ESPN is making a big deal over Neon Deion's new "5-star" commit (Julien Lewis), a self-reported six foot tall black quarterback for 2025. ESPN has its own recruiting team and dubbed this kid as the #2 player in the class. The headline is that he "flipped" from his prior USC commitment to get on the hype train at Colorado. This is the lead headline of the day for ESPN.
The reality could be a bit different. Julien Lewis decommited from USC after USC "flipped" fellow 2025 black quarterback commit Husan Longstreet (who self-reports at 6'1) from Texas A&M. USC proactively pursued the recruit they wanted. The lead story at the CBS Sports website is about the Indiana-Ohio State game this weekend. CBS Sports links to '247Sports' as its recruiting reference.
To recap:
Julien Lewis is the
#2 recruit (5-star) to the ESPN 300, but
#115 player (4-star) to 247Sports (a CBS partner). He will play at Colorado, which has its TV broadcasting deal with ABC/ESPN.
Husan Longstreet is the
#28 recruit (5-star) to 247Sports (a CBS partner), but
the #47 recruit (4-star) to the ESPN 300. He will play at USC, and the Big 10 has its media deal with CBS.
I consider both of those websites a "necessary evil" as they are filled with biased takes and crappy writing. However, I can't recall ever reading the same story reported in two different ways simultaneously.
It sure seems like the TV channels hold a lot of sway over the sports products we watch! They are picking the future stars right out of high school.
The two most popular streaming series on Amazon Prime Video are
'Jack Ryan' (played by John Krasinski) and
'Reacher' (starring Alan Ritchson). Both play big, handsome white guys with attractive white girlfriends. Maybe Amazon didn't get the memo on what kind of slop they're supposed to feed the masses (although they do shovel plenty of slop, too). It's interesting to consider that the executives at the CBS and ABC networks might not simply have profits in mind!