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Come Fan with UsWednesday, August 5, 2026

College Football Recruiting Podcast: Building for a national title

Welcome to The Crootletter (sign up to get this in your inbox!). I’m Bud Elliott, SB Nation’s National Recruiting Analyst, and in this space I’ll be sharing news, rumors and musings on the world of college football recruiting as well as the occasional gambling column.

CFP National Championship - Alabama v Clemson
CFP National Championship - Alabama v Clemson
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

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The SB Nation College Football Recruiting Podcast returns after a brief hiatus. The opening topic this week is about recruiting at a level sufficient to win a national title and a discussion of my blue-chip ratio piece that I publish annually. When will the streak of elite recruiters winning the national title end? How will it happen?

I also broke it down on a conference level and looked at what teams in each league could be on the come up.

Next I discussed the Teddy Bridgewater injury and similar injuries suffered by recruits, including a discussion about Josh Sweat, the former No. 1 overall player in the class of 2015. Get well, Teddy.

Finally I discussed my Tuesday piece on the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Should toughness really be the focus when talent seems to be the biggest issue?

To submit a question for a future podcast please tweet @SBNRecruiting or drop it in the comment section, below.

Listeners want to know about...

-The long-term recruiting prospects at South Carolina. The Gamecocks are recruiting well under Will Muschamp so far. Can they recruit well on offense, too? That will be the key, as Muschamp has the defensive side of the ball figured out.

-Maryland recruiting in the DMV: offensive tackle Marcus Minor jumped aboard from Dematha Catholic. Maryland has nine players from DC and Maryland already. Listeners asked if Maryland can flip Chase Young from Ohio State, and land Anthony McFarland, Josh Paschal and Tariq Castro-FIelds. To answer the second question, I consulted with Alex Kirshner of Testudo Times.

-The recruitment of five-star running back Cam Akers and five-star defensive tackle Marvin Wilson.

-Can Ohio State stop Alabama’s streak of No. 1 recruiting classes despite having somewhat limited room?

-Accounting for quality and quantity in the recruiting rankings.

-Pac-12 recruiting

-Florida’s recruiting under Jim McElwain.

-Can Texas A&M win back recruiting in the state of Texas?

-Does the Ole Miss NCAA investigation cause other teams to examine their own recruiting methods?

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