Georgia, TCU make players better
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Based solely on the recruiting rankings, this national championship game between No. 1 Georgia and No. 3 TCU is the most lopsided in the nine-year history of the College Football Playoff.
The Bulldogs are a recruiting juggernaut, brimming with four- and five-star high school players.
The Horned Frogs have some blue-chippers, but they’re more likely to rely on players who outperform their prospect pedigree.
“Yo, man, in football, stars don’t matter at all,” TCU star cornerback Tre’Vius HodgesTomlinson said Saturday during media day for the CFP title game. “It’s all about development once you get to college.”
The defending national champion Bulldogs (14-0) face the upstart Horned Frogs (13-1) on Monday night at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. The rosters are built differently in recruiting, but both teams pride themselves in player development.
According the 247 Sports’ talent composite, which uses recruiting ratings to rank college football rosters, Georgia
had the second-most talented roster in 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 32nd most-talented in the country, according to 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 started its talent composite in 2015 — and it’s not 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 think the truth lies somewhere in the middle,” Smart said. “It’s a narrative that gets put out there. But I talk to our players about it all the time. Our best players on our team are not (necessarily) our most highly rated players.”
Quarterback Stetson Bennett is 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 in the Peach Bowl. The defensive MVP was safety Javon Bullard, a threestar recruit.
What attracts the blue-chip recruits to Georgia, is the track record of developing players who end up in the NFL.
Freshman defensive tackle Bear Alexander, a four-star who played his senior year of high school 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.
Both Georgia starting defensive tackles from last year’s team, Jordan Davis and Devonte Wyatt, were first-round draft picks, and Carter has a chance to be a top-10 selection this year.
“Of course, JD, Jordan Davis was a three-star from Charlotte,” Alexander said. “So just seeing the development of those guys, it kind of makes you not want to get lost in recruiting and take the developmental part more serious.”