SI99 Football Recruiting: Big Surprise! The SEC Just Keeps Landing the Best Talent

Forty-six of the elite 99 prospects are headed to Alabama and its conference counterparts.

The postseason SI99, which ranks the top high school football prospects headed to college in the fall, provides more evidence of why the Southeastern Conference rules the sport.

Forty-six of the 99 players included on the list, produced by Sports Illustrated and SI All-American, are headed to SEC schools. That includes 12 destined for Alabama, 11 to Texas A&M and 10 to Georgia.

Texas (6 signees) and Oklahoma (2) are scheduled to depart the Big 12 for the SEC in 2025, but some believe the move could happen sooner. Add their eight commits to the 46 headed to current SEC schools and 54 of the top 99 players in the country could eventually be seniors in the SEC . . . unless they’re in NFL by then.

By comparison, the Big Ten has landed 16 of the SI99, eight of them headed to Ohio State.

The Atlantic Coast Conference secured eight of the elite 99, with five of them signed to Clemson.

The Pac-12 landed seven, only after USC got commitments from four top prospects following the hiring Lincoln Riley, late of Oklahoma.

As for the Big 12, minus what Texas and Oklahoma did, the conference is a destination for just one member of the SI99. Wide receiver Talyn Shettron of Edmond, Oklahoma, opted to stay home and sign with the Cowboys.

Notre Dame has four players on the list and six are undecided.

Here are the eight SI99 prospects from California and where they’re headed:

15. CB Domani Jackson, Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei -- USC

31. RB Raleek Brown, Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei -- USC

55. LB David Bailey, Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei -- Stanford

56. WR Tetairoa McMillan, Anaheim (Calif.) Servite -- Arizona

61. QB Maalik Murphy, Gardena (Calif.) Junipero Serra -- Texas

67. WR CJ Williams, Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei -- USC

69. IOL Earnest Greene, Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco -- Georgia

77. TE Keyan Burnett, Anaheim (Calif.) Servite -- Arizona

And the only non-California prep who signed with a Pac-12 school:

49. S Zion Branch, Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman -- USC

So, you ask, where is Cal in all this? 

Don’t ask.

Cover photo of Alabama-bound quarterback Ty Simpson of Martin, Tennessee by Paula Ospina, The Jackson Sun

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo