College football programs are halfway through the busiest month on the recruiting calendar. Schools are hosting camps, prospects are taking official visits and a flurry of commitments have landed over the past two-plus weeks.

Now that we’re more than halfway through June, let’s examine the programs that have emerged as surprises in the 2026 recruiting cycle over the past two weeks.

Note: Recruiting rankings are all from the 247Sports Composite.

UCLA

A decade ago, the Bruins were a high-profile recruiting program under Jim Mora. But that outlook changed dramatically under Chip Kelly, who was neither energetic nor enthusiastic about high school recruiting.

To make things more difficult, UCLA has never been an aggressive NIL spender.

Deshaun Foster, an assistant coach during Kelly’s tenure, took over the program early in 2024, and the Bruins became a lot more active on the recruiting trail. For all the effort, though, UCLA still finished without a top-25 class and suffered some high-profile flips during the early signing period, which hurt.

There are still five and a half months until the early signing period, but the Bruins have shown some encouraging signs over the past two weeks.

UCLA has received commitments from two four-star offensive linemen, Johnnie Jones (No. 140 overall) and Micah Smith (No. 165).

That wouldn’t be much to brag about for some of the nation’s high-end recruiting programs, but it’s notable for UCLA given what the Bruins have done on the trail over the past decade.

For proper perspective, the Bruins have signed just three top-200 prospects this decade: linebacker Damian Sellers (2020), safety Kamari Ramsey (2022) and quarterback Dante Moore (2023).

Sellers lasted two seasons with the Bruins before leaving the program. Ramsey will start for USC this fall, and Moore is projected to start for Oregon.

So UCLA hasn’t had the best recruiting track record lately, but it does hold commitments from five blue-chip prospects this cycle. The Bruins signed just two blue-chip prospects last cycle.

If they actually sign Jones and Smith, it would be an especially encouraging development for a program that desperately needs to add more talent.

Jones and Smith are from Florida, and the Bruins also picked up commitments from two three-star Florida receivers on Monday (Xavier Stinson and Santana Carlos).

Already, the Sunshine State has helped propel UCLA to 11th in the national recruiting rankings.

In recent years, Cal has shifted its focus toward the transfer portal and away from high school recruiting, and the rankings have reflected that. The Golden Bears have finished 70th (2025), 55th (2024) and 80th (2023) in the team rankings during that time.

But one of the bigger surprises on the trail this month came when Cal landed a pledge from four-star offensive lineman Tommy Tofi, a top-150 prospect. Tofi, who plays for Archbishop Riordan in San Francisco, chose to stay local over interest from Oregon, Tennessee and Utah, among others. It also benefited Cal that Tofi’s brother, John Jr., is a three-star athlete who signed with Cal in the 2025 recruiting cycle.

If Tofi signs with Cal, he’d be the first top-150 prospect to do so since wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant in the 2021 cycle. Sturdivant was the No. 145 overall player in that class.

The 2021 class, which ranked 29th nationally, is Justin Wilcox’s best at Cal by a considerable margin. The Golden Bears have received commitments from three blue-chip prospects this cycle. The last time they signed three or more was during that 2021 class.

In addition to Tofi, Cal has received verbals from 10 other players this month, including four-star running back Victor Santino, who plays for Bishop Montgomery in Torrance, Calif.

The Golden Bears’ class currently ranks 16th nationally. Will it stay there? No, but it’ll be important to hold off recruiting juggernauts for players like Tofi, who took an official visit to Oregon last weekend.

Pitt

With a couple of exceptions (both good and bad), the Panthers’ recruiting classes have generally hovered somewhere between 40th and 55th in the national rankings. So, even though it’s only June, it’s a surprise to see Pitt’s class ranked 22nd nationally.

Coach Pat Narduzzi’s program has not signed more than one blue-chip prospect in a single cycle since 2021. The Panthers have landed commitments from three blue-chip prospects over the past two and a half weeks: four-star offensive lineman Day’jon Moore (from Texas), four-star running back Damon Ferguson (from Maryland) and four-star linebacker Reston Lehman (from Pennsylvania).

Pitt has added 13 commitments to its class this month, including the six highest-rated members of the group.

Like UCLA and Cal, Pitt isn’t expected to finish as high as it’s currently ranked, but it’ll be interesting to see if it can improve its recent recruiting standard.

Stanford

The Cardinal have an interim head coach, Frank Reich, in place for the 2025 season. That sort of uncertainty is generally a killer on the recruiting trail.

Even with NIL becoming such a driving factor in recruitments, Stanford will always have a strong pull for prospects who really value academics and the strength of its degree. That’s been evident this month because even though these recruits don’t know who their head coach will be in 2026, the Cardinal have received eight commitments since the beginning of June, headlined by four-star athlete Ryelan Morris from Texas.

Stanford has also had some success finding talent in Arizona, landing commitments from three-star offensive lineman Jalayne Miller, who plays for Desert Edge in Goodyear, Ariz., and receiver Daylen Sharper, who plays for Brophy Prep in Phoenix.

Right now, Stanford’s class ranks 25th nationally, and while it’ll be difficult to stay there, things could certainly be worse for a program that doesn’t have a long-term head coach in place.

Florida

It’s not shocking to see the Gators make a jump this month. It’s more so the speed at which they’ve made up ground. Florida was 74th in the team rankings headed into the month and had just two commits.

The Gators have picked up 10 commitments this month and now rank 23rd nationally. Over the weekend, four-star defensive lineman JaReylan McCoy, who is the No. 121 overall player in the cycle, committed to Florida. McCoy is one of four top-200 recruits who have pledged to the Gators and is one of 10 June commitments.

Florida fans won’t be happy with the No. 23 overall class, so Billy Napier has more moves to make. He’s still made some good steps this month.

Notable

• USC picked up a commitment from four-star linebacker Talanoa Ili, who played high school football in Southern California before moving to Hawaii recently. The Trojans beat out crosstown rival UCLA for Ili, who is the No. 79 overall prospect in the country. Ili is the eighth top-100 prospect in USC’s class, which ranks No. 1 in the country.

• Four-star running back DeZephen Walker committed to Oklahoma on Monday. Walker is the No. 370 overall player in the cycle.

• Four-star corner Caden Harris, a Tennessee native, was a bit of a feel-good story when he committed to Vanderbilt in late April. Harris is the No. 85 player in the cycle and would’ve been the highest-rated signee for the Commodores in the modern recruiting era, which dates back to 2002. But Harris flipped to Georgia over the weekend. The Bulldogs rank fourth in the team rankings with an average player rating of 92.26.