The recruiting world is changing up. Who had the top ten 2019 recruiting seasons, including transfers?
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The world of recruiting has blown up.
The early signing period in December means that 90% of the work on the prepsters is already done before the bowl games and before February.
The traditional National Signing Day on the first Wednesday in February still sort of matters for a few top programs, and for new coaching staffs looking for live bodies, but it’s quickly becoming a nothing burger with cheese.
And then there’s the new funky twist – the transfer portal.
Now, it’s not just enough to recruit high school and JUCO prospects. If you’re not actively recruiting disgruntled players – even if it’s sort of a no-no – and if you’re not pinging the graduate transfers, you’re being left behind.
More than that, landing a fantastic transfer is even bigger than getting a four-star high school prospect. 1) That transfer almost certainly is locked in and isn’t going anywhere else, and 2) you know what you’re getting.
A four or five-star high school kid is truly a prospect. A grad transfer has a resumé, and a top transfer quarterback is a game changer.
Now, teams have to look at recruiting differently – and so do all the recruiting services. Landing a top transfer means more. Get a whole lot of them, and the classes take on a whole different meaning.
So to throw all the top transfers into the equation, which ten teams really had the best recruiting – or, more to the point, offseasons – in 2019?
2019 Conference Recruiting Rankings, All-Recruiting Teams
Big Ten | Big 12 | SEC
10. Florida Gators
The Gators had a fantastic recruiting class of prep players, landing star corner prospect Chris Steele along with a boatload of five-star guys to make Dan Mullen’s first full recruiting season a rousing success.
The offensive line is loaded up with options and depth to develop over the next few years, and along with Steele, the defensive backs are amazing.
Mullen also landed a few strong linebackers in Tyron Hopper and Jesiah Pierre, but they need time and bulk weight – they’re built like safeties.
However, ready to go right now is Louisville grad transfer Jonathan Goddard, a do-it-all 6-4, 255-pounder who made 70 tackles with 9.5 sacks and 22.5 tackles for loss in his two seasons with the Cardinals.
Steele is still the star of the class based on his upside, but in terms of getting a sure-thing defensive playmaker, Goddard is the second-best get in the class.
9. Clemson Tigers
It’s an amazing class by any standards other than Clemson’s.
Dabo Swinney is used to landing the five-star guys with ease, but he and his Tigers didn’t dominate Alabama for the national title until the early signing period was over. Even so, it’s a good enough class to keep the national championship run going.
And as last year showed, playing true freshmen isn’t a problem for this program.
Throw WR Joe Ngata on the pile of great young Tiger receivers for Trevor Lawrence to throw to, and fellow 6-4 receiver Frank Ladson isn’t far behind.
The defensive backs are fantastic, too, with Joseph Charleston and Andrew Booth among the nation’s best safety prospects.
There might not be any big-time transfers coming in – and losing quarterbacks Kelly Bryant to Missouri and Hunter Lawrence, last year, to Northwestern hurts – but the high school guys are more than strong enough to make it a wonderful class.
NEXT: Who needs transfers with these classes?
8. Texas A&M Aggies
This is the type of class A&M fans have been waiting for … at least with waiting for with the hopes of doing something massive.
Kevin Sumlin managed to pull in tremendous hauls of talent, but the team wasn’t able to get over the hump and into the SEC Championship. Jimbo Fisher has the gravitas of a national championship ring and a trip to the College Football Playoff. And now he has the talent base, too.
DE DeMarvin Leal and OT Kenyon Green are the special stars who’ll get the NFL scouts drooling, but Fisher’s reputation for developing defensive backs mattered.
Coming in is a whopper of a class for the secondary, including JUCO transfer Elijah Blades to go along with future play-on-Sunday corner Erick Young.
The other transfers might not be coming in this class to make a difference, but Jimbo didn’t need them.
7. Texas Longhorns
If anything, Texas suffered a big hit in the recruiting/transfer world after losing excellent No. 2 QB Shane Buechele to SMU, and last year’s star get Cameron Rising to be the future quarterback at Utah.
However, Tom Herman’s recruiting class went from excellent to amazing by yanking away superstar receiver prospect Bru McCoy from USC. That was the big deal late in the game, but the Longhorn cake was already baked after the early signing period with a special class.
Throw in Jake Smith and Jordan Whittington, and Herman is upgrading the speed, size, and NFL talent at receiver – or at defensive back if needed.
The secondary is loaded, too, with Chris Adimora and Tyler Owens two impressive safeties, and Kenyatta Watson an outstanding corner prospect.
NEXT: Ohio State quarterbacks play a big role for No. 5 and 6
6. LSU Tigers
The Tigers got their big transfer last year in former Ohio State QB Joe Burrow, but this year, they didn’t need anyone amazing with the next-level haul Ed Orgeron came up with.
The big-time recruits poured in, starting with can’t-miss CB Derek Stingley Jr. If he’s not the No. 1 overall recruit, he’s in the top five.
Trey Palmer is versatile enough to become a killer defensive back or a No. 1 wide receiver. Marcel Brooks will be a guided missile of a linebacker once he packs on a little weight, and New Orleans native Donte Starks isn’t far behind.
The running backs are as good as any signed anywhere. John Emery and Tyrion Davis are local products who should be an immediate part of the rotation. They’ll eventually work behind Kendall Thomas, who’s destined to be an NFL left guard – after he dominates at left tackle on the LSU line.
5. Ohio State Buckeyes
Justin Fields, Justin Fields, Justin Fields.
Thanks to the coaching change from Urban Meyer to Ryan Day, this was an okay class for the Buckeyes, but it wasn’t anything amazing – at least for them.
For just about anyone else, this would be a historic haul of talent. Next year, Day should hit his stride with a top five overall class on just prep prospects.
