LOS ANGELES, Calif. (AP) — Based solely on the recruiting rankings, this national championship game between No. 1 Georgia and No. 3 TCU is probably the most lopsided within the nine-year history of the College Football Playoff.
The Bulldogs are a recruiting juggernaut, brimming with four- and five-star highschool players.
The Horned Frogs have some blue-chippers, but they’re more more likely to depend on players who outperform their prospect pedigree.
“Yo, man, in football, stars don’t matter in any respect,” TCU star cornerback Tre Hodges-Tomlinson said Saturday during media day for the CFP title game. “It’s all about development when you get to school.”
The defending national champion Bulldogs (14-0) face the upstart Horned Frogs (13-1) on Monday night at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The rosters are built otherwise in recruiting, but each teams pride themselves in player development.
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According the 247 Sports’ talent composite, which uses recruiting rankings to rank college football rosters, Georgia had the second-most talented roster within the country behind Alabama in 2022.
No surprise there. Kirby Smart’s team has been pulling in top-five ranked recruiting classes since he returned to his alma mater as head coach in 2016. Georgia has 15 players who were five-star recruits, including All-America defensive tackle Jalen Carter, and 53 four-stars.
TCU’s roster is the thirty second most-talented within the country, in keeping with the composite, right behind Georgia Tech and Missouri and just ahead of Utah and Michigan State. The Horned Frogs’ one player who was a five-star recruit is reserve linebacker Marcel Brooks, a transfer from LSU.
The difference in recruited talent between Georgia and TCU is the widest for any CFP title game matchup since 247 began its talent composite in 2015 — and it isn’t even close.
The previous biggest disparity was in 2015, when Alabama was No. 1 and Clemson was No. 13.
So Georgia is an elite recruiting program and TCU is a developmental program, right?
“I believe the reality lies somewhere in the center,” Smart said. “It’s a narrative that gets put on the market. But I confer with our players about it on a regular basis. Our greatest players on our team aren’t (necessarily) our most highly rated players.”
Quarterback Stetson Bennett is probably the most obvious example. A former walk-on at Georgia, Bennett left to go play at junior college before returning and becoming a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Bennett was the offensive MVP of the semifinal victory against Ohio State within the Peach Bowl. The defensive MVP was safety Javon Bullard, a three-star recruit.
What attracts the blue-chip recruits to Georgia, is the track record of developing players who find yourself within the NFL.
Freshman defensive tackle Bear Alexander, a four-star who played his senior yr of highschool at IMG Academy in Florida, said he was compelled to play college football in his home state at Texas A&M. But Georgia’s track-record for development swayed him.
Each Georgia starting defensive tackles from last yr’s team, Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt, were first-round draft picks, and Carter has a probability to be a top-10 selection this yr.
“After all, JD, Jordan Davis was a three-star from Charlotte,” Alexander said. “So just seeing the event of those guys, it form of makes you not wish to wander off in recruiting and take the developmental part more serious.”
On TCU’s roster, receiver Quentin Johnston is the player who had probably the most juice in recruiting, a top-100 national recruit who selected the Horned Frogs over Texas.
Quarterback Max Duggan was also a four-star recruit, considered one of 16 on TCU’s roster.
Each Duggan and Johnston were recruited to TCU by former coach Gary Patterson and decided to follow the Frogs and never transfer after the college’s winningest coach was forced out at late within the 2021 season.
Latest Frogs coach Sonny Dykes, who coached against TCU thrice in 4 seasons while at SMU, saw plenty to work with when he moved from Dallas to Fort Price.
“I knew they’d good players,” Dykes said. “Felt like perhaps they hadn’t played to their potential for whatever reason. And so it was attractive to me simply because I knew there was some talent on the team.”
Hodges-Tomlinson is in some ways the epitome of what TCU football has been for much of the past 20 years.
A former three-star recruit who was switched from safety to cornerback in college and have become a star. Hodges-Tomlinson, the nephew of Pro Football Hall of Famer and TCU great LaDainian Tomlinson, won the Thorpe Award this season as the very best defensive back within the country.
TCU guard Steve Avila was a three-star who redshirted as a freshman and become an All-American as a fifth-year senior.
Linebacker Dee Winter was a receiver in highschool who TCU decided can be higher off on the opposite side of the ball. He grew into 230-pound linebacker and was defensive MVP of the Fiesta Bowl semifinal victory against Michigan.
“It’s measurables first,” said inside receivers Doug Meacham, who was a holdover from Patterson’s staff. “I’m undecided what he’s, but he’s 6-3 and 210. What’s he? I don’t know. Let’s take him as an athlete and figure it out later.”
Irrespective of what the recruiting rankings suggest, Smart knows what he sees on film.
“TCU has a team stuffed with really good football players,” he said. “And I watched those guys play, and the way in which they play is so far more essential than who wanted them out of highschool. Who cares?”
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