Preseason AP Top 25 College Football Poll Rankings Reaction | Who’s Overrated & Underrated?

the season it is so close we can taste it but talking season isn't quite over yet and today we got our biggest offseason talking point with the first look at the preseason AP Top 25 Poll if you're like us and you're starve for Content I'm sure you've seen this but let's remind you you've got Georgia on top for the second straight preseason Ohio State at two Oregon debuting at number three that is their best preseason ranking in a very long time Miss at six has its best preseason ranking in a very very very long time since 1970 you see some of these teams down towards the bottom Missouri up at number 11 after a huge season last year Tennessee 15 Clemson 14 that is your look at the preseason AP Top 25 Poll so we always preach on this show that recruiting rankings are predictors for future success so we actually averaged the last three recruiting classes and compared them to the AP Top 25 Poll to see if they actually were predictors and we're going to go ahead and show you Blair the top five because it sure seems like it is because everybody in that top five was in the top eight over the last three years of recruiting rankings you see the lowest average there is Oregon at eight but they're coming off a cycle where they finished third overall so the ducks have really just gotten hotter on the trail as of late now Blair very obviously this does not in include any wins in the portal we know that's going to factor in to some of these preseason rankings but looking at these rankings overall what do you take away from some of these numbers comparing the recruiting classes to the AP Top 25 preseason poll it looks like a mirror you know it looks like we're looking at a mirror and I think what's interesting about it is is the fact that it's the same schools that we talk about time and time again in some of these high-profile heavyweight fights for recruits and that's because they have a lot to sell they have a lot of of upside in terms of what the program is doing the trajectory of the program how much talent is on the team and even with the expanded field into a 12 team playoff I think all these teams are able to sell that to recruits and say hey come here we know we're talented we know we have a lot of depth but you can be one of the missing pieces and and it kind of just goes to show you that even in the nil era and and in this era of parody we just talked about Josh Petty committing to to uh Georgia Tech and we had a a five-star tight end in Lincoln cure going to Kansas State although that's going to happen from time to time in in this era I I think still we get to see some of these big time programs the Blue Bloods they're still going to be able to fight out for the top Elite prospects and then that translates into what we call the top 25 all right so those were just the top five but we did this for every single team in the top 25 we're going to point out some of the biggest discrepancies my eyes immediately go to Old who is six in the preseason poll but when it comes to their recruiting rankings over the last three years 24th is their average of course you got to look to the portal as a reason for this but what stands out to you Blair it's even worse in this current cycle Emily they're 33rd in the country for 2025 so they're not essentially getting it done in the high school ranks but I think all it says is that from a coaching perspective from a scheme perspective they're able to plug in those transfers that you talked about and they understand their deficiencies on the roster maybe they take some bigger swings on the recruiting Trail and they come up with some bigger misses but they're able to make that up on the on the transfer portal we've we've obviously seen Lane kein uh vouch for what he does in the portal and and and and the flips that he's able to do late in the recruiting cycle but I I think they focus on getting getting it done on Saturdays developing some of the talent that they have they recruit really well to their skill team and and from an NFL perspective they're still really developing players they've had 13 NFL draft picks over the last three years so they're getting it done not only but obviously from a projecting standpoint getting guys to the next level as well yeah that one felt kind of obvious uh for me is is in terms of why Miss is outperforming its average recruiting rankings just you see the wins former five stars that they're bringing in in the transfer portal but this next one the biggest discrepancy we saw I'm curious on your opinion of Kansas because they are ranked 22nd in the preseason poll but their average recruiting rankings over the last three years 78th why do you think that is I think they're just comfortable in who they are they recruit to a system I don't think they get caught up in too many high-profile recruiting battles so there's no real wasted energy they did get a top 100 player last year and deshun Warner but he was the only one in that 2024 cycle and he's expected to contribute as a true freshman off the edge there with really electric speed and and his Pursuit ability uh but but I think this is a program that just recruits to what they do and they recruit to their system and maybe they're able to find some hidden gems and and and find players that they can develop and I don't think they're looking for instant impact players I mentioned deshun Warner he's in the minority in that sense they're going to get a player in the program and really invest in in him and and in them and those players to be able to eventually help out that roster so uh right now they're outside the top 50 as well when you look at it from the 2024 rankings so even though they are a top 25 team on the field according