Recruiting Notebook: Three Guys To Watch Ahead Of National Signing Day

While recruitment heats up for the 2024 class, the class of 2023 is quickly approaching National Signing Day. There are still a handful of student-athletes expected to sign on Feb. 1. 

Myles Libman – Pinnacle, WR

Myles had the opportunity to play in the US Army Bowl and had one of his highlights go viral. He says the experience was unlike any other and he had a lot of time to chat with student-athletes that are in a similar situation in their recruitment.

“It’s an honor to play with US Army across your chest,” Libman. “Just the relationships, the people you meet there, all the kids are really cool and they’re really humble.”

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Pinnacle wide receiver is just one week away from narrowing his top four programs down to one. Myles will be signing to either ASU, UofA, Columbia or Stanford. His older brother Marcus currently plays wide receiver at Columbia and Myles plans to make a visit to see him and the rest of the team this weekend. 

“It would be great at Columbia obviously getting a chance to play with my brother. It’ll just be just like playing at home.”

Stanford was the program that Myles was honing in on a few months back, before the coaching staff got flipped upside down. However, he says the new staff has made a push to show their continued interest. 

“At Stanford, they just got a new coaching staff and they’re a little more spread out, a little more spread offense than what they used to be. But now I’m getting really close with coach Osborn and coach Taylor and kind of knowing the offense they’re bringing in is a lot different than what they used to run…in a good way for receivers.”

Lastly, the Sun Devils and the Wildcats both draw the same appeal – an opportunity to stay close to home. 

Education is also a top priority for Myles. This year he took on additional AP classes in order to give himself as many options at the college level as possible. 

With a big decision on the line, Myles is also focussing on his final high school basketball season. As he reflected on his final high school football and basketball seasons, Libman pointed out a few moments that will stick with him forever. 

 

Duce Robinson – Pinnacle, WR/TE

2023 kicked off with a trip to Hawaii for an opportunity to play in the Polynesian Bowl. Duce made the trek to Oahu alongside Jackson Bowers (Mountain View) and Caleb Lomu (Highland).

Ahead of his trip across the Pacific, Duce had a pit stop in LA for an opportunity to workout with the Dodgers. 

Duce has expressed in interest in finding a way to play both baseball and football in college. He’s been honing in on his top four schools since before the 2022 high school football season began. As it stands, Georgia, Texas, Oregon and USC. 

Duce is set to put pen to paper on Feb. 1 National Signing Day but it’s also expected to hear his name called in the summer MLB Draft. 

Duce had 75 receptions for 1,439 yards and 13 TDs in the 2022 season. 

 

Ja’Kobi Lane – Red Mountain, WR

Ja’Kobi has been committed to the Trojans since August but chose not to put pen to paper on early signing day. With National Signing Day right around the corner and less action in the transfer portal, the assumption would be for Ja’Kobi to finally make things official with USC.

Lane has offers from 17 programs and has previously stated that Oregon, USC and Arizona State University are all schools he had an interest in. Before Ja’Kobi’s recruitment began, Oregon was his dream school but the Sun Devils have made a big push to recruit top in-state talent. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Lane flip for the Sun Devils. 

In the 2022 season, the 6-foot-4, 180-pound wide receiver posted 823 receiving yards with 11 receiving touchdowns.