Ranking the 2020 Men’s NCAA Recruiting Classes: #13-16

See also:

• Women’s honorable mentions
• Women’s classes #13-16
• Women’s classes #9-12
• Women’s classes #5-8
• Women’s classes #1-4
• Men’s honorable mentions
• Men’s classes #9-12
• Men’s classes #5-8
• Men’s classes #1-4
• Individual recruit rankings – Girls final rankings (April 2020)
• Individual recruit rankings – Boys final rankings (April 2020)

We continue our spring recruiting series with a team-by-team look at the best recruiting classes entering the NCAA next season. The classes below are projected freshmen for the 2020-2021 season. Of course, the coronavirus pandemic presents a number of wrinkles to this analysis: some athletes didn’t get a senior-year taper meet. Some high-end recruits may opt to defer their enrollment for a year to prepare for the Tokyo Olympics. There’s also still the possibility that the 2020-2021 school year is delayed, along with NCAA sports. All things considered, these ranks are based on the 2020-2021 NCAA season happening, but as we usually view these recruiting classes over their projected four years of college swimming, a potential delay or cancellation of the upcoming season doesn’t have as big an impact on this analysis as it would seem.

A few important notes on our rankings:

• The rankings listed are based on our Class of 2020 Re-Rank from just last month. “HM” refers to our honorable mentions.
• Like most of our rankings, these placements are subjective. We base our team ranks on a number of factors: prospects’ incoming times are by far the main factor, but we also consider potential upside in the class, class size, relay impact and team needs filled. Greater weight is placed on known success in short course yards, so foreign swimmers are slightly devalued based on the difficulty in converting long course times to short course production.
• Transfers are included.
• For the full list of all verbally committed athletes, click here. A big thank-you to SwimSwam’s own Anne Lepesant for compiling that index – without it, rankings like these would be far less comprehensive.

#16: Texas A&M Aggies

• Top-tier additions: Vincent Ribeiro (TX – IM/breast), Alex Sanchez (TX – breast), Thomas Shomper (TX – back), David Oderinde (TX – free), Collin Fuchs (TX – free), Carter Nelson (IL – free), Elijah Sohn (TX – free), Kraig Bray (TX – free)
• The rest: Jerard Jacinto (Philippines – back), Max Hardt (TX – breast), Thad Dickerson (TX – IM), Kyle Sanchez ( – diving)

The Aggies didn’t get any top-20 type prospects, but this class is notable for just how much sprint depth A&M was able to stockpile. Here’s a quick look at just the sprint freestylers in the bunch:

• David Oderinde: 20.1/44.2
• Collin Fuchs: 20.7/44.2/1:38.1
• Carter Nelson: 20.4/44.7/1:38.9
• Kraig Bray: 20.2/44.8
• Elijah Sohn: 20.9/44.7/1:37.0

Obviously, each of those guys will need to take some steps forward to hit NCAA scoring level, but A&M is going to have no shortage of relay options to build on over the next four years. And they come in at a great time, with top sprinter Adam Koster out the door to graduation.

Probably the most immediate-impact addition is Vincent Ribeiro, a 1:46.8 IMer with very solid breaststrokes (54.6/1:59.0). He and 54.8/1:57.4 breaststroker Alex Sanchez should help fill the void of the graduated Benjamin Walker. Meanwhile Thomas Shomper has a very intriguing 1:45.7 200 backstroke that suggests he’s got room to come down from 49s in both the 100 back and 100 fly.

#15: Tennessee Volunteers

• Top-tier additions: Harrison Lierz (CO – back/IM), Jordan Tiffany (UT – fly), Will Jackson (TN – free), Jacob McDonald (OH – back/free), Alexander Milanovich (Canada – breast)
• The rest: Dain Ripol (VA – distance), Jack Gillespie (CA – fly), Jake Narvid (NJ – back), Joseph Jordan (TN – free), Micah Chambers (OK – free), Rafael Ponce de Leon (Peru/FL – distance), Thomas Horne (TN – fly), Cole Whitsett (PA – free), Joey Tepper (NJ – distance)

It’s a gigantic class for Tennessee, and centered on 200 specialists. Harrison Lierz is one of the better swimmers outside our top 20 nationally – he’s 1:43.4 in the 200 back and 47.3 in the 100 back and should have lots of early opportunities to contribute with top Volunteer backstroker Matthew Garcia graduating.

