The FBS National Championship is easily the biggest event in all of college sports with millions of dollars in revenue, endorsements, and payouts up for grabs. It is of no surprise to any college football fans that this year, the Georgia Bulldogs will be playing to complete an undefeated season, and for their right to become back to back national champions. This feat has only been accomplished four times since Division 1 A “now the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)” has even existed. But what is surprising, is that the Texas Christian University (TCU) Horned Frogs are their opponent. They entered this season ranked outside of the Top 25 but since that time have only lost 1 game, in Overtime in the Big 12 championship match. There is a secret to how each team battled their way to prime time. Because their expert recruiting has been the key to both teams rising above the rest of college football’s finest. But they did it with two very different methods. And this year’s national championship will become a battle for the future of college football, where old school recruiting meets the new school.

The Georgia Bulldogs – Old Fashioned Recruiting

The Bulldogs dynasty which is what they have been building over the past decade has been engineered with long proven recruiting tactics. ESPN and 247 Sports rank recruiting classes every year, and the Bulldogs have managed the stock their roster with top 5 recruiting classes each of the last 5 years. Ranking number 1 in both 2018 and 2020, and second in 2019 the Bulldogs have loaded up on the best high school football players available. And it makes sense that if you hold onto those players for three years, by now they should have matured into the most dominant force in college football.

The Bulldogs recruit big, and for the most part they hold onto their players. In 2022 amidst the transfer portal frenzy they reportedly only brought in 1 transfer, and are not projected to take any thus far from this year’s portal. Although they did lose 13 players who transferred out in 2022, only 4 of those recruits were at least a 4 star recruit. When you consider that they brough in 22 recruits who rated as four or 5 star prospects in 2022 alone, it is safe to say that talent is not particularly lacking on the Georgia sideline. Georgia right now has squarely established itself as the best team with the best players. If the NFL is your ultimate goal there is no real point in transferring anywhere else, unless you’re not getting on the field that much to begin with. By all measures Georgia is supposed to be playing for the national championship, and whether or not they win or lose this year’s championship, they will likely be in the title hunt next year, when 22 more of the nation’s best 4 and 5 star recruits are projected to enroll.

The TCU Horned Frogs – New School Recruiting

If it seems like TCU came out of nowhere to make the national title game, that is because they might as well have at first glance. TCU has not had 1 top 10 recruiting class in the past 5 years, which would immediately lead you to believe they shouldn’t have the talent required to matchup with a team like Georgia, or Michigan, or even Texas for that matter. But TCU has been able to capitalize on the new wave of recruiting, where the transfer portal has given new life to just about any FBS program looking to make a quick run. Although Georgia doesn’t have many of their top recruits transferring out, that is not the case for everyone else in the SEC and beyond. While the Bulldogs saw no need in patronizing the portal, TCU has anchored its recruiting with it. In 2022 TCU brought in the 13th ranked transfer portal recruitment class with 14 commits, including an outgoing player from the Georgia Bulldogs. The reality is that 9 of the starting 22 players for the Horned Frogs this year are transfer players.

Don’t get it twisted, TCU is a solid football team by any metric. In 2020 they had the 23rd ranked recruiting class in the nation. Conventional wisdom says that 2 to 3 years later those players should be inline to help make a legitimate run at national prominence. But when you can add in 9 starter level players from other power conference teams like Texas and Mississippi State, essentially overnight, a team like TCU whom even the “experts” didn’t see coming can make an immediate push for a national title.

The Bottom Line

This year’s national title game is a battle for the future of college football recruiting. If TCU wins, it is proof that you can’t ignore the portal, no matter who you are, and think that will be enough to get the job done. In the words of Dennis Green the Georgia Bulldogs are who we thought they were. They are a team comprised of some of America’s absolute best high school football players, coached and prepped to dominate their opponents. When the first round of the NFL Draft is completed this year, it is likely that at least 4 Georgia Bulldogs will be selected. In contrast TCU will likely have only 1 name called. Old fashioned recruiting does actually work quite well so long as you can get the nation’s best to commit each year, and continue to maintain your status as top dawg (pun intended).

But the new school method of building up a core of talented players “who do not transfer” and blending them with college football’s version of big time free agents to get a championship ready cocktail is seemingly just as effective. It remains to be seen whether TCU will continue this run as a national power. Whether they do or they don’t is inconsequential. They have already proven the transfer portal experiment works. TCU is only an underdog in this year’s title game, because their methods were untested. Well I believe they have passed the test with flying colors. And next year there will likely be another unranked team that is currently sitting somewhere in the top 20 of this year’s transfer portal rankings that will be knocking on the door of the College Football Playoff. The recruiting game has officially changed.

KNOW THE GAME. WIN THE GAME.

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