Recruiting thoughts: Georgia’s pursuit of the crown, Auburn’s relevance, FSU’s bright future

A wild regular season came to a close Sunday with the reveal of the four-team College Football Playoff field.

Now, recruiting can take center stage.

We’re less than three weeks away from the early signing period. Let’s get into some recruiting thoughts to set the table for the rest of December.

(Note: This story will be broken into two parts. Part 2 will be published Wednesday.) 

• There is only one five-star prospect and five top-100 players in the 247Sports Composite who have yet to issue a commitment. Though the early signing period will likely bring flips and fireworks, the vast majority of the nation’s most elite players are already locked in with their future teams. Here are some programs that have commitments from five-star prospects: Missouri, Texas Tech, Auburn, Florida State, Miami, South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Texas, Texas A&M, Oregon and Notre Dame. Though Georgia and Ohio State have four apiece, it’s nice to see some new blood getting after it with top-tier talent.

• Georgia is in pole position to win the recruiting crown in the 2024 cycle. But the thing that continually jumps out to me is how poorly the Bulldogs have done recruiting their state. The top 10 players in Georgia are ranked among the top 55 nationally. Georgia has a commitment from only one — five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola of Buford High, and he just moved to the Peach State from Arizona before the season. Yes, there are a lot of transplants in the Atlanta area, and there is no question Georgia may not have wanted a few of those players, but it’s so bizarre to see a team win the national recruiting crown while not relying heavily on such a talented state. It almost feels like winning a national title without also winning your conference.

• That’s not to criticize Georgia. Obviously what Kirby Smart’s program is doing is working. Georgia currently has the No. 1 class, which consists of four five-star prospects and nine top-100 players. But it is likely going to win the recruiting title by signing only two top-100 players out of its own state. If Georgia is so good at recruiting nationally, you’d think it would dominate its backyard, regardless of where those families are originally from.

• Florida State fans are still reeling from being left out of the College Football Playoff despite being an unbeaten Power 5 conference champion. But there is reason for Seminoles fans to look to the future with smiles on their faces. Florida State’s class ranks No. 3 nationally and includes three five-star prospects and eight top-100 players (four from Georgia). The Noles are trying to flip five-star receiver Jeremiah Smith of Opa Locka (Fla.) Chaminade-Madonna Prep from Ohio State. This looks like it will be the first FSU class since 2016 to finish in the top five nationally. If you were wondering why the program had declined before Norvell’s arrival, you can look at those classes that finished in the low teens or high 20s in the last decade. Norvell is changing that.

• Norvell’s Florida State build was initially bolstered by a heavy reliance on the transfer portal, but now the Seminoles are starting to recruit the high school level like they used to when they were a dominant national force. The transfer portal is unquestionably an effective tool, but there is still uncertainty about long-term sustainability. If Florida State keeps signing classes like the one it’s building right now, this won’t be the last time it’s nationally relevant.

• Ohio State’s football program feels like it’s trending downward because Ryan Day just lost his third straight game to Michigan and the Buckeyes just watched five-star defensive lineman Justin Scott of Chicago St. Ignatius unexpectedly flip to Miami. If you’re afraid the sky is falling, Ohio State fans, that’s a rational thought. But here’s something that should comfort you: Ohio State is still recruiting in a way that keeps those high expectations rational. The Buckeyes’ class still includes four five-star prospects and eight top-100 players and will look for more between now and the early signing period. Obviously, holding onto Smith is paramount, but Ohio State is still in a very good spot in recruiting.

• Say what you want about Hugh Freeze, but he has Auburn recruiting like a team that wants to win an SEC championship. Previous coach Bryan Harsin didn’t understand the standard necessary to compete in that conference, and, as a result, the Tigers weren’t in on many elite-level prospects during his short tenure. Freeze has Auburn ranked No. 11 nationally and has two five-star prospects from the state of Alabama in his class. Understanding the importance of recruiting and setting a standard is such a big part of the job at Auburn. Freeze gets it.

• What’s going on with Colorado? Deion Sanders was supposed to be a recruiting nightmare for his peers, but the Buffaloes rank No. 66 nationally, two spots behind Colorado State. Yes, Sanders has been known to execute some last-minute flips that’ll make your jaw drop, but Colorado hasn’t really been a factor with most of the elite prospects in the country. Maybe it’s because Boulder is just a hard place to get to and Colorado isn’t a college football power, but it seems like it’s more about Sanders focusing on the transfer portal and not necessarily losing himself in high school recruiting. Colorado’s class includes nine commitments — two just outside of the top 100 and two other blue-chippers. There is just no buzz there. This is not what I was picturing when Sanders took the job, and his roster-building mentality makes me feel like he isn’t going to be there very long. Not pouring yourself into high school recruiting is not the way to build a strong program foundation for the future.

• Clemson’s class ranks No. 15 nationally. Yes, it has two five-star prospects committed, but six of the Tigers’ 18 commitments rank outside of the top 500 nationally. This is a solid class, and you have to trust that Dabo Swinney found a few diamonds in the rough, but this isn’t the type of recruiting class Clemson needs if it plans on winning another national championship in the near future. That is especially true given Swinney’s views on the transfer portal. I’d expect Clemson to get more involved in the portal this year because Swinney has to know he must adapt, but the roster-building aspect of this program just isn’t what you’d expect from a team that has recently competed for national titles. This has been my general tone toward Clemson for four years now, and the results on the field have started to mirror the results in recruiting. It can still get worse.

• Florida had a rough season, and things looked like they were going off the rails when the Gators suffered a few decommitments in early November. Florida lost two players ranked in the top 130 nationally — edge rusher Jamonta Waller of Picayune (Miss.) Memorial and cornerback Wardell Mack of Marrero (La.) John Ehret. But Billy Napier has kept the rest of the class intact and still has a commitment from five-star quarterback DJ Lagway of Willis (Texas) High.

• There is no question Florida fans want more out of the product on the field, but the Gators are putting together a nice class that includes two five-stars and eight top-100 players. Napier was facing some hot-seat discussion during the season, but he earned at least one more year as he continues to accumulate talent at a better clip than his predecessor, Dan Mullen.

• I’m having a hard time evaluating Miami’s class. On one hand, it just flipped Scott from Ohio State and has six top-100 players in its 27-man class. But on the other hand, Miami has commitments from 16 three-star players. There is only one other team with a top-20 class that has double-digit three-star prospects committed, and that’s No. 20 Kentucky with 15. Miami’s class ranks No. 5 nationally, but if we are looking at average player rating — the metric that determines quality, not quantity — Miami would rank 19th. Mario Cristobal came to Miami to stack the cupboard with elite-level talent, but he’s also filling the roster with non-elite players, and depth has a funny way of mattering two or three years down the line.

(Photo of Hugh Freeze: Wesley Hitt / Getty Images)