Utah’s Jordan Tiffany is a very similar swimmer, but in butterfly: he’s 1:44.2 in the 200 and 47.3 in the 100. Both Lierz and Tiffany could develop into very good 200 IMers, too.

Will Jackson is an in-state pickup who should immediately boost the 800 free relay with a 1:35.7 time out of high school. Tennessee graduated half its legs from SECs and already had two splits slower than Jackon’s best time – both graduated legs. Jackson is also a 44.8 sprint freestyler, and could perhaps swim up to the 500 (4:24.2). Also helping in that 500 should be Jacob McDonald (4:21.0), who is also a 1:46 backstroker.

Tennessee generally does very well with divers, and their press release said the 18-person class will include four unnamed divers. (Canadian platform standout Bryden Hattie wasn’t expected to enroll until next year, though if he’s a freshman this year, he’s a high-impact pickup).

Canadian breaststroker Alexander Milanovich is a 1:02.2 long course breaststroker who should at least be an excellent 50/100 guy. Then there’s a ton of developmental sprint depth, most notably 20.3/44.8 sprinter Joseph Jordan.

#14: Auburn Tigers

• Top-tier additions: Mikkel Gadgaard (Denmark – free), Michael Bonson (LA – free), Reid Mikuta (NC – breast), Sam Oliver (VA – distance)
• The rest: Alejandro Flores (WA – breast), Elliott Jones (TX – back), Evan McInerny (GA – fly), Jordan Nabor (AZ – back/free), Logan Tirheimer (FL – free), Peter Makin (VA – back), Ryan Husband (AR – free), Ty Wingfield (AR – free), Hunter Kebler (GA – diving)

A lot of really big recruiting classes coming in nationally on the men’s side. We’ve got 13 in this Auburn class, headed by long course 1:49.6 freestyler Mikkel Gadgaard of Denmark. Roughly converted to short course yards, he should be a 1:35-freestyler and perhaps a crossover 500 free/400 IM type guy. That meshes well with new training partner Michael Bonson, who is a Louisiana high schooler going 1:35.8 and 4:22.0 in freestyle.

Head coach Gary Taylor has a strong distance background, and he got plenty of rangy talent this time around, adding Virginia’s Sam Oliver (15:09 in the mile and 4:21.3 in the 500).

Reid Mikuta should bolster the breaststrokes – he’s 53.2 and 1:56.3 out of high school and should be an early contributor there. (He’s also 1:47.5 in the 200 IM).

In terms of relay-building, there are a couple of decent sprinters further down in the class: 20.2/44.4 Logan Tirheimer, 20.1/45.8 Ty Wingfield and 20.8/44.6/1:37.2 Ryan Husband. The past few classes are really showing how deep this class is nationally – almost every class has a few of these developmental sprint prospects coming in. But Auburn has generally done well with sprinters under its new staff, so keep an eye on these guys.

#13: Indiana Hoosiers

• Top-tier additions: Tomer Frankel (Israel – fly/free), Max Reich (NH – breast), Tristan Dewitt (IN – breast/IM), Jassen Yep (CA – breast)
• The rest: Gavin Wight (CA – free), Mac Boyle (TX – back), Logan Graham (TX – back)

At the top, IU went all-in on breaststrokers to support star fly/free prospect Tomer Frankel out of Israel.

First, Frankel: the international is a speedy 51.9 in long course fly and should be an immediate 45-second type or better in short course yards. After the success Indiana had with Brazilian flyer Vini Lanza, expectations should be high for Frankel. Frankel is also a 1:47.1 long course freestyler (roughly converts to 1:33.6), and should be a perfect addition to an IU 800 free relay that returns three young legs from Big Tens last year. Other notable times for Frankel: 49.2 in the long course 100 free and 2:02.0 in the long course 200 fly.

Now we’ll turn to the deep breaststroke group, which has been a relative strength of the Hoosier program for quite some time now. Maxwell Reich is the best two-distance prospect, at 54.4 and 1:56.3 out of high school. Jassen Yep (54.3/1:57.4) has a little more speed but a little slower 200, and Tristan Dewitt (54.9/1:59.6) is even more sprint-oriented, though he supplements with a 1:46 IM.

And, as with the classes above, IU also adds a developmental sprinter: 20.5/44.4 Gavin Wight out of California.