Weekend Recruiting News: Austin Barry and Bentley Redden Commit; Comiskey Recruited by MIT

Photo: Bentley Redden – Twitter.com

Michael Huntley July 27, 2020 @ 10:30 AM

Two of Southern California’s top recruits announced their commitments over the weekend. J.W. North of Riverside offensive lineman [player_tooltip player_id="25110" first="Austin" last="Barry"] committed to Arizona State Saturday. Barry was deciding between the Sun Devils and UCLA and kept going back and forth with his decision. “Back in June, it was UCLA,” Barry told Greg Biggins of 247Sports. “ASU was always right there though and then it just kept going back and forth between those two schools. I don’t even have the words to explain how hard the decision was." https://twitter.com/avstinnb/status/1287191978992480256?s=20 Barry visited Arizona State during the dead period in June but wasn’t allowed to communicate with any coaches or take a tour during his visit. But he enjoyed the campus and has seen the football facilities via a Zoom tour. Kevin Mawae has done an excellent job recruiting offensive linemen, which makes sense considering his Pro Football Hall of Fame credentials. Barry is the fifth offensive lineman in Arizona State’s 2021 recruiting class, all five of which are projected to be tackles. He is the second California lineman to commit to the Sun Devils, along with [player_tooltip player_id="25181" first="Isaiah" last="World"] of Lincoln High in San Diego. San Clemente athlete [player_tooltip player_id="25114" first="Bentley" last="Redden"] announced his commitment to BYU on Sunday. A couple of weeks ago, Redden said although he hadn’t narrowed down his list, <a href="https://prepredzone.com/2020/07/prospect-spotlight-bentley-redden-san-clemente-2021-2/">BYU and Arizona State were his two frontrunners.</a> Redden is 6-foot-5, 215 pounds and is a tight end and defensive end. He had a breakout game against Valencia in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs, when he had 4.5 sacks. He had not taken any official visits with any schools and was hoping to this summer before COVID-19 forced the NCAA to put a temporary ban on official campus visits. Redden did take an unofficial visit to BYU last season when they hosted USC. Redden’s father Matt was a defensive end at BYU. He is the second "athlete" to commit to BYU along with Raider Damuni of Provo, Utah. He is the second player in California in BYU’s recruiting class with running back Hinckley Ropati of Cerritos College committing to the Cougars. His San Clemente teammate Preston Rex (class of 2020) is signed to play at BYU and is currently serving a Mormon mission. Redden is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and will likely serve a Mormon mission right out of high school and be a part of the class of 2023. <strong>Comiskey piling up offers from elite academic schools</strong> Defensive lineman Evan Comiskey from Aliso Niguel High in Aliso Viejo received an offer from MIT last week. Comiskey had six sacks, 19 solo tackles and a forced fumble for the Wolverines last season. https://twitter.com/e_comiskey70/status/1268372623798366208?s=20 He received his first offer from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh on June 4. He got an offer from the University of Chicago later in June and from Johns Hopkins University on July 14. MIT does not offer athletic scholarships, but they offered Comiskey support in the admissions process. Comiskey is 6-foot-2, 240-pounds and has a SAT score of 1560 with a 4.6 GPA.