Basketball and Olympic sports athletes across the U.S. began faxing their national letters of intent Wednesday, as the NCAA opened its early signing period, and California may be the beneficiary of an upcoming surge of highly touted prospective collegiate athletes this year.
College athletics recruiting network Next College Student Athlete calculated “power” rankings for more than 1,000 college athletic programs across the U.S., and the California Golden Bears ranked eighth overall—topping heavyweights like the Michigan Wolverines (No. 16), Florida Gators (No. 24) and the Texas Longhorns (No. 48).
California’s top-10 finish reflects strong interest among the more than 2 million student-athletes in the NCSA recruiting network.