College football recruiting starts when a player first appears at middle school summer camps, through until they commit and finally ink their name during Signing Day. High school recruits are offered the luxury of telling their story in a variety of ways, including hyping up their own brand as they narrow their choice down to one.
Kayvon Thibodeaux is the top-ranked football recruit in the nation for the class of 2019. The 6-foot-5, 240 pound defensive end from Thousand Oaks, California narrowed his recruiting to his top five schools in an announcement on Friday.
The senior holds more than 40 offers including Michigan, Notre Dame, Texas, and Tennessee, but chose to announce his final choices with this video produced by Highlight Sports Productions:
Thibodeaux named Alabama, Florida State, LSU, Oregon and USC to his final list, although most believe the Crimson Tide and Seminoles are the front-runners to land the pass rushing specialist. NFL factories Alabama and Florida State currently hold a top-10 recruiting class for 2019, but landing Thibodeaux would push them over the edge.
Last season, Thibodeaux transferred from Dorsey High School, where he logged 17 sacks and a Los Angeles city title game as a sophomore, to Oaks Christian. He continued to impress by racking up 20 more sacks as a junior in 2017.
247 Sports composite grade for Thibodeaux as a player rated him a near perfect 0.9991. The star senior has already committed to playing in the 2019 U.S. Army All-American bowl.
This week, the nation's top recruits are competing at 'The Opening' camp, Nike's camp series that features drills and competitions pitting the best high school prospects in the country against each other. There, Thibodeaux is doing exactly what he's done year after year in his young career: dominate.
Expect the wait to be arduous, but the rewards to be great for the university that gets to watch Kayvon tear up the next level in their school colors.
