The FCS recruiting picture is going from foggy to a tad bit more in focus, and we at HERO Sports figured we'd begin taking a look at the classes around the leagues.
The Big Sky Conference traditionally receives high school commitments later, as a collective, than many conferences in the FCS "Nation." Below, we have team rankings based on we've seen as of Oct. 21, and a Top 20 ranking of the Big Sky recruits … and below that? The list of all high school commitments we have been able to verify to Big Sky schools, including the most recent ones we've been able to verify — like UC Davis' slew of talent the Aggies have attracted in the past few week or so. Trust us, many more are coming.
Next up? Other conferences, and then the national rankings before around Nov. 10.
[divider]MORE FCS FOOTBALL:
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RANKINGS: MVFC Recruiting Rankings (Sept. 2019)
RANKINGS: CAA Recruiing Rankings (Sept. 2019)
Ah yes, the team rankings.
So what is this "top third of the Big Sky" based on so far? Well, numbers of recruits on board (see the complete lists of Big Sky recruits below the Top 20 players ranking), plus what offers did these recruits have before they committed? Now … this is still super-duper early, and there are several programs that recruit "later" in the cycle because their hotbeds are a bit different (Weber State is a power that would qualify as one, and "ahem", Montana … obviously very strong programs.ranking is only "half-mast").
BIG SKY TEAM TOP 4 RANKING (as of OCT. 21)
1. UC Davis
2. Montana St.
3. Eastern Wash
4. Montana[divider]
BIG SKY TOP 20 COMMITMENTS (as of Oct. 21)
NOTE: These high school recruits are ranked by how many other college options these commitments had, and who those offers came from. This is NOT using the star system from any of the recruiting services (never will).
| RK | FCS TEAM | POS | PROSPECT | HOMETOWN | OTHER D-1 OPTIONS |
| 1 | MONTANA STATE | CB | Max Lenzy | Portland, OR | Oregon, Utah St., Navy, 5 FCS |
| 2 | UC DAVIS | TE | Joshua Gale | Gilbert, AZ | 2 FBS. 9 FCS |
| 3 | CAL POLY | OL | Kyle Christensen | Auburn, CA | Oregon St., Nevada, USD, UC Davis |
| 4 | MONTANA STATE | DB | Miles Jackson | Portland, OR | Army, 7 FCS offers |
| 5 | EASTERN WASH. | WR | Efton Chism | Monroe, WA | Air Force, 6 FCS offers |
| 6 | UC DAVIS | RB | Jaalen Rening | Visalia, CA | 2 FBS, 4 FCS |
| 7 | SACRAMENTO ST | WR | Jared Gipson | Stockton, CA | San Jose St., 6 FCS offers |
| 8 | EASTERN WASH. | OL | Wyatt Hansen | Kent, WA | 8 FCS offers |
| 9 | UC DAVIS | WR | C.J. Hutton | Folsom, CA | 2 FBS, 4 FCS |
| 10 | UC DAVIS | LB | Teddye Buchanan | San Francisco, CA | 2 FBS, 3 FCS |
| 11 | EASTERN WASH. | DB | Brent VanderVeen | Sebro Woolley, WA | Navy, Air Force, Georgetown |
| 12 | MONTANA STATE | LB | Aidan Parks | Chico, CA | Nevada, UNLV, UC Davis |
| 13 | MONTANA STATE | WR | Charles Brown | Arlington, TX | 6 FCS offers |
| 14 | EASTERN WASH. | QB | Shane Jennings | Gooding, ID | Utah St., Idaho, Idaho St. |
| 15 | UC DAVIS | CB | Kamdan Hightower | Scottsdale, AZ | Army, NAU, Abilene Chr. |
| 16 | MONTANA STATE | OL | Rush Reimer | Camas, WA | Eastern Wash., Idaho, No. Colorado |
| 17 | UC DAVIS | ATH | Julian Alessi | Palos Verdes, CA | San Diego, Mont. St., Idaho, |
| 18 | NORTHERN ARIZ. | OL | Michael Flood | Maricopa, AZ | UC Davis, Georgetown |
| 19 | CAL POLY | QB | Logan Fife | Tracy, CA | Cornell, Columbia |
