Five high-profile recruitments that are two-team races

We’ve reached that time of year when offer listings begin to dwindle while the retention dominoes begin to fall. The situation is as old as recruiting itself and tends to result in a series of two-team races. The 2025 cycle has stayed true to history in this regard, as a handful of major national prospects have recently narrowed their focus to roughly two options.

Today, Rivals is a national recruiting analyst Rob Cassidy cuts through the noise and examines five recruitments that have essentially become two-team races, although some prospects have other programs on their lists as window dressing.

MORE CASSIDY: Recruitment rumor mill

Syracuse seems to be the obvious answer to Anthony’s recruiting conundrum, considering his father, Carmelo Anthonyhas a building named after him on the school’s campus. However, the fact that the program has stalled somewhat in recent years may have opened the door to other schools.

Auburn Technically, Anthony is on the list of finalists, but no one in the know expects the Tigers to be the pick come decision day. Instead, the Orange will try to hold back USCwhich was a serious boost for Anthony under the new head coach Eric Musselman. Anthony visited Los Angeles in late September and liked it so much that he added the Trojans to his list of finalists after the trip.

Still, Syracuse appears to be the frontrunner here, even if some USC smoke continues to blow.

Mingo has a long list of offers, however Virginia Tech And Penn State have emerged as the most likely landing spot for the New York-based guard. Notre Dame He used to be considered a serious player for Mingo, but on those days the sun seemed to have set.

Today, Penn State is considered the frontrunner, followed by Virginia Tech, which made a splash at Mingo this summer, and is a close second. There has been little news from Mingo’s camp recently, and the silence has added a little more intrigue to the four-star star’s impending announcement.

Recruiting Mullins feels absolutely massive Indianathat could use a dose of good recruiting news. After all, there are plenty of reasons to believe the Hoosiers are an option. A native of Indiana and from a part of the state where the program typically has recruiting success, Mullins is the head coach Mike Woodson prioritized the vaunted guard long before he became a major national prospect.

However, the Huskies, the two-time defending champions, have been on a bit of a recruiting spree lately and appear to be getting a lot of what they want down the stretch. Add the fact that Dan Hurley‘s powerful program secured a one-time Hoosier commit Liam McNeeley last cycle, and you have a recipe for some sort of fascinating grudge match.

North Carolina is also on Mullins’ list of finalists, but probably won’t be the choice.

Mullins will announce his college destination on Oct. 22 at a ceremony at his high school.

Peterson is considered Kansas lean, but USC holds the last visit worth mentioning. Technically, Ohio State remains alive in this case because he was included in Peterson’s self-published final three-man list, but no one sees the Buckeyes as a real threat to sign the five-star guard.

The Jayhawks were widely viewed as the solid leader heading into Peterson’s unofficial visit to USC on Oct. 12. Enthusiasm was limited after the trip, which can be seen as a positive or negative for both programs. Peterson had already been to USC for an official appearance in the past and still decided to return for an unofficial appearance in October as his Nov. 1 commitment announcement was approaching like a freight train. Most in grassroots football still expect KU to be the choice, but the late visit gives cause for a bit of pause.

First year Kentucky Head coach Mark Pope continues to gain momentum in Lexington. He’s already frustrated North Carolina fans once this cycle by landing at point guard Jasper Johnsonwho thought deeply about UNC before Pope took the reins of the Wildcat program.

Now the Tar Heels must be wary of losing another high-profile target to Kentucky, as UK and UNC appear to be the clear frontrunners to land a five-star forward Caleb Wilson. Wilson, a Georgia-based star, appears to be trending toward Big Blue Nation, but the Tar Heels don’t seem interested in waving the white flag just yet. Wilson last traveled to Chapel Hill in early October for a one-day unofficial visit, which apparently did little to ease the breakup Hubert Davis‘ program.

There’s no decision date set yet, but confidence is starting to radiate from Kentucky’s side.