Simmons Scoop: Alabama trending for 5-Star Plus+ Cormani McClain

Heading into the Future 50, Florida was the team trending for Lakeland (Fla.) Five-Star Plus+ cornerback Cormani McClain, according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine.

That is no longer the case, in part due to a new prediction from On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons.

Simmons explained why he changed his pick on the most recent episode of Simmons Scoop.

“I’ve changed my pick from Florida to Alabama and really what that means is I feel Alabama is trending right now,” Simmons said. “I think they’re the team with the most momentum and the most buzz based on the intel I’ve gathered over the last couple of weeks.”

While he changed his pick, it was only made with 50% confidence. Simmons also made it clear this recruitment is not over.

“I think Florida very, very much still in this,” Simmons said. “Corey Raymond’s doing a great job with Cormani and the mother, the family in general. Then you have Mario Cristobal, Demarcus Van Dyke. Miami doing a great job as well. They had him on for an official visit, gained some momentum there also.”

McClain is the No. 2 overall recruit in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

He currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $307k. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.

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“With Travaris Robinson, Nick Saban, Bama’s player development, what they’re selling him on as far as opportunity, I like where Bama, based on my intel, sits for Cormani McClain at this point,” Simmons said.