Football recruiting: Miami leaps Clemson in rankings; Ohio State commit flips to Alabama

August has already brought changes to the recruiting landscape, and the month is just a week old. A new commitment to Miami pushed the Hurricanes’ 2023 class over Clemson for the ACC lead — for the time being — and a player who had been committed to Ohio State for a year flipped his pledge to Alabama.

On Friday, four-star offensive lineman Connor Lew committed to Mario Cristobal and Miami. Recruiting sites differ on him, with his 247Sports Composite placing him as a three-star, but 247Sports itself is high on the lineman, ranking him as the 14th-best IOL, 32nd-best player in Georgia and, most importantly, a four-star prospect.

Lew said that the program’s track record of training offensive linemen, led by former offensive lineman Cristobal and OL coach Alex Mirabal, played a key role in his commitment.

“You have a head coach who is an offensive line guy and develops offensive linemen alongside a good offensive line coach, Coach Mirabal. I’ve been saying this all along, that’s truly special,” he said to 247Sports. “Developing O-linemen is kind of what they do. They’ve proven that.”

With Lew’s commitment, Miami’s class is now ranked above that of Clemson and is at the top of the ACC. The Hurricanes have five players in the top-100, including sixth-ranked Francis Mauigoa. Clemson has led the ACC for five recruiting cycles in a row, according to 247Sports. While Miami has the lead, the Tigers are hot on their tail, with more five- and four-star recruits in the 2023 group than the Hurricanes.