Friday Night Notes: Charles Lester III’s top 4,…

Friday Night Notes: Charles Lester III’s top 4, Colorado’s flip targets and more

USA TODAY High School Sports‘ Friday Night Notes is a weekly high school recruiting recap that looks at the latest news from around the country—from the Class of 2023 to ’24 and beyond.

Cornerback play is a critical part of winning in modern football. Programs that understand this and take it to heart will inevitably have an advantage over those that do not. It should be no surprise then that the top college football teams around the country are consistently in the running to recruit the best high school cornerbacks.

The latest example is the interest in Riverview (Fla.) five-star cornerback Charles Lester III. Twenty-seven different schools have extended offers so far, but Lester recently announced that his top four choices are Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Ohio State.

Lester (6-foot-1, 171 pounds) is making the rounds for his final four. Last weekend he was in Athens according to his Instagram page. He’s also been to Columbus recently and told Sports Illustrated he enjoyed it.

“I was just enjoying the time around the players and coaches. They have a history of producing great DBs.Coach (Ryan Day) just basically told me he would love for me to be a part of the program.”

Lester also has experience on the other side of the ball, posting 53 catches, 652 yards and nine touchdowns over the last two seasons as a receiver.

Going by the composite rankings, Lester is the second-best cornerback in the 2024 class. He ranks No. 4 overall in Florida and No. 15 nationally.

Coach Prime's blue-chip flip targets

Colorado will be playing their “green and gold” spring game tomorrow (3:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.) The Buffaloes typically put their first-string offense and defense on one team together and have them play the backups. It should make for interesting television for those interested in seeing Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter and company together for the first time.

The real show will be happening behind the scenes, though. That’s where Colorado will be wooing some of the top prospects in the class of 2024 – including several blue-chip recruits who have already committed to other Power 5 programs.

Among the major players Coach Prime will be hoping to flip are these three:

Mobile Christian School (Ala.) 4-star Edge Sterling Dixon

Dixon (6-foot-3, 211 pounds) committed to Alabama back on December 1, but he’s obviously still open for business. He ranks No. 16 at his position and has offers from 31 schools total, but Colorado is not yet one of them.

Summer Creek (Texas) 4-star LB Xavier Atkins: LSU

Atkins (6-foot-0, 205 pounds) verbally committed to LSU just after July 4 last year. He’s ranked No. 22 among linebackers in his class and has 20 other offers on the table, including one from the Buffs.

Dunbar (Fla.) 4-star WR TJ Abrams:

Abrams (5-foot-11, 175 pounds) committed to Florida State in January but still has 24 other offers to choose from. That list includes Miami, Florida, Georgia and Colorado. Abrams ranks No. 36 among wide receivers in his class and No. 38 overall in the state of Florida.

Updated 2024 recruiting class rankings

It’s still relatively early in the 2024 recruiting cycle. However, there’s been a lot of movement inside the top 10 recently.

Georgia was knocked off the top spot on Monday when five-star tight end Landen Thomas flipped his commitment to Florida State. For now the No. 1 ranking belongs to red-hot Ohio State. South Carolina has also made a lot of progress, picking up three new recruits this week – including Charles Herbert Flowers (Mo.) four-star cornerback Braydon Lee.

Here’s the new top 10 pecking order in the 2024 recruiting race, according to the composite rankings.

1. Ohio State – 229.74 points

2. Georgia – 227.45 points

3. Michigan – 211.53 points

4. LSU – 194.72 points

5. Florida State: 192.49 points

6. South Carolina – 192.07 points

7. Penn State – 180.85 points

8. Notre Dame – 175.41 points

9. Tennessee – 167.65 points

10. Florida – 161.19 points