Top-50 QB Air Noland cuts to seven schools, sets commitment date
Class of 2024 Fairburn (Ga.) Langston Hughes four-star quarterback Air Noland is down to seven schools and he knows his commitment date.
Noland’s final seven includes Texas A&M, Alabama, Arkansas, Clemson, Miami, Oregon, and Ohio State. The No. 45 overall prospect in the On3 Industry Rankings will announce his commitment on April 8.
Texas A&M cracks the top seven, which is not surprising given that the Aggies have been a major player for Noland for a few months now. They have hosted him twice since November and will get a third visit this Sunday, March 26.
Miami is the slight leader to land Noland’s commitment at this time in the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine with 19.8% odds. Texas A&M is close behind at 17.3% odds.
Noland spoke with On3’s Jeremy Johnson about his final seven and why each school is in play.
“I think right now is the perfect time to do it,” Noland told On3. “Mentally and emotionally, I’m feeling good about it. I think all these schools have done a great job recruiting me and being geniune when I came to their place and they welcomed me with open arms. That’s why I wanted to narrow things down and get myself ready and prepared for spring ball. These are the schools I wanted to narrow down to and I feel very comfortable doing that.”
Air Noland breaks down his contenders
Texas A&M: “Coach Jimbo Fisher, coach Dameyune Craig and Bobby Petrino do a great job of developing players. I think them being in the SEC plays a big role. I think coach Petrino has done great things and the NFL level and at the college level. He’s very quarterback orientated when it comes to his offensive system. Coach Fisher is a great coach that has done great things with quarterbacks in the past.”
Alabama: “With Alabama its the winning culture, the competition, the head coach, Nick Saban and the new offensive coordinator that they just hired. I think they’re in great hands. They do a great job developing players. It’s only two hours away. It’s a national championship mindset type of program.”
Oregon: “Coach (Dan) Lanning and coach (Will) Stein are kind of new at Oregon, but I think those two together are very impactful and they can impact the PAC 12 in a big way as far as coaching and developing players. They do a great job…I love Oregon as a whole. The fact that Bo Nix is leaving after this year, they don’t have a 2024 quarterback committed at this point so that plays a big role.”
Arkansas: “They’ve been recruiting me for a while. Coach Dan Enos recruited me when he was at Maryland. Coach (Sam) Pittman and coach (Jimmy) Smith have been recruiting me for a while. Those guys have shown a good amount of interest in me. I think those guys are very serious about me. Coach Pittman likes the maturitiy that I have in me and the will to go out and be a great player on every Friday. I love Arkansas. The people are all about Arkansas. There’s no professional team, so they’re all dialed in to the Razorbacks.”
Miami: “Those guys have been recruiting me for a while. Me and coach Mario Cristobal have a great relationship, we talk almost every day. He recruits like he’s a regular coach. It shows he’s intereted in me and who I am on and off the field.”
Clemson: “Coach Dabo Swinney does a heck of a job keeping that program consistent on a yearly basis. He’s not going anywhere. He’s all in with Clemson. Coach Garrett Riley just got hired. He recruited me a bit at TCU. He’s been recruiting the heck out of me since he got to Clemson. I think he did a great job developing Max Duggan into a Heisman finalist. Clemson is in great hands with him.”
Ohio State: “It speaks for itself. They get Heisman Trophy finalists almost every year. From a quarterback standpoint, they treat their quarterbacks like he’s in the NFL and they develop him like he’s in the NFL. I think the quarterback room at Ohio State has top tier competition. The guys there are really dialed in to Ohio State football and they love getting coached and developed.”