Pac-12 Football Recruiting Power Rankings, August 26

I’d be smiling if I was Herm Edwards too.

Just a week after landing their best recruit to date, the Arizona State Sun Devils landed one of their top targets, and the the nation’s No. 1 center from 247Sports, inEzra Dotson-Oyetade. The Sun Devils class is shaping up, and as such, they rocket to No. 3 in the rankings.

Let’s count down the class rankings by team, according to 247Sports.

1. Oregon Ducks — 262.82 points

Previous ranking: No. 1 (261.79)

They’re the cream of the crop until someone takes the throne from them. And fortunately for Ducks fans, the only team that seemingly can do that is USC, and they can only do that one way: Receive the commitment from the top overall prospect in Korey Foreman. To count it down, Oregon currently has the following top-ranked players from out of state:

5-star WR Troy Franklin — No. 2 overall player in California (No. 30 nationally)
4-star QB Ty Thompson — No. 1 overall player in Arizona (No. 40 nationally)
4-star OT Bram Walden — No. 2 overall player in Arizona (No. 89 nationally)
4-star WR Kyron Ware-Hudson — No. 12 overall player in California (No. 126 nationally)
4-star CB Jaylin Davies — No. 13 overall player in California (No. 132 nationally)
4-star WR Isaiah Brevard — No. 2 overall player in Mississippi (No. 144 nationally)
4-star TE Moliki Matavao — No. 1 overall player in Nevada (No. 149 nationally)
4-star APB Seven McGee — No. 1 overall player in New York (No. 169 nationally)
4-star TE Terrance Ferguson — No. 1 overall player in Colorado (No. 230 nationally)
4-star OG Jonah Miller — No. 5 overall player in Arizona
4-star C Jackson Light — No. 2 overall player in Utah
4-star JUCO CB Jadarrius Perkins — No. 6 overall JUCO transfer
3-star OLB Brandon Buckner — No. 10 overall player in Arizona

Oh, and they also have the best player in Oregon committed in 4-star ILB Keith Brown.

2. USC Trojans — 255.13

Previous ranking: No. 2 (255.23)

The Trojans haven’t had a commitment all month but that just shows how great of a class they already built as they can’t be caught for the second spot, and their only spot to move is into No. 1 if they get the pledge from Foreman.

3. Arizona State Sun Devils — 203.29

Previous ranking: No. 5 (195.04)

This is what the rankings are all about this week, the continuing pressure that the Sun Devils are putting on the other schools in the conference. A week after receiving their top-ranked player overall, ASU secured the services of 247Sports’ No. 1 center prospect in Dotson-Oyetade. Hailing from Garland, Texas and Lakeview Centennial High School, he’s a top-50 prospect from Texas and had nearly 30 offers.

Coach Edwards and Co. now have secured the services of highly-ranked players from Florida, Texas, California, Washington, Louisiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as well as doing a good job of keeping in-state players high on their board. The sky is the limit for Edwards and the Sun Devils, even if the ole ball coach is 66 years old, he’s still got it on the recruiting trail.

4. California Golden Bears — 202.72

Previous ranking: No. 3 (202.10)

No change in their class since the last time, just some recruit ranking shuffling sees their points adjust. They’ve received six commitments in the month of August and can further stay ahead of the Huskies with a few more pledges of undecided players that remain high on their board.

5. Washington Huskies — 195.41

Previous ranking: No. 4 (195.54)

Still just one of two teams with a 5-star recruit committed, Sam Huard’s place on the Huskies commitment list is the only thing keeping them from being surpassed by the team at No. 6. Washington’s 14 commitments include Huard and three more four-star recruits from Washington as it seems they’ve been unable to get some of their top out-of-state targets to pull the trigger on a UW pledge recently.

6. Arizona Wildcats — 171.01

Previous ranking: No. 6 (170.22)

Speaking of getting out-of-state players to commit, the Wildcats have not had that issue. They’ve recently picked up the commitment of 3-star RB James Bohls from California as he ranks as the state’s 74th-best player, according to 247. Head coach Kevin Sumlin now has pledges from Washington, Louisiana, California, Texas, Illinois and Utah as well as multiple highly-ranked players from Arizona on the board.

7. UCLA Bruins — 162.23

Previous ranking: No. 7 (162.03)

We’re not hitting the panic button on the Bruins, but we are hitting the ‘watch-out’ button. We saw UCLA get hot on the recruiting trail this summer as they received eight of their 12 total commits in May or June. They’ve since only seen two players pledge in July and none in August. Add in the fact that Chip Kelly just lost his starting left tackle to transfer, and yeah the ‘watch-out’ button may turn into the panic button soon.

8. Washington State Cougars — 156.28

Previous ranking: No. 8 (156.28)

It took Nick Rolovich awhile to get rolling, but once he did this summer, he picked up a ton of steam. But, with just one pledge this month, that steam has trickled off and we’re left with the Cougars likely falling even more if they don’t get hot again. Their highest-ranked recruit hails from powerhouse Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, as 3-star S Jaden Hicks is the state of Nevada’s No. 5 ranked player this circuit.

9. Colorado Buffaloes — 148.27

Previous ranking: No. 9 (137.85)

I feel like this paragraph starts the same way every week — the Buffs are trending in the right direction. Of all the schools in the bottom-half of these rankings, the Buffs had arguably the biggest hole to crawl out of once summer hit, but they’ve not only crawled out of it, they’ve picked themselves up and are starting to run.

Head coach Karl Dorrell and Co. have received all but two of their 14 commitments since June 1 and they most recently secured the services of 3-star athlete Ty Robinson from Eaglecrest High School in Aurora. He ranks as the state of Colorado’s No. 13 overall player, joining 3-star TE Erik Olson (No. 4 overall in Colorado) and 3-star WR Chase Penry (No. 11 overall in Colorado) as in-state talents to pledge. It’s safe to say that if they keep this up, they’ll crack the top half of these rankings by October.

10. Utah Utes — 122.23

Previous ranking: No. 10 (122.37)

The first of the teams on here with fewer than 10 commits, the Utes stand pat at eight total players committed for 2021. For a team that has to replace a ton of starting experience this season alone, it’s a bit concerning for head coach Kyle Whittingham and Co. at this point.

11. Stanford Cardinal — 110.34

Previous ranking: No. 11 (96.57)

The Cardinal picked up a pledge from a fourth safety, and fifth defensive back, when 3-star S Jaden Slocum from Alpharetta High School in Alpharetta, Georgia. He’s the third player to commit to Stanford from the state of Georgia but is also just the eighth player to pledge to the Cardinal this circuit. David Shaw and his coaches are likely less concerned than others down on the bottom of this list, but there still has to be a bit of a sinking feeling when players high on your boards start committing elsewhere.

12. Oregon State Beavers — 97.01

Previous ranking: No. 12 (95.12)

Losing their JUCO transfer in Alex Lemon absolutely hurt, but there is still room to climb out of and off the bottom for head coach Jonathan Smith and the Beavers. After all, as I closed with last week, they still do have the nation’s seventh-best all-purpose running back committed to hang their hats on if all else fails this circuit.