Football Recruiting Phenoms You Must Know About

Recruiting is really undergoing some crucial changes, and we may be moving towards a new era. Texas started the "early offering" by beginning to offer prospects at the end of their junior season and through the start of the new calendar year.

There was much backlash against Texas, but schools were forced to adjust and begin offering recruits early, too. Fast-forward to today, when there is talk that offering scholarships to players in middle-school is the next frontier of recruiting.

In fact, there are some prospects still in middle-school who possess scholarship offers right now. They could be called the young "phenoms." Just to make sure you, the recruiting fan, have a little knowledge of a few of these so-called phenoms, this piece will look at several that you need to know more about.

Let's get this baby started!

B.J. Gaines, DT

B.J. Gaines, from Parkview Baptist, is a prospect whose recruiting year won't be until 2017, but the DT prospect is said by Mike Coppage at Scout.com to have the potential to be the best DT from Louisiana.

Gaines is 6'0" and 200 pounds right now, so he's already got advanced size for his age group. Parkview plays against great competition in the Louisiana area, so if Gaines is already standing out as a young player, he should be dominant as a senior prospect.

Tate Martell, QB

Tate Martell trains with highly regarded private QB coach Steve Clarkson in California. He's a QB prospect for the class of 2017 and is already committed to Washington.

At 5'11" and 180 pounds for now, Martell made waves last summer when he committed to Steve Sarkisian's program as an eighth-grader. Many QBs tutored by Clarkson are great mechanically and know how to read coverages.

Martell's getting a head start, and Washington is excited about that. 

Jayru Campbell, QB

Last year, we learned more about Shane Morris and how he was already a celebrity in the state of Michigan before ever suiting up for Big Blue.

Now, Campbell appears to be following Morris' ascension, as the 2015 QB is a known man in the Wolverine State.

Already standing 6'3" and 190 pounds, Campbell has had offers from Alabama, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Eastern Michigan for a few years already, per 247Sports. He's one of the best QBs in the country regardless of class and should be highly ranked when 2015 comes around. 

David Sills, QB

David Sills is a 6'3", 180-pound QB from Delaware who committed to USC as a 13-year-old. Obviously, the Trojans feel he's a phenom, so they gave the guy a scholarship early.

Sills' teammate last season was 2013 USC signee Kenny Bigelow, a talented DT.

With Sills not coming until 2015 to Los Angeles, he and Bigelow may only have one year of being teammates in college as the latter could leave early for the NFL. 

Dylan Moses, RB

He's 6'1". Weighs 215 pounds. Runs a 4.46 40-yard dash. Plays running back, and this guy's from Louisiana. 

No, I'm not talking about Leonard Fournette.

I'm talking about Dylan Moses, a class of 2017 RB who already has offers from both Alabama and LSU, says ESPN. Moses is a man among boys already; he looks like a college sophomore right now, even though he's not even in the eighth grade.

He's a phenom to many around the Gulf Coast, and even though it's about four to five years before he'll be a senior, you need to keep up with this kid.

Edwin Weathersby is the College Football Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. He has worked in scouting/player personnel departments for three professional football teams, including the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns and the Las Vegas Gladiators of the Arena League. He spent a year evaluating prep prospects and writing specific recruiting and scouting content articles for Student Sports Football (formerly ESPN Rise-HS). A syndicated scout and writer, he's also contributed to WeAreSC.com, GatorBait.net and Diamonds in the Rough Inc., a College Football and NFL Draft magazine.