North Carolina are also seen as peripheral threats, but this weekend was supposed to be Cougars head coach Kevin Young’s opportunity to seal the deal with the most important recruit in BYU history. Whether or not Young was able to pull it off will be apparent soon enough.
The sooner a commitment date is established the better the vibes will be for BYU, which has long since made its recruiting pitch and discusses NIL details. The longer things drag on, the more dicey things could get for the Cougars, as watching Dybantsa slip away at the 11th hour would sting significantly.
KANSAS STILL LIKES WHERE IT STANDS WITH PETERSON
It’s not yet obvious how Darryn Peterson’s recruitment will end when he announces his college choice on Nov 1. So while Kansas felt like the leader prior to Peterson’s weekend trip to USC, there’s still something to be said for holding the final visit, which the Trojans seem to have captured in this case.
Sure, Peterson’s trip to Los Angeles for the Trojans’ football game with Penn State was of the unofficial variety, but it should be plenty to give the front-running Jayhawks some semblance of pause. Most in the grassroots world still expect KU to be the choice come Nov. 1, but if the Trojans are able to pull off a surprise recruiting win, it will almost certainly be due to Peterson’s late-process visit to LA.
DUKE, LOUISVILLE AND ARKANSAS TANGLED UP WITH PROFILE WINGS
Five-star prospects Nate Ament and Shelton Henderson are among the top small forwards in the country, and both remain uncommitted for the time being. The other thing the duo has in common is the fact that both Duke and Louisville remain involved with each.
That said, these dominoes seem ready to fall. It’s unlikely that the Blue Devils land both Ament and Henderson, so one of the two choosing Duke would almost certainly impact the other’s decision. Arkansas is seen as the most serious threat to snatch Ament away from Duke and would like to be the beneficiary if Henderson lands in Durham before Ament makes his choice.
Meanwhile, Louisville (and possibly Texas) stands to benefit if Ament makes the call for Duke before Henderson settles on a landing place.
There are no coincidences in recruiting after all, and the processes of Ament and Henderson seem to get more intensely intertwined with each passing week. As of now, Duke and Arkansas seem like the more likely landing places for Ament, leaving Henderson as the likely best case scenario for the Cardinals should things break correctly. What is beginning to look set-in-stone, however, is the fact that one of Duke, Louisville or Arkansas will be the odd man out when the music stops and the game of small forward musical chairs suddenly ends in the coming weeks.
