Recruiting surprises: Florida, UCLA and Pitt among schools off to a nice start

College football programs are halfway through the busiest month on the recruiting calendar.

Schools are hosting camps, prospects are taking official visits and a flurry of commitments have landed over the past two-plus weeks.

Now that were more than halfway through June, lets examine the programs that have emerged as surprises in the 2026 recruiting cycle over the past two weeks.

Note: Recruiting rankings are all from the 247Sports Composite.

Advertisement UCLA A decade ago, the Bruins were a high-profile recruiting program under Jim Mora.

But that outlook changed dramatically under Chip Kelly, who was neither energetic nor enthusiastic about high school recruiting.

To make things more difficult, UCLA has never been an aggressive NIL spender.

Deshaun Foster, an assistant coach during Kellys tenure, took over the program early in 2024, and the Bruins became a lot more active on the recruiting trail .

For all the effort, though, UCLA still finished without a top-25 class and suffered some high-profile flips during the early signing period, which hurt.

There are still five and a half months until the early signing period, but the Bruins have shown some encouraging signs over the past two weeks.

UCLA has received commitments from two four-star offensive linemen, Johnnie Jones (No.

140 overall) and Micah Smith (No.

165).

That wouldnt be much to brag about for some of the nations high-end recruiting programs, but its notable for UCLA given what the Bruins have done on the trail over the past decade.

For proper perspective, the Bruins have signed just three top-200 prospects this decade: linebacker Damian Sellers (2020), safety Kamari Ramsey (2022) and quarterback Dante Moore (2023).

Sellers lasted two seasons with the Bruins before leaving the program.

Ramsey will start for USC this fall, and Moore is projected to start for Oregon.

So UCLA hasnt had the best recruiting track record lately, but it does hold commitments from five blue-chip prospects this cycle.

The Bruins signed just two blue-chip prospects last cycle.

If they actually sign Jones and Smith, it would be an especially encouraging development for a program that desperately needs to add more talent.

Jones and Smith are from Florida, and the Bruins also picked up commitments from two three-star Florida receivers on Monday (Xavier Stinson and Santana Carlos).

Advertisement Already, the Sunshine State has helped propel UCLA to 11th in the national recruiting rankings.

Cal In recent years, Cal has shifted its focus toward the transfer portal and away from high school recruiting, and the rankings have reflected that.

The Golden Bears have finished 70th (2025), 55th (2024) and 80th (2023) in the team rankings during that time.

But one of the bigger surprises on the trail this month came when Cal landed a pledge from four-star offensive lineman Tommy Tofi, a top-150 prospect.

Tofi, who plays for Archbishop Riordan in San Francisco, chose to stay local over interest from Oregon, Tennessee and Utah, among others.

It also benefited Cal that Tofis brother, John Jr., is a three-star athlete who signed with Cal in the 2025 recruiting cycle.

If Tofi signs with Cal, hed be the first top-150 prospect to do so since wide receiver J.

Michael Sturdivant in the 2021 cycle.

Sturdivant was the No.

145 overall player in that class.

The 2021 class, which ranked 29th nationally, is Justin Wilcoxs best at Cal by a considerable margin.

The Golden Bears have received commitments from three blue-chip prospects this cycle.

The last time they signed three or more was during that 2021 class.

In addition to Tofi, Cal has received verbals from 10 other players this month, including four-star running back Victor Santino, who plays for Bishop Montgomery in Torrance, Calif.

The Golden Bears class currently ranks 16th nationally.

Will it stay there? No, but itll be important to hold off recruiting juggernauts for players like Tofi, who took an official visit to Oregon last weekend.

Pitt With a couple of exceptions (both good and bad), the Panthers recruiting classes have generally hovered somewhere between 40th and 55th in the national rankings.

So, even though its only June, its a surprise to see Pitts class ranked 22nd nationally.

Advertisement Coach Pat Narduzzis program has not signed more than one blue-chip prospect in a single cycle since 2021.

The Panthers have landed commitments from three blue-chip prospects over the past two and a half weeks: four-star offensive lineman Dayjon Moore (from Texas), four-star running back Damon Ferguson (from Maryland) and four-star linebacker Reston Lehman (from Pennsylvania).

Pitt has added 13 commitments to its class this month, including the six highest-rated members of the group.

Like UCLA and Cal, Pitt isnt expected to finish as high as its currently ranked, but itll be interesting to see if it can improve its recent recruiting standard.

Stanford The Cardinal have an interim head coach, Frank Reich, in place for the 2025 season.

That sort of uncertainty is generally a killer on the recruiting trail.

Even with NIL becoming such a driving factor in recruitments, Stanford will always have a strong pull for prospects who really value academics and the strength of its degree.

Thats been evident this month because even though these recruits dont know who their head coach will be in 2026, the Cardinal have received eight commitments since the beginning of June, headlined by four-star athlete Ryelan Morris from Texas.

Stanford has also had some success finding talent in Arizona, landing commitments from three-star offensive lineman Jalayne Miller, who plays for Desert Edge in Goodyear, Ariz., and receiver Daylen Sharper, who plays for Brophy Prep in Phoenix.

Right now, Stanfords class ranks 25th nationally, and while itll be difficult to stay there, things could certainly be worse for a program that doesnt have a long-term head coach in place.

Florida Its not shocking to see the Gators make a jump this month.

Its more so the speed at which theyve made up ground.

Florida was 74th in the team rankings headed into the month and had just two commits.

Advertisement The Gators have picked up 10 commitments this month and now rank 23rd nationally.

Over the weekend, four-star defensive lineman JaReylan McCoy, who is the No.

121 overall player in the cycle, committed to Florida.

McCoy is one of four top-200 recruits who have pledged to the Gators and is one of 10 June commitments.

Florida fans wont be happy with the No.

23 overall class, so Billy Napier has more moves to make.

Hes still made some good steps this month.

Notable USC picked up a commitment from four-star linebacker Talanoa Ili, who played high school football in Southern California before moving to Hawaii recently.

The Trojans beat out crosstown rival UCLA for Ili, who is the No.

79 overall prospect in the country.

Ili is the eighth top-100 prospect in USCs class, which ranks No.

1 in the country.

Four-star running back DeZephen Walker committed to Oklahoma on Monday.

Walker is the No.

370 overall player in the cycle.

Four-star corner Caden Harris, a Tennessee native, was a bit of a feel-good story when he committed to Vanderbilt in late April.

Harris is the No.

85 player in the cycle and wouldve been the highest-rated signee for the Commodores in the modern recruiting era, which dates back to 2002.

But Harris flipped to Georgia over the weekend.

The Bulldogs rank fourth in the team rankings with an average player rating of 92.26.

(Photo of Billy Napier: James Gilbert / Getty Images).

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