Recruiting Battle: Yanni Karlaftis

Update: Karlaftis has committed to Purdue.

The Contenders:

Yanni Kalraftis announced his top four on twitter. He will be making his commitment later this year. Here is a quick tale of the tape for the top four teams. For our scouting report on Yanni Karlaftis click here.

Why California?

The Bears have had strong linebacker play under Head Coach Justin Wilcox. Last year Evan Weaver was an All American caliber linebacker and Kuony Deng enters the season as the #13 LB in our rankings. The Bears want Karlaftis to be the next star linebacker in their defense. Cal only took two linebacker commits in the 2020 recruiting class giving Karlaftis a clearer path to early playing time for the Bears. LB Coach Peter SIrmon has built a strong relationship with Karlaftis and gives the Bears a chance to convince Karlaftis to leave home and play at Cal.

Why Oregon?

Oregon had a big year in 2019 under Coach Mario Cristobal. Cristobal is an excellent recruiter and has been able to bring elite talent to Oregon from all over the country. Oregon is ranked 14th in our LBU rankings, having done a good job getting linebackers drafted over the past decade. They offer a good mix of on field success, coaching and proven success getting linebackers to the NFL.

Why Purdue?

Purdue is the hometown school and would give Karlaftis the chance to play his college football in his backyard. The Boilermakers signed Yanni’s brother George Karlaftis in 2019, and he is coming off an excellent freshmen season and is one of the top defensive ends in the country. Head Coach Jeff Brohm has been recruiting well at Purdue since his arrival in West Lafayette. Lead recruiter Bob Diaco and Karlaftis have built a good relationship with Karlaftis who has visited Purdue many times. There is a lot of familiarity with Karlaftis and the Boilermakers which should be a good thing.

Why Wisconsin?

For starters, Wisconsin is the only one of Karlaftis’ finalists that gives him a chance to get away from home but not go across the country. The Badgers are ranked #8 in our LBU rankings and have done an outstanding job sending linebackers to the NFL. The Wisconsin defense emphasizes the linebacker position and will give Karlaftis the opportunity to shine. He speaks with lead recruiter Bob Bostad weekly and is not deterred by the number of linebackers the Badgers have received commitments from so far.

Here is our scouting report on Karlaftis.

For more content like this don’t forget to subscribe to our website.

For the latest content follow us on twitter @saturdayscfb & @cfbsaturdaysC or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CFBSaturdays