On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine: New favorite for Francis Mauigoa

Tennessee has not been in the hunt for very long with Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy five-star offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa.

But what the Volunteers lack in time spent recruiting Mauigoa, they have made up for with a successful recruiting strategy.

Mauigoa made his first visit to Knoxville, Tenn., during Memorial Day Weekend and he came away really impressed.

“Tennessee came out with a different vibe,” Mauigoa told On3. “It was my first time there and they came out hard and strong. They showed me a lot and it was so unexpected.”

And now, On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons has logged a prediction for Mauigoa to Tennessee.

The prediction has helped push the Volunteers as the favorite for Mauigoa in the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine. Tennessee now has a 60.4% chance of landing Mauigoa, ahead of USC at 34.7%.

One of the key factors in Tennessee’s pitch has been Long Beach (Calif.) Long Beach Poly five-star quarterback Nico Iamaleava. Iamaleava and Mauigoa have really connected on the recruiting trail, and Mauigoa has said Iamaleava is messaging him every day about Tennessee.

He will take an official visit later this month and Iamaleava — who was also in Knoxville this past weekend — will be there too.

Mauigoa’s expectations will be high after a great first visit.

“They did a hell of a job with the visit,” Mauigoa said. “It was fun and they showed me a lot. The visit went great, it was all unique, and I felt the family vibe.”

RPM was released to the public in December. The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college. 

It factors in machine learning, social sentiment, visits and historical trends. However, expert predictions are still a big piece of the RPM equation.