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 classes #13-16
- 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:
- 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.
Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):
Wisconsin Badgers: The Badgers got a really good men’s recruiting class to go along with their incredible women’s class. Andrew Benson is a 53.6 breaststroker who is also on the cusp of 19-point in the 50 free. Jake Newmark (1:35.8/44.7) is going to be a key relay cog, and Jude Williams (15:07/4:21/1:37.7 free) is part of a deep distance class nationally.
Harvard Crimson: Harvard got one of the best pure distance types in the class in Arik Katz (15:01/4:23/1:37.9), along with a trio of breastrokers led by 54.9/1:57 Dylan Rhee. Notably, these ranks don’t include redshirt returnees, which could potentially be another huge source of additional NCAA points for Harvard.
Arizona State Sun Devils: Yet another class headed by a really good distance guy. Lleyton Plattel out of California is 15:03, 4:21.5 and 1:38.6. The Sun Devils also get Will Rose, a 20.1/44.4 sprinter who should jump into a fast-rising freestyle group in Tempe.
Minnesota Golden Gophers: Minnesota has a huge 12-person class with a ton of distance talent. Sawyer Grimes is 15:05/4:23.0/1:39.3 and follows a growing pipeline from the Sandpipers of Nevada to the Golden Gophers of Minnesota. The Gophers also get talent in fly (47.7/1:47.2 Kaiser Neverman was mined from neighboring Wisconsin) and breast (54.5/2:03.3 Antonio Octaviano). We don’t count returning redshirts in these ranks, but worth noting that the Gophers also add redshirt freshman Lucas Farrar, a 20.0/44.2 sprinter.
Missouri Tigers: Mizzou has a relatively small class, but 46.6 flyer Daniel Wilson is a huge add. He’s also 20.0 and 43.4 in free. 20.1/44.4 Charlie Bunn brings more sprint depth to Columbia.
Arizona Wildcats: The Wildcats are buoyed by UNLV transfer Ogi Maric, a 1:34.2/43.6 freestyler and 1:41.8 200 backstroker. There are a couple other 20-point sprinters, including Ryan Perham (20.3/44.9), Logan Skiles (20.7) and Matt Muaddi (20.3).
Florida State Seminoles: Bulgaria’s Yordan Yanchev should be a massive addition, with long course times of 1:49.5 and 3:50.2 in freestyle. Nebraska’s Rush Clark adds a 47.2 butterfly and Canadian David Quirie (51.7/1:52.3 long course free) should be another great relay piece.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: 1:48.7/50.6 long course freestyler Batur Unlu out of Turkey is the biggest get here for Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets also signed Nathan Hayes, a 1:44.6 backstroker.
Miami Redhawks: This is a pretty notable class for the Redhawks, who got a fast riser in Owen Blazer. The Pennsylvania product went from 49.6 to 47.9 in the 100 fly and 49.3 to 47.8 in the 100 back during high school season, and didn’t even get his finals 100 back swim in before the meet was canceled. Serbian import Uros Djokovic (1:50.6/50.9 long course free, 55.4 long course fly) should add a lot of relay value, too.
UNC Tar Heels: UNC mostly makes this list by virtue of a transfer from NCAA scoring diver Anton Down Jenkins of New Zealand. The former South Carolina Gamecock is probably an instant NCAA scorer. 47.2 flyer Boyd Poelke is another solid addition, and this class is at least 10 men deep.
I don’t understand how you don’t put FSU in the top 16 at the very minimum when you have elite level divers coming in, two of the best of international swimmers coming in, not to mention they are both two of the best distance swimmers in the class, two 1:46 200 flyers, one of them also go 47.2 100 fly. One guy who goes 48 both in the 100 fly and 100 Bk. Oh yah there’s a guy who goes 3:52 400 IM, 1:37 200 fr, and 4:25 500 fr. Oh yah that’s only half the class.
Because while they are fast, the internationals are not the best in the class. Wait til you see the rest of the ranks – there are some absolute ringers, both international and domestic.