to the media it's not really translating uh in a recruiting sense because they're not really even trying to push for that I think they just want to get the best type of players that will fit what they want to do before we move on to the next one I do need to follow up on that I love the way that you phrased it and that they recognize who they are and they don't waste their time getting into these recruiting battles I feel like people shy away from saying that because you want everybody to believe that they're the big dog and they can be in it for these top high-profile guys but wasting their time I love the way that you phrase that how frequently do you see programs maybe get into battles that perhaps are a waste of time and need to be more self-aware you see it a lot actually in the group of five space or even in that low power four phase because I I think these coaches understand that they only have a certain amount of time to be able to recruit and the the energy that it takes to travel and go out and evaluate and Scout players uh maybe once you start to recognize that you're lower on in in in the offer sheet right where you're maybe competing against some of the programs that we that we rambled off the top the Ohio States the Texas the Oregons the georgas the Alabam if you've offered a player that they are also in on it's probably not going to go your way so just you know I guess I guess cut it off before it gets even deeper and then you start to figure out okay what's our next plan of attack who are some players that we can move towards I think Kansas and and a number of other programs are doing a terrific job of that and and then I think it translates because they're able to spend more time building up their program scheming you know I think focusing on their own team recruiting their own team to stay uh to stay on on board I think all of that kind of comes in into play when when you think about eliminating maybe some wasted energy on the recruiting Trail coaching certainly a factor too for Kansas in terms of outperforming those recruiting rankings now there's some underperforming teams we want to highlight first one being Oklahoma their average class ranking is in the top 10 at number seven which is very high yet they land at 16 in the preseason AP poll what do you think the cause is for this difference I just don't know if the media believes in what they're going to be able to do in the SEC uh while Texas made that big jump and they reached the playoff last year and I think there's a lot of optimism among the media and and the national folk to be able to see the Longhorns have success in the new conference maybe the hill will be a little steeper for Oklahoma the recruiting rankings don't say that though so that could be a really sneaky option for a potential playoff run there uh Brent benol has done it before he's been obviously really effective at Clemson and he's building up uh that defense front at Oklahoma I I think that's one of those teams that you look at and you're like okay maybe they are going to be able to turn things around maybe quicker than may maybe other people expect them to the the schedule's not an easy one it's a ramp up in in competition but they have the talent they've been able to accumulate a lot of star power on that team so you know maybe I think there's a little bit of give and take there where people are like okay we're going to give Texas the benefit of the doubt heading into the news new conference maybe we should pump the brakes a little bit on Oklahoma speaking of the State of Texas that is where our next underperformer is and that is Texas A&M they come in with a recruiting ranking average of 12 over the last three years but in the preseason poll landing at 20 now it is very easy to put a lot of the blame towards the guy that you're looking at right now not blaming him but blame for underperforming and the fact that they have a new head coach but what do you think I do think that this is an under performing because they're in a rebuild mode I think everyone would would recognize that maybe the players on the team don't want to say that or the coaches won't admit that but I think everyone understands that A&M has some work to do to uh really add talent and playable Talent they have a lot of star power but they just haven't been able to develop some of those players that they were able to land in recent Cycles they do have plenty of buzz on the recruiting Trail currently they're number seven nationally in the 202 five class rankings so so this is a program that I think is selling the future Mike Elco is selling opportunity to come in and make an impact and they have a new offensive coordinator and Colin Klein so I think everyone's kind of excited and and antsy to see what that offense is going to look like because they do have a plenty of weapons they have a lot of defensive Talent as well elco's obviously been in Coler station before and what he was able to do at Duke was obviously impressive as well so uh this is another one of those wait and see approach moments for the media I think looking at them you like what they have you just want to see what kind of steps they're going to be able to take uh take forward and once again this is a preseason poll we're not going to tell you all the stats here I'm sure you can figure it out uh but it's not necessarily an indicator of the actual season success that they have but once again it's something for us to talk about this time of year and we will eat it up thank you so much Blair you can check out more of his work and our whole crew at 247sports.com that is the placed to be for all things college football and recruiting also of course college basketball check out our excellent team of writers and insiders at 247 sports.com [Music]