Recruiting Fact or Fiction: Utah's Sneaky Class, Gamecocks on the Rise, Christian Bentancur

In today’s Fact or Fiction — Recruiting Edition — I look at three big recent topics from the recruiting trail and decide whether the statement is indeed FACT or if it’s FICTION.

1. Utah has the sneaky best class in 2023 so far.

Farrell’s take: FACT

I’ve never seen Utah put together a top 25 class, but they have now in arguably the most competitive recruiting landscape we have ever seen with NIL. It started kind of slowly but every commitment since Thanksgiving has been a four-star in my personal rankings. That’s seven straight commitments. Watch out for the Utes if recruiting keeps this pace.

2023 four-star cornerback Dijon Stanley from Granada Hills, CA (Granada Hills)

2. I like where the Gamecocks are headed over the Vols.

Farrell’s take: FICTION

But it’s close. The reason I bring this up is because I feel the Gamecocks are headed in the right direction under Shane Beamer but they have an issue — Georgia owns their division, Tennessee is better when healthy and had a better recruiting class and when divisions are gone the Vols are better equipped right now to compete. This is a closer debate than people think however.

Oct 22, 2022; Columbia, South Carolina, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer encourages the crowd against the Texas A&M Aggies in the second half at Williams-Brice Stadium.

3. TE Christian Bentacur will choose Ohio State.

Farrell’s take: FACT

This isn’t a slam dunk as the Illinois 2024 4 star has Ohio State, Clemson and Oregon as his final three heading into his Jan. 13 decision but logic tells me Ryan Day wins this one. Despite the local ties and the loss of OC and tight ends coach Kevin Wilson, the familiarity here is key. He’s been to Ohio State a half a dozen times and was blown away at the opener against Notre Dame. The Ducks got the last visit and wouldn’t be a stunner but give me OSU here.