Stop yer whining – get out there recruit and coach em up THEN maybe, just maybe FSU will get the R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
FSU deserves R.E.S.P.E.C.T. because they have gone from 31st, 21st, and to 14th from 2017-2019. I think the coaching staff is doing a heck of a job recruiting and developing as well.
Benson looks pretty legit for Wisconsin… 47.6/50.6/53.6/44.0 is some serious 2 IM potential, and a 1:35 2 free from a rolling start is a nice bonus
Benson is a great get and Wisconsin has a nice class coming in and with more legit boys already committed for next year. Yuri and his staff are making a world of difference to that program in just a few short years.
Thank you for recognizing Benson’s depth. Yuri and crew are really making strides on both sides. It’ll be fun to watch.
i don’t understand. The headline says ‘ranking’ but the list says ‘in no particular order’?
These are the honorable mentions outside of our top 16 – we’ll start our actual ranked classes on Monday.
For the heck of it, my top 16…based upon Swimswam’s list of committed athletes….doing my best Jared-channeling (top-end recruits, then HM, then BOTR, then # of athletes, etc.; without knowing much on specs of internationals and transfers). A fun way to pass the time…
(16) Texas A&M: 11 recruits, with BOTR Ribiero
(15) Tennessee: 13 recruits, with BOTR Lierz
(14) Indiana: 6 recruits, with BOTR Reich, DeWitt
(13) Auburn: 11 recruits, with BOTRs Bonson, Mikuta
(12) Ohio State: 12 recruits, with HM Conley, and BOTR Khouzam
(11) Notre Dame: 9 recruits, with HMs Faikish, Christianson, and BOTR Smith
(10) USC: 7 recruits, with #13 Dillard, and BOTRs Syrkin, Sobolowski
(9) Alabama: 8 recruits,… Read more »
Oh, I forgot and missed that Tomer Frankel will be at Indiana this fall, if all goes to plan. With that, perhaps move them to #7, then shift the others back…
One thing to note with Stanford and UT is that UT’s best recruits tend to overlap a lot with their best events, while Stanford’s is more spread out. For example, Foster crosses over with Heasley at the 400 IM, Carozza, Heasley, Tannenberger, and Johnston all share the 500, and Heasley and Johnston both swim the mile. Also all their recruits seem to be able to throw down a 200 free too lol.
Stanford, on the other hand, is much more diverse. Hu and Minakov as flyers, Dang as breastroke, and Sequeira as backstroke, etc.
You forgot mikkel gadgaard who’s coming from Overseas who goes sub 350 4 free scm,
Don’t forget Texas is getting three new divers next year. Two are their respective state high school champions, with one being the top dive recruit in the nation for his class. They are also getting a Canadian national teamer who is already a 2x medalist at WUGs from 2019. Along with Windle next year, Texas diving is looking to remain a powerhouse
Duperre, McCourt, and is the Canadian diver Paradis?
yes, Laurent Gosselin-Paradis
Looks good to me… NC State also has Alexander Norgaard coming in depending on if the deferred olympics makes him decide to take an extra year.
I agree with this list but would put UGA at #3.
They got #2 and #3 recruits, and also got two foreign power houses and an instate breastroker which they needed.
What about Will Hoogenboom for FSU?
Wisconsin has a transfer from auburn, Josh Dannhauser, who adds more depth in their already thriving distance group. Already a past NCAA qualifier.
Wouldn’t this transfer put them in the top 16?
We haven’t seen any official word on Dannhauser beyond when he entered the transfer portal (https://swimswam.com/josh-dannhauser-enters-ncaa-transfer-portal-after-two-seasons-with-auburn/), but we’re working to confirm if he has landed with Wisconsin and when he’d be rejoining the NCAA. I already had Wisconsin pretty close behind the #14/15/16 teams, so I’d say adding Dannhauser probably would put them into one of those three spots.
Forgot about 47/1:44 backstroker Anthony Rincon for Harvard.
Rincon was recruited with the class of 2019 – we typically don’t include deferred enrollments or redshirts in these ranks, like Farrar for Minnesota.
do you do these for the other divisions and NAIA? Lots of good swimming there. I see commitment announcements for other divisions on SS.