| 20 | MONTANA STATE | WR | Aidan Garrigan | Magnolia, TX | Columbia, Brown |
NOTE: These commitments are not made public by the schools, this is a grassroots effort to try to collect recruiting news through various means. There's always the chance one or two players have slipped through, so hit me up on Twitter @BrianMacWriter if that's the case. [divider]
THE LIST BY BIG SKY SCHOOL (as of Oct. 20)
| FCS TEAM | POS | PROSPECT | HOMETOWN | OTHER D-1 OPTIONS |
| CAL POLY | QB | Logan Fife | Tracy, CA | Cornell, Columbia |
| CAL POLY | OL | Kyle Christensen | Auburn, CA | Oregon St., Nevada, USD, UC Davis |
| EASTERN WASH. | WR | Efton Chism | Monroe, WA | Air Force, 6 FCS offers |
| EASTERN WASH. | OL | Wyatt Hansen | Kent, WA | 8 FCS offers |
| EASTERN WASH. | DB | Kameron Lane | Benicia, CA | None reported |
| EASTERN WASH. | QB | Shane Jennings | Gooding, ID | Utah St., Idaho, Idaho St. |
| EASTERN WASH. | DB | Brent VanderVeen | Sebro Woolley, WA | Navy, Air Force, Georgetown |
| EASTERN WASH. | TE | Jett Carpenter | Medford, OR | None reported |
| MONTANA | QB | Carson Rostad | Hamilton, MT | None reported |
| MONTANA | OL | Brandon Casey | Sandpoint, ID | None reported |
| MONTANA | OL | Journey Grimsrud | Worden, MT | None reported |
| MONTANA | WR | Drew Deck | Kalispell, MT | None reported |
| MONTANA | ATH | Jaxson Lee | Missoula, MT | Montana State |
| MONTANA STATE | QB | Grady Robison | Sammamish, WA | Northern Colorado |
| MONTANA STATE | OL | Rush Reimer | Camas, WA | Eastern Wash., Idaho, No. Colorado |
| MONTANA STATE | QB | Tommy Mellott | Butte, MT | Montana |
| MONTANA STATE | LB | McCade O'Reilly | Bozeman, MT | Montana |
| MONTANA STATE | CB | Max Lenzy | Portland, OR | Oregon, Utah St., Navy, 5 FCS |
| MONTANA STATE | LB | Aidan Parks | Chico, CA | Nevada, UNLV, UC Davis |
| MONTANA STATE | DL | Trey Yates | Adams, NE | None reported |
| MONTANA STATE | DL | Aaron Richards | Butte, MT | None reported |
| MONTANA STATE | DL | Sebastian Valdez | San Diego, CA | San Diego |
| MONTANA STATE | OL | Conor Reitler | Billings, MT | None reported |
| MONTANA STATE | WR | Charles Brown | Arlington, TX | Cent. Ark., UIW, Abilene, Southern U., Ill. St. |
| MONTANA STATE | DB | Connor Ryan | Billings, MT | None reported |
| MONTANA STATE | WR | Aidan Garrigan | Magnolia, TX | Columbia, Brown |
| MONTANA STATE | P | Bryce Leighton | Camas, WA | None reported |
| MONTANA STATE | DB | Miles Jackson | Portland, OR | Army, 7 FCS offers |
| NORTHERN ARIZ. | OL | Michael Flood | Maricopa, AZ | UC Davis, Georgetown |
| SACRAMENTO STATE | WR | Devin Gandy | Victorville, CA | None reported |
| SACRAMENTO STATE | WR | Jared Gipson | Stockton, CA | San Jose St., 6 FCS offers |
| UC DAVIS | QB | Grant Harper | Moraga, CA | Montana State |
| UC DAVIS | ATH | Lan Larison | Caldwell, ID | Idaho |
| UC DAVIS | WR | C.J. Hutton | Folsom, CA | New Mex., Air Force, Idaho St., UND, Sac. State |
| UC DAVIS | RB | Jaalen Rening | Visalia, CA | 2 FBS, 4 FCS |
| UC DAVIS | DB | Kavir Bains | San Jose, CA | William & Mary |
| UC DAVIS | TE | Joshua Gale | Gilbert, AZ | 2 FBS. 9 FCS |
| UC DAVIS | LB | Teddye Buchanan | San Francisco, CA | 2 FBS, 3 FCS |
| UC DAVIS | OL | Adrian Tejeda | Long Beach, CA | Yale, Arkansas Pine Bluff |
| UC DAVIS | CB | Kamdan Hightower | Scottsdale, AZ | Army, NAU, Abilene Chr. |
| UC DAVIS | ATH | Julian Alessi | Palos Verdes, CA | San Diego, Mont. St., Idaho |
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