This year, his team is this high up after landing the No. 1 overall recruit on the mark for the 2019 recruiting season, after being the No. 1A overall recruit in 2018.
Flip a coin between Fields and Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence as to which one was the bigger and better prospect to hype up. But while Lawrence was busy winning the national title, Fields was sitting behind Jake Fromm at Georgia. And now he’s the Ohio State starting quarterback … this year.
But again, it’s not like Ohio State recruited a big bag of nothing among the prep talents. Garrett Wilson and Jameson Williams are the typical next-level Buckeye wide receivers, Zach Harrison is going to be Bosa-light at one defensive end spot, and as always, there’s little wasted recruits on fliers.
The big-time stars, though, are missing from this class. That changed with Fields.
NEXT: Here’s where the transfers really, really mattered
4. Oklahoma Sooners
How many stars does a quarterback recruit with a national title, three College Football Playoff appearances, and two SEC Championships – and legendary status at another school – to his credit?
Jalen Hurts takes the already amazing Oklahoma class up to a whole other level.
Lincoln Riley had one of the nation’s top five classes of prep players, partly because he landed the perfect quarterback for his system. Spencer Rattler has all the tools to be the next great Sooner quarterback, but getting Hurts keeps the progression going after what Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray were able to do.
No matter who’s at quarterback, the passing game will have a whole lot of fun with the incoming receivers. Jadon Haselwood was the big, giant get after the early signing period, but Trejan Bridges and Theo Wease aren’t far behind in upside, if at all.
More importantly, the defense talent signed on is amazing, too.
3. Miami Hurricanes
Here’s the call – at least for this list. Great transfers going to work out at a better percentage than great high prospects recruited on pure speculation.
Miami had an okay overall recruiting class of high school guys – but it wasn’t amazing.
Jeremiah Payton is a great-looking receiver, Keontra Smith and Christian Williams are good-looking defensive backs, and the pass rushers are coming in with a few excellent ends.
Even so, the class is a big bag of whatever. The coaching situation had something to do with it, and Manny Diaz didn’t have any time to work, and …
Miami has become the place for the hot transfers to go.
It’s not quite like when the Heat got LeBron and Bosh, but there was a pipeline of talent about to help make Miami amazing.
Take this class, and this team, and then add the superstar transfers to the mix. Proven talents with a little experience like the guys Miami landed are automatic four-star recruits, and some would be in the five-star range at this point.
As is, Miami’s class is probably just outside of the top 25. Now add S Bubba Bolden – a four-star recruit for USC in 2017. He’s going to soon be one of the team’s defensive leaders with the NFL upside to be special.
Go ahead and add Bolden’s former teammate out of Las Vegas, Ohio State QB Tate Martell. He was a fringe five-star recruit before, and next year he’ll be the fired up starter to lead the attack – if he’s not ruled eligible this year.
KJ Osborn was a two-star wide receiver recruit in 2015. Put him in that four-star category of a get now after catching 96 passes for 1,490 yards and 12 touchdowns as an explosive target for Buffalo over the last few years.
And it keeps going.
Asa Martin was a superstar recruit for Auburn last year, and now the running back took his talents to South Beach.
Trevon Hill was a nice recruit for Virginia Tech, and now he’s a massive prospect for Miami after making 11.5 sacks and 94 tackles in his 29 games of work.
Don’t blow off that Tommy Kennedy is a grad transfer from Butler. He’s a starting offensive tackle who should find a job right away, and UCLA transfer Chigozie Nnoruka – a two-star prospect in 2016 – will likely find a role early on after proving himself with 46 tackles with two sacks and eight tackles for loss in 2017.
And sometimes, part of the offseason is helped by other factors, too.
If all that new talent coming wasn’t enough, Miami got back Jeff Thomas, a star who’d easily be in the top five among the prep wide receivers in the current crop of recruits.
Miami’s No. 1 target averaged 18 yards per catch with 937 yards and five touchdowns on 52 catches, but he transferred to Illinois – and then came back after Diaz was hired.
NEXT: The top two …
2. Georgia Bulldogs
For all of the other top programs, losing a few players to other schools isn’t that huge a deal.
But for Georgia, losing Justin Fields to Ohio State is a huge deal.
If Fields isn’t a better overall player than Jake Fromm, he’d have been the type of fill-in to win a national title with.
But the talent in place from Kirby Smart’s recruiting class is more than strong enough to take Georgia from amazing to national title-good.
Stealing WR George Pickens away from Auburn was one of the biggest National Signing Day flips, and LB Nolan Smith deserves to be the one of ones on the overall lists of prospects.
The defensive ends coming in are special – starting with Travon Walker and Jermaine Johnson – the defensive backs are amazing, and yes, there are quarterbacks coming in.
Dwan Mathis isn’t Fields, but he’s more than just a consolation prize for Georgia’s loss.
1. Alabama Crimson Tide
Can Alabama possibly get past losing heart-and-soul leader Jalen Hurts?
He might be a backup at this point behind Tua Tagovailoa, but he was a special part of the puzzle over the last three years. Losing him stinks, but it’s Alabama – there’s more than enough talent to make up for it.
There are a few quarterbacks coming in for the future, including Taulia Tagovailoa – Tua’s little, smaller brother – but it’s everywhere else where Nick Saban cleaned up.
Remember, the early signing period was before the national championship loss to Clemson. There wasn’t any problem bringing in talent in December, and it came in waves.
Trey Sanders is another special Alabama running back with NFL upside, DT Antonio Alfano will someday be a top 15 overall draft pick, and the offensive line haul is beyond amazing with OT Evan Neal the star of a deep, deep, deep group.
And there’s the difference. Of course Alabama – and Georgia – would like some good transfers to come in to beef up the depth. But they’re not needed like they are at, say, Miami.
