Three-Point Stance: 2025 standouts, Justin Scott, FCS upsets

Rivals national recruiting analyst Clint Cosgrove has thoughts on several 2025 prospects who debuted in the Rivals250, the latest on five-star Justin Scott and Power Five programs that should be on upset alert against FCS opponents this season.

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The Geneva (Ill.) standout has been phenomenal this off-season which included a big performance over the weekend at the OT7 7-on-7 tournament in Arizona. Taylor was impressive during his sophomore season but it has been the off-season where we have seen tremendous gains leading to his debut as the No. 17 player in the 2025 class.

Notre Dame was the most recent team to offer a scholarship and look for Taylor's recruitment to take on a national feel sooner rather than later.

Graham is a special talent who is capable of changing the game in all three phases. He can cover with the best of them and is a touchdown waiting to happen with the ball in his hands.

Michigan, Michigan State, Tennessee, Ohio State and Wisconsin are just a few of the schools to offer the Detroit (Mich.) Cass Tech standout who recently made his debut as the No. 60 prospect overall.

Lowe's recruitment saw an epic rise when Ohio State offered the offensive tackle on Jan. 27. The following week saw additional offers from Michigan State, Michigan, West Virginia and Penn State putting Lowe's offer total at 14.

The Toledo (Ohio) Whitmer standout has incredible physical gifts and his debut as the No. 98 prospect in the country could only be the beginning of a recruitment that is likely to become national in the coming months.

Jackson was just on the brink of making the initial Rivals100 for the 2025 class. A few months later the talented running back makes his debut as the No. 141 player overall in the initial Rivals250 for the 2025 class. Jackson is dynamic with the ball in his hands and has the speed to hit the home run.

Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State, Kentucky, Pitt and Wisconsin are among the early offers for the Cleveland native.

The five-star and No. 1 overall defensive tackle in the 2024 class has seen some twists and turns to his recruitment after originally announcing a commitment date of Jan 31, 2022.

Justin Scott had previously released a top eight of Miami, Michigan, USC, Alabama, Notre Dame, Oregon and Ohio State prior to the original commitment date announcement. Although Georgia was high on his list at that time, the Bulldogs had yet to offer at that time and many speculated the Chicago (Ill.) St. Ignatius standout would be ending his recruitment early with a pledge to Notre Dame or Ohio State.

Georgia then entered the mix with an offer, and along with Ohio State, the Bulldogs have become one of two official visits Scott currently has on the books. Notre Dame remains in the mix and will likely receive an official from Scott at some point, but a recruitment that was once likely to conclude before the new year now appears to be one that could be highly contested until the end of summer at the earliest.

This could be any team's recruitment to win, but I expect Georgia, Ohio State, Notre Dame and potentially Alabama to be the last ones standing here.

The 2021 season saw 12 FCS teams beat FBS opponents with four of those victories coming against Power Five teams. The 2022 season saw an additional eight FCS wins over FBS programs but only one of them came over a Power Five opponent.

There are currently more than 100 FCS vs. FBS matchups scheduled for the 2023 season and recent history tells us that there could be some serious upsets brewing. Here is a way too early look at four Power Five program that should be on FCS upset alert in 2023.

Elon at Wake Forest - Elon is coming off its fourth FCS playoff appearance in program history and while Wake Forest has seen an incredible rise under head coach Dave Clawson, these intra-state FBS/FCS early season matchups can often end up closer than the experts expect. Both teams will be reloading to a certain extent, but this will be one to keep an eye on as we approach the season.

Northern Iowa at Iowa State - On paper this doesn't look like much of an upset watch as Matt Campbell's teams are notoriously competitive and history tells us the Cyclones are likely to bounce back from a sub-par 2022 season. History also tells us that this game is highly competitive as of late with UNI constantly staying competitive in this matchup and winning three of the last nine matchups dating back to 2007. In 2021 the Cyclones won 16-10, the 2019 game went into three overtimes with the Cyclones prevailing 29-26, 2017 was a 42-24 blowout in Iowa State's favor and 2016 ended in a 25-20 victory for Northern Iowa. I expect Iowa State to win this handedly, but history tells us this is one to keep an eye on.

Holy Cross at Boston College - This matchup was first played in 1896 and the two programs have played 83 times total with Boston College leading the series 49-31-3. The majority of Holy Cross victories came prior to what many would consider the modern age of college football, but this remains an old school rivalry nonetheless. Holy Cross is coming off of a huge 12-1 season that included an FBS win over a Buffalo team that finished 7-6 with bowl game victory.

Sacramento State at Stanford - The storyline alone makes this a game to watch as Sacramento State is coming off of a historic 12-1 season which led to Stanford hiring former Hornets head coach Troy Taylor. Stanford will be looking to recover from a down year, but one has to believe that the Hornets will come out looking to prove a point against their former